The just past full moon, through the trees, over the house to the west.
Beardog on lookout.
Foggy mist rising as sunrise approaches.
Foggy morning walk…
… in wonderfully cool (39F) air.
Apple cinnamon rolls (mini) with a brown sugar-cinnamon-goat cheese frosting to celebrate the last day of the work week (a GREAT work week), the return of cool weather and the demise (mostly) of the yellow jackets.
The sun finally made it.
Friday morning.
So.
Saturday.
Saturday started with Farmer’s market.
Sunflowers, a mix of cherry tomatoes of various hues, a HUGE zucchini (courgette) and 2 heirloom slicers!
On returning home, Bear hit the side yard.
I missed the photo, but he had a nice roll on the stiff, brown (un-watered) grass.
And then the start of a nap.
But, the yellow jackets.
And the heat.
He came inside.
Meanwhile…
I chopped herbies…
For a chicken dish I’ve had my eye on.
BUT.
After I had the chicken marinating in the herbs and olive oil and lemon juice and garlic…
I went to the bedroom for something…
Bear was sound asleep.
I was dragging.
I put the marinating chicken in the refrigerator and then crawled into bed.
Bear stayed.
This was 1:00 ish p.m.
I came to at 4:55 p.m.
Bear was in the same spot.
Yep…we HIT the wall. I guess we needed it. Funny that it was both of us.
After the prolonged nap, we got up.
Had a good long walk.
I fixed a burger dinner for Bear.
I fixed a pancake dinner for me.
Another long walk.
We went to bed.
8:30 p.m.
Sunday.
A Fried Egg sandwich extraordinare for breakfast.
I finally cooked the marinating chicken… oh-la-la to the MAX! The recipe: My Little Expat’s Kitchen: Chicken with tomatoes and olives
Moving on:
Bear and I hopped in the Jeep and had a drive south to Swan Lake.
The leaves are turning and it looks Fallish…
But it was HOT!
Still.
We hit the wall, we bounced back, we are moving on.
Well, it does figure, doesn’t it ??? This 2013 “summer from hell” would naturally have a Friday the 13th :) !!
7 more days of this official summer.
It is not going down as one of my favorites.
NOT. AT. ALL.
Yes, well.
We must do our best to move forward.
The Bear-boy still stays close to me.
I stay close to him.
It is a mutual coping mechanism.
But, it WAS a beautiful morning…cool.
We had time to be outside, took a long walk about and even just enjoyed some time in front of the front porch before the yellow jackets woke up. They are giving us a little more morning lately and both Bear and I appreciate that.
7 more days of official Summer. NOAA has PROMISED a cool down again…but today they are also wavering about another warm up after the cool down.
GAH!!
Friday the 13th.
Every week NOAA says that “next week” will be cooler and then as next week approaches…NOT!
It is not as hot as it had been, but it is still 10-15 degrees above normal for the 2nd week of September in Northwest Montana!
Some time ago, I stopped watering the grass… I noticed that the yellow jackets gravitated toward water sources so I decided to dry things up and see if that helped.
I brought in the herbie watering can, the boys’ water bowl (the boys were not out anyway), and shut down the sprinklers.
The good news is I haven’t had to mow!! I think I mowed 4 times before shutting things down. Oh, well.
The bad news is that it didn’t help the yellow jacket situation AND I lost my cilantro on Beardog Hill – not a show stopper for this summer.
Today, the high was 76F at my house…and an abundance of sun and blue sky.
Not horrible but it should be 66F!
But, Bear and I got outside a bit more than we have been.
Still…we got hot… and the yellow jackets – Bear likes them about as much as I do.
Inside sounded like a good idea.
NOAA…and Fall…Promises, promises!
No, I have not adopted a kitten or kittens!
I visited KittyMom’s Rescue this lunch hour to donate some of the pet steps (3 of 6!!!) and 2 boxes of insulin syringes. While at KittyMom’s there were some kitties needing lunch and I was happy to help.
And seriously…with kittens crawling all over me looking for food and then holding one and giving a small bottle… I ask you, could there be sadness of any kind??? I say NO!
And especially as the kitten I was feeding was all black except for a Mr. Bob orange colored streak between her vivid blue eyes. …vivid blue eyes which locked onto mine as she slurped up a special kitten formula…that left behind a milky-white mustache…her little paws holding my hand…and when finished she found a spot on my lap for a post-prandial kitten nap. Oh, boy.
But.
If it was just me, probably.
But there is Bear.
Bear is sticking close to me. He is not wanting to stay outside if I come in – even briefly. My sense is that he is feeling confused, disconcerted, unsure – where is Bob??? Mostly the same as me.
For me, it has been over 3 years …Karl, Bear, Bear and Bob, Bear, Bob… kind of a long, challenging, haul of emotion. Oh, and $$$$.
Bear has been through the loss of the person’s mother, the person, shuffling, cross-country move, adapting to Bob, Bob, losing Bob.
I’d like to think we could maybe have some “everyone healthy” time.
For the moment, we will just be two.
Yesterday, Tuesday, first full workday at home – a good day! A full workday, walks and play, we both ate well…AND…!!!
Some months ago, I took advantage of a pre-buy at deep discount…for some wood prints from my favorite photo lab: Simply Canvas.
I had until August 23 to place an order.
I’ve been dithering as I had an idea of some things to order but needed to find the original files.
Gah!
In the midst of the awfulness of the last weeks, the deadline. The lab gave me a short extension.
I ordered the above of Bob and am so very happy.
There are the 4.
WOW.
I’m not sure where they will all go. A major shuffling on my walls is in order.
For the moment, I am enjoying these new 4 right where they are.
And the capper.
This morning.
Sunrise, fog, the woods, thoughts of Bob and Bear, thoughts of Karl and Gus, thoughts of Zack.
Light and life and kittens and bottles and sun and Bear and love = NO Blues!!
