Fading Summer...

It’s that weird time of year where it’s not quite autumn but summer is starting to show signs of weariness. Two weeks ago, we were having 100 degree temperatures. Last week, the warm weather departed, leaving us with rainy, grey days that barely got above 70 degrees. This week is a happy medium. We’re supposed to be in the 80’s for the first part of the week and it’s supposed to be a little cooler for the weekend.

It’s a transition period. I find these are a little tricky. I have two wardrobes- a spring/summer and an autumn/winter one. Twice a year, I go through the ritual of changing out one wardrobe for another. It seems like just yesterday I was hanging up my capris and sleeveless shirts and putting away my thicker sweaters and darker clothing.

It seems too soon to switch the wardrobes. After all, technically, it’s still summer. It may be feeling a little autumnal out there but it’s not autumn. I love the treats of fall. I love pumpkins and squash, scarecrows, fallen leaves, leaf fires and chilly nights. However, I’m finding that I’m reluctant to jump in yet. It’s simply a little too early.

I think I’ve become fonder of summers since I moved back to a place that has seasons. I’ve written a couple of blogs about how summer is my least favourite season. This year, I’m not sure if I’ve just changed but I’ve enjoyed summer. I’ve enjoyed watching the herbs grow, the veggies ripen and sitting outside in the evenings. I’ve liked working on outdoor projects. It’s been fun.

This may be why I’m feeling a little defensive of summer every time I pass by a house that already has little scarecrows and autumn leaf flags adorning the garden. A couple of people have started their autumn displays of haybales and squash.

Even though summer was, once again, greedy this year and took over before spring was truly done, I still feel like that’s no excuse for turning our minds from the bright colours of summer and putting them towards the oranges, browns and reds of autumn. Not yet.

I know it’s a societal invention but I feel like until the calendar officially reads “first day of Autumn”, it’s not time to start celebrating the fall.

This is also true when it comes to wardrobe. I find that when I’m waking up and the mornings are chillier than they were two weeks ago, my tendency is to reach for autumn-esque clothing. I tend to leave a few pieces in my wardrobes that I consider ‘transitional’ attire. This is why I never put away my black, heeled, every day ankle boots that go nicely under my trousers nor do I put away my cardigan collection or my black trousers. With these items, it’s easy to find something to wear to work that utilizes parts of my summer wardrobe but lets me dress for the weather without completely having to changeover the wardrobe. This works well when winter is transitioning to spring too. I keep a couple of lighter coloured blouses unpacked so that I can wear them when the weather warms up.

It’s just hard to keep up with the seasons at the moment. The leaves are starting to look like they’re considering changing colour. A couple of trees in the neighbourhood appeared to have been fooled by the rainy, cold weather of last week and somehow managed to drop almost every leaf already leaving very little left to do in the autumn.

The dogs seem a little confused too. In the mornings, I let Rory and Sookie out and when it’s cooler, they stop and sniff the air instead of running full speed ahead into the garden as they’ve done all summer. They spend much more time outside too now the weather is cooler.

This is not necessarily a good thing. Last night, I went to check on them and couldn’t find them anywhere. Instead of panicking, I guessed that they had finally succeeded on their latest mission: Find a Way Under the Toolshed.

This is not the first time the girls have had this mission. Last time they succeeded, I barricaded all of the possible entrances to Under the Tool Shed using a combination of wood planks, pavers and bricks. I was successful. However, when dealing with two completely obsessed dachshunds who simply MUST GET TO WHATEVER SMELL IS WAFTING UP FROM UNDER THERE, there appears to be no 100% surefire way to prevent them from going under the shed.

Thus, when they vanished last night, I calmly went behind the shed. Sure enough, the wood planks had been fried loose enough to allow a gap big enough for my girls to wriggle through. I knocked on the side of the shed and firmly summoned my dogs back up to the surface. A few minutes later, both dogs emerged, bright eyed, laced with cobwebs with their tails wagging furiously. It was quite obvious that they knew they had Been Up To No Good but they were still too high from the adrenaline to care that their ‘mother’ was angry with them.

I quickly boarded up the gap and made sure that it was pup-proofed. Shortly after trying unsuccessfully to get back under the shed, the dogs followed me inside, dejected but also knowing they were in a spot of trouble. I told them off and they spent the rest of the evening trying to get cuddles which is what they do when they know I’m cross with them and they want to suck up. Of course, after my initial annoyance at their misbehavior wears off, I give in.

I’m hoping that this is not a sign of autumn antics to come. While I’m not fond of them going under the shed, I’d rather they disappeared under there than, say, under the fence or gate. At least its controlled chaos. I do worry a little that when they emerge, they’ll have some creature in their mouth but, so far, they haven’t caught anything.

Still, even though I’ve controlled their chaos, the cooler evenings and days mean that I’ll have to keep an eye on my wayward pups. With the sluggish heat of summer, they tend to be a little less active. When it’s nice outside, they stay out there and it only takes a short time for Rory Gilmore to Get Up to No Good.

I’m sure as summer really fades and gives way to actual autumn, there will be plenty more antics going on in my backyard. The squirrels already seem to be up to their evil plots. They always seem to increase in number in autumn so I’m gearing up for many a walk spent trying to prevent the girls from chasing them up trees.

In the meantime, I’m going to attempt to hold onto the last days of summer before the weather really cools down and avoid the lure of pumpkin, spices and autumn leaves. Of course, if it really gets as cold at night as they’re saying- 42 degrees, I may change my mind. We’ll see how it goes.

Happy Tuesday!

Back to School and Balmy Days

It’s a beautiful day out there today. We’ve finally broken our heat and humidity streak and the weather is positively beautiful.

It made it incredibly hard to be inside at work today. It’s going to be even harder tomorrow since it not only is supposed to be equally as gorgeous but also, it’s Friday and it’s never easy to concentrate on Fridays anyway.

Still, I’ll give it my best shot. Of course, I’m already a little preoccupied with preparing for the Great Garage Sale of 2011 but I’m making progress. Except for those random strolls through the house- both mental and physical- where I try to find other items to sell, everything is priced and ready to go. It took a while but I think I’m ready. There’s a lot of things to do tomorrow night to be ready for setup on Saturday but I think that I’ll just make a list.

Of course, there is a chance of rain on Saturday. I’m dearly hoping it holds off until the afternoon. I’m selling and awful lot of items that wouldn’t really do well in the rain.

However, I’m very much keeping my fingers crossed that this lovely weather continues. I think sitting outside in 84 degree weather with a light breeze will be rather nice. Given that a week ago we were up near 100 degrees with stifling humidity, things could be much worse.

These are typically the Dog Days of Summer. It’s unusual for us to have the hot weather in July and cooler weather in August. I can’t remember the amount of back-to-school first days where we’d dress in our new clothes which were really designed for more autumnal weather and we’d be hot and sticky as soon as we stepped outside.

It’s strange that it’s already that time of year. The stores are all full of school supplies and the aisles full of sulky kids who clearly don’t find joy in having to buy new pens, notebooks and the like because it means their freedom is over.

I remember this time of year too. I always liked school but was never terribly fond of the social aspect of school. I was one of the kids who cared what people thought so I’d worry about trivial stuff like where my locker would be, would I get it open, what if I dressed wrong on the first day and what if I didn’t have any of my friends in my classes. Now I look back, it really does seem a little silly because the things seem so minor. Yet they weren’t minor to me back then. They’d be the kind of silly things that I’d think about and not be able to sleep or, worse, I’d wake up in the night and start thinking about them and couldn’t get back to sleep.

It’s amazing how our perspective changes with experience. Not getting my locker open or wearing the wrong shirt used to matter to me because I wanted to fit in. I used to pretend I wanted to be a rebel but, deep down, like so many other kids, I just wanted to be accepted. Looking back, I now know that it was a pretty common fear and probably at least half the kids I wanted to be accepted by probably felt the same way I did.
Yet I didn’t know that back then. I was stuck in the awkwardness of my teenage years, trying to find self-confidence and self-esteem and trying to hold onto them. As I’ve grown older, I do still struggle with these things but never the way I did back then. It’s just not as important as it used to be. What is important now wasn’t even on my radar back then: having a job to pay the bills, being able to provide for myself and the dogs, being able to find time to see my family regularly and just generally finding contentment in the small things.

I do still remember the days of having to go back to school though. They’re not quite distant enough to be foggy and blurred in my mind. Thus, I do still have sympathy for all those students I see having to go back-to-school shopping. For the mob of kids in my neighbourhood who ride their bikes and run around until it starts to get dark, their reign of freedom is drawing to an end. It won’t be long until they’re no longer running around shirtless or in swimsuits up and down the street, yelling and, instead, they’re dressed and waiting for the school bus in the morning, sluggish and miserable and dreaming faintly of the carefree summer that’s just slipped out of their fingers.

I do remember those days and the cloud of commitment that rises up at the beginning of August and stays there until somewhere at the end of September when school has become a familiar routine, it vanishes and the summer is but a distant memory.

Of course, even though I do remember those days, the adult in me has to admit, I quite prefer it when the kids are back in school. There are far less near-misses as one of the kids zooms out into the road on his/her bike without looking even though I’m watching for them anyway. It also means far less yelling and screaming outside my house and kids running across my lawn to take a shortcut. Yes, I know…I’m getting old.

But at least I don’t have to go back to school. I can just enjoy the sales on school supplies and use them for fun purposes at home.

Being an adult definitely has its advantages.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Bugs...Bug Me...

It’s been hot and sticky for over a week now and we haven’t had any rain in ages. I finally got tired of going out to my tomatoes with a watering can and I broke down and bought a new hose and a sprinkler.

I’m curious to see how the sprinkler does. I’m more curious to see if the pups decide the sprinkler is a friend or an enemy. Since it’s going to be watering their favourite ‘hanging out and watching for squirrels’ spot in the garden, they’re either going to deliberately get wet or they’ll be sulky because they can’t follow their usual routine.

In all honesty, part of me is tempted to enjoy the sprinkler too. It’s so hot out there that whenever you’re out for more than two minutes, your clothes start sticking to you and you’re instantly sweating. It’d be nice to act like a kid and jump through the sprinklers. However, I’ll probably resist just because even though I shouldn’t, I do care what the neighbours think. This is most likely because it would probably involve me wearing a swimsuit and I’m not sure I want to inflict that on the neighbours. Thus, I’ll just be a responsible grown-up and just use the sprinklers for watering my vegetables.

The heat is making it hard to do much outside. It’s too hot to be pleasant and even if we do brave the humidity and heat and attempt to do something outside, there are these rather unpleasant little gnat things that seem to multiply by the second until you’re so tired of trying to brush them off that you end up running inside.

I’m not a fan of bugs anyway. I find them to be a huge nuisance. When I was younger, I used to visualize how nice it would be to go for picnics in meadows of flowers like you see in the movie. Or I’d visualize running down a meadow-hill like that girl at the beginning of “Little House on the Prairie”. Or running through a cornfield, letting the taller corn embrace me and change my perception of the world for a while.

Why I visualized these things, I can’t tell you. I have a weird way of thinking. If you read my blog, you probably know that. The fact is that I did picture these things.

However, the reality of it was never the same because of the stupid bugs. I have yet to find a place on earth where you can sit outside and have a picnic without having some buggy pest drive you a little crazy. It could be mosquitoes that bite and make life unpleasant. It could be spiders who don’t mean to be ominous but are anyway because, well, they’re spiders. It could be those pesky green flies that seem to thrive on vegetation and the pretty the landscape, the more irritating the green flies.

As for the “Little House on the Prairie”- I have yet to find a meadow without similar bug problems. Granted, when the weather is perfect, the bugs are slightly less prominent but try running through prairie-long grass without having a secret fear of ticks, chiggers and other nasty biting bugs.

And then there’s the cornfields. When my family moved to the U.S., we moved to a house in the country. There was corn on all sides of us. My brother and I decided to play in the cornfields. Then, after a few minutes, we realized between many of the rows of corn were spider webs. Inside the spiderwebs were rather terrifying looking spiders that made the experience suddenly far less fun and far more alarming.

Of course, I found out that the spiders were harmless and wouldn’t bite but, well, would you want to risk having a spider like that crawling on you?

Thus, I haven’t run through the corn since. Call me a chicken. Call me a wimp. It’s just that over the years, all of the pleasant, fun outdoor activities that seem so exciting in theory are never quite as exciting in reality because of the bugs.

I shouldn’t let them bother me but it’s hard not to, really. Last night, I went to a dinner party at a coworker’s and we attempted to sit outside. At first, in spite of the heat and humidity, it was pleasant. And then the bugs decided to join us. It was primarily these little black gnats. I’d kill one and three more would appear. We lit bug candles but that had no effect. In the end, when the flies joined in, we abandoned our outdoor gathering and fled inside.

So, I’m not a fan of bugs. I find them annoying. I’m sure there’s a greater purpose to them than to, well, ‘bug’ us. They probably do some good by at least providing a diet to frogs and things. However, it’s hard to see that when you’re outside and suddenly you’re covered by a layer of horrible, tiny biting gnats.

It’s one of the things in summer that I find the most annoying. However, since it comes with the territory, I’ve learned to accept it.

But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t bug me.

Ok, I’m done with the bad puns now.

Happy Tuesday!

Doggy Days of Summer

It’s another hot one out there. I have two forlorn looking dogs who gleefully run outside when I first open the door and then they stop and turn and look at me accusingly as if to say, “mummy, why did you make it so hot!”

Then they come in and flop down on the linoleum because it’s cooler and they’re sulking.

They don’t move much when it’s hot, even when the air conditioning is on. I’m trying to figure out if this is normal behavior or they’re getting lazy in their old age. They’re now a year and a half old so they’re technically not puppies although there are times when they still behave like they are.

Mostly, their puppy behavior is when they’re outside. I love to watch them run across the yard. There’s nothing that makes me grin more than when one of my little dachshunds sees me and comes running towards me. Watching dachshunds run is just funny because they have short little legs and such long bodies. It’s an endearing thing especially when they look like their grinning.

They also have a bit of a bad habit of running across my vegetable garden. I’ve tried to protect the plants with tomato cages and stakes but those aren’t much of a deterrent when a rabbit, chipmunk or squirrel has been spotted. No, those little furry critters are like crack to a dachshund and nothing else matters, especially not my tomato plants.

This is why I have one less tomato plant and another that is hanging on for dear life, protected by a tomato cage but still looking rather wilty. I even planted my veggies with a fairly wide berth for the Dachshund Race Track but, alas, it is to no avail.

Speaking of the Dachshund Race Track…fellow dog owners, do your canines also have a set route at which they run around the garden? My two girls have a very specific path that they take from the back door all the way around the garden. They don’t deviate from this path, no matter how fast they run. This is why their paws have worn the path into the grass and my vegetable garden and around the tool shed. My parents’ dogs also have a path so I’m wondering if this is usual.

Anyway, back to my tomatoes. They often get banged about by my little pets. I’m hoping this won’t damage them. I’m all about tomatoes this year. My mother kindly gave me quite a few plants for my garden. The only thing is that she grows several kinds- large and cherry sized but she doesn’t label the pots so I never quite know what type of tomatoes I’ll get until they actually appear on the vines. It’s quite nice- a tomato grab bag if you will. However, last year, I ended up with almost all cherry tomatoes so just in case, I went to this nifty nursery by my house and got a few larger heirloom tomato plants. I adore heirloom tomatoes. They’re yummy. They’re summery. They also incredibly pricy if you buy them from a store or even a farmer’s market.

Thus, I’m trying to grow my own. I just hope they survive the onslaught of the pups.

I’m also growing peppers. I have several healthy plants that already have some fruit on them. The other day, I noticed that a couple of my plants were not looking so healthy and the bottom leaves were dying. I couldn’t figure out why since I make sure they have ample water.

Then yesterday, I went outside and discovered that Sookie was laying happily beside one of the suffering pepper plants and was chomping on the leaves. I’m not sure what about the leaves appeals to her but she seemed quite engrossed in her nibbling. So far, the plants look like they’ll survive but they have less leaves below than they did before.

My dogs are strange in their tastes. Rory has become super finicky with food. She only eats chicken and duck treats. She doesn’t like bacon whether it be the doggie kind or the human kind. She likes pork chop bones but not the pork. She likes peaches and blueberries but doesn’t want to eat dog food.

I know, I should really feed her human food but it’s a bad habit that I shouldn’t have started. I still make them eat their regular dog food but I’m one of the bad dog owners who feeds them table scraps. This is actually becoming much easier now that Rory’s palate has become so fussy.

Sookie, on the other hand, will try anything. She doesn’t like everything but she’ll give it a whirl. She’s not the fruitarian that her sister is and doesn’t care much for peaches or blueberries. She likes the chewbones that have granola on them and will happily munch for hours picking off each piece of granola while her sister prefers the chewbones that are rawhide with a filling in the middle.

Sorry to blog about my dogs again but, like children, they show you something new every day. Today, they showed me that they’re now taking it rather personally that it’s so hot outside and even though they don’t really want to go for a walk, they’ll sulk until I take them on one and then, as soon as we’re twenty feet from the house, they’ll sulk because they’re hot.

There’s really no winning. It’s just the same when it rains. I get accusatory looks for that too- they run outside, stop dead in their tracks as they realize it’s wet and then they trot back inside, giving me the glare of disapproval.

Still, for all their temperamental, vegetable bashing, pepper-leaf chewing behavior, when we’re laying in bed in the morning right before the alarm goes off and I have a dachshund under each arm, snuggled up against me or when Sookie spots me and comes running across the garden with glee to throw herself up against me for a cuddle. ..it’s worth every chewed pepper leaf.

Of course, I may reconsider that if they start on the heirloom tomatoes but that’s if we ever get that far and they haven’t knocked them all over.

Happy Wednesday!

A Hot Summer Day

I think today is probably one of the hottest days we've had so far. As soon as I go outside, a wall of heat hits me. The air is thick and even the breeze is warm and provides no relief.

It's about that time of year where the weather stays hot for a while. We wait for storms in the simple hope that it means we won't have to water the garden. My garden is currently parched and the plants look wilted from the heat. They'll revive after I water them tonight but for now, they look rather pathetic.

The dogs don't waste much time out there either. As much as I try to take the girls for a walk every night, even if it's a quick one, tonight, they won't get their walk. It's too hot. The pavement is scorching and I'm afraid for their paws. Also, knowing my girls the way I do, it won't take more than a few moments of walking before Little Miss Rory decides that she's had quite enough, thank you very much and she simply sits down. Sookie will join her and our walk will disintigrate into Captain Monkeypants Attempts to Get Her Dachshunds to Stand Up and Walk Without Dragging them.

There's little sign of life out there anyway. This heat is too much even for the kids who usually have no problem running around, riding bikes and spraying each other with the hose. That's for ninety degree days. We're currently over 100 degrees with a heat index of 108.

It's times like this that I am grateful that my air conditioning is working and that I can escape from the heat into the sanctuary of a cool room. I've made a point this summer of trying hard to get outside as much as possible. I'm an indoor girl by nature but I try to at least sit outside and enjoy the summer once a day. At the moment, it's too hot to sit outside and far too hot to work in the garden. Besides, it's not pleasant to do so anyway. There are these nasty little black flies that converge on me the moment I start to sweat and even when I swat them away, they still feel like they're crawling on me. I'm not fond of that buggy sensation that the humidity brings.

It's the type of heat that makes me want ice-cream. I don't like ice-cream much except for when it gets hot. I've still resisted those Magnum Bars mostly because my parents tried them and said they weren't anything special. Here I was picturing them as the most luxurious combination of vanilla ice cream and Swiss chocolate and they're about comparable to a Dove bar. I don't mind the Dove bars but not enough to spend the calories on them- I'll stick with my Skinny Cow treats. They're yummy, low fat and rather tasty. Also, they're nice and cold and that makes them a nice treat on a hot day like this.

Summer is fully upon us. It has been for a while but this is the first time she's truly pulled out all the stops and said HERE I AM! I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU MELT! It does make me miss the days of those 78 degree temperatures and cool nights but then again, without summer, I probably wouldn't appreciate them so much. What I do wish I had, however, was a pool. I'm not much on swimming- I never have been. I didn't learn to swim until I was 11 and I've never much liked swimming. I do, however, like floating in a pool of cool water or doing the dog padde onto a floating raft and letting the cool water slowly evaporate as the sun takes it away and then doing it all over again. One of my favourite hot day memories of late was at a spa in California where my friend and I lay on rafts after doing spa-type of things all day. The air was warm but the wetness of our swimsuits kept us cool and we just relaxed, talking and laughing and enjoying the peace of the day.

I like that feeling. I like that summer makes that feeling even better because of the relief the water gives you from the heat. I don't really want a pool- my garden isn't big enough- but I'd quite like to float again on a raft somewhere. The trouble is, all the public pools are filled with cannonballing kids and there's never enough space to float on a raft. Also, this is going to sound a little snobby but with all those kids and a pool of water, I've always worried how much pee is actually in the pool. I know, I know, I can't think of that and that's why chlorine is good but, well, I still think of it anyway.

I don't even have a hose that works. Stupid me left it out over the winter and it sprung a million tiny leaks when I turned it on in the spring. Besides, since I only have a privacy fence on one side of my garden, the other sides might find it a little crazy if I stand there and hose myself. It's the type of thing you might do when you're alone or if you were playing around with other people but to do it alone in full view of the neighbourhood...well, I'm odd but not that silly.

So, for now, I'll stick to my air conditioning and enjoy the relief it brings. I'll continue with the ice-cream and try to keep the dogs cool. If a storm comes, I'll welcome it and, if not, I'll have to water my plants.

Ah, summer...you're fun but I'm glad you only last three months.

Happy Tuesday!

Don't Rush Me Through the Seasons!

I never did see any fireworks last night. Instead, as expected, I had two rather frightened dogs curled up next to me- woofing and jumping each time one of the bangs and whistles of the fireworks got too loud.

Now, the skies are silent and Independence Day has passed again for another year. Summer is solidly underway.

As I said in my blog from the other day, I’m learning to appreciate summer a little more with age. Without the heat and humidity, the bright neon shades of plastic tablewear and the sound of children biking through the neighbourhood, I wouldn’t appreciate the other seasons. That’s always the way.

However, there’s a time and a place for appreciating the other seasons and sometimes, it’s just too soon to start doing so. For example, I went in a store the other day and they were selling all their spring/summer merchandise at a discount and were already displaying Halloween and Autumn décor.

Don’t get me wrong. When it comes around, I’m a huge fan of Autumn. I love the cooler, crisper nights, the leaves as they turn colours and the smell of pumpkin-scented everything.

Yet, it’s not time yet. We still need the intense heat and humidity of summer to oppress us to the point that we feel we can’t take it anymore. The grass is still green and healthy. When it’s a dried shade of greenish yellow because the dryness and heat of the summer has taken it’s toll, then it might be time for the autumn décor.

It’s much like seeing Christmas merchandise in stores at this time of year. It has no power over us. In July, the Santa Clauses, the cuddly snowmen and the sparkle of tinsel are just items that might register in our awareness but they don’t matter. Not yet. I don’t know about you but there’s something that happens to me when I find a clearance shelf in a store that’s riddled with super cheap Christmas stuff in July. The thing that happens to me is that my brain simply doesn’t pay it any mind. It simply is just ‘junk’ that has most likely been sitting there so long that it’s broken, chipped or just not worth buying.

It’s interesting because when it’s in season, I love Christmas. I’m always sad when it’s over and I hold onto it as long as I can. Yet, as the weeks pass, so does the urge to eat candy canes and drink eggnog.

Well, actually, since I think eggnog is quite revolting, that’s a bit of a fabrication but you know what I mean.

My point, and I do have a point, is that while time passes quickly, more so as we get older, it doesn’t help when things are unnecessarily rushed. I know there are crafty folk out there who like to get a head start on the seasonal stuff and it makes sense that you can buy supplies for that whenever you need to do so.

However, for the rest of us, it’s unnecessary to be looking at a jack o’ lantern or a witch holding a jack o’ lantern in July.

I know I’ve blogged about similar things before, primarily with the holidays. Stores now start stocking Christmas stuff before the Halloween candy is even needed. I fully expect to go to Target in a month and start seeing the first red and green tones of the festive holiday season creep in and take over the space formerly occupied by lawn chairs and grills.

The thing is, life passes quickly enough on its own. No matter how hard we try onto certain moments, feelings and memories, time keeps moving forward and creating new ones. We don’t need to be rushed forward any more that life already manages to do.

Seasons should be organic and natural. When summer is really winding down, we know. Here in the Midwest, it comes with the slow and gentle fading out of the crickets and cicadas. The grass, as I mentioned, starts to lose it’s green sheen and becomes lackluster. There’s the slightest hint of a chill to the air though it hasn’t arrived yet. The summer clothes and flipflops start feeling wrong. The appeal of a thicker sweater, socks and closed-toe shoes grows.

At this point, it’s time for Autumn décor. It’s time to bring out the scarecrows, the cider and the pumpkins.

The same goes for every season. With winter, no matter how much I love snow, the sudden appeal of daffodils, sunshine and blue skies arrives. The bulky winter clothes start feeling like too much. The taste of root vegetables and gravies is no longer as pleasurable and the longing for a fresh, sunwarmed tomato and the smell of fresh basil grows.

You get the idea. It’s an organic thing. We just know. We don’t need stores to try to force the process. As consumers, we know when it’s time. It’s just as when we go in the store, see Christmas displays and suddenly feel a leap of pleasure at the cute snowmen, shiny Santas and peppermint stripes.

As I said, we just know when it’s time. It’s an innate sense of knowing when the seasons are changing and we must keep up. You can’t force it.

This is why I can continue to enjoy the sounds, smells and taste of summer without feeling a sense of panic that it’s almost over already. There are still several moments of heat. We haven’t even hit the ‘dog days’ yet.

By that time, I might just be ready for pumpkins and scarecrows. But for now…I’m not. I’ll stick with my butterflies and flowers.

Happy Wednesday!

The Snap, Crackle and Pop of an Extra Long Weekend...

It's a very sticky 4th of July evening. The humidity is pressing close and the heat seems magnified by the close air.

At present, I'm sitting outside. Even though it's hot and humid, it's not altogether unpleasant and it seems right to write this outside. Occasionally, I'm hearing the odd pop of a firecracker. I don't know if there will be more fireworks later tonight or if my neighbours got them out of their systems over the weekend. All I know is that from Friday night through Sunday night, I had two alert dachshunds who were a little afraid of all the bangs and whizzes coming from local firework lighters.

It's been a nice weekend. Mother Monkeypants came down to stay and we had a very nice time. The wonderful thing about my mother is...well, she's my mother. We can do something or nothing and be very happy. We ended up doing some things but we also ended up just relaxing which I think is the best way to spend time with someone you love.

She left not too long ago and the house seems empty as it always does after a guest leaves. THe pups seem a little lost too. All weekend, they've had their choice of laps and attention and now they're back to just me.

It seems strange that we have to go back to work tomorrow. It makes sense, of course. It'd be greedy to expect more than a three day weekend but it seems so...anticlimactic to have a holiday and then...boom, right back to work. Yet it's the way of the world and so off tomorrow, to work I shall go.

On the plus side, it's only a four-day work week so I won't complain. It's only four more days until the next weekend. That's definitely not a bad trade off.

As I write, aside from the odd snap, crackle and pop of fireworks, the neighbourhood seems quiet. I think lots of people must be away for celebrations. My family sometimes has a gathering over the 4th even though, technically, as Brits, we're not exactly Independence Day celebrators. Yet, it's a good excuse to get everyone together.

This year, I had the luxury of having my mum come and stay and my siblings spent their holiday with their family. It's actually nice to spend a holiday like this in my own home as much as I like seeing everyone get together. It's been two years officially since I started to move into this house and I spent the long weekend painting my living room a shade of cranberry red. This weekend, I planted a tree, shopped, cooked and spent the time hanging out with my mother. I feel like I've come a long way.

The firework sounds are getting a little more constant and a little less sporadic. I think as darkness starts to fall, the sounds will intensify. My guess is that I will have two little dogs cowering inside, woofing at each crack and pop. I might stick my head out and see if I can see any fireworks but I haven't decided yet. It's been that kind of weekend where it's been nice to play things by ear and not have a firm plan. While it's nice to be organized, there's something to be said from being spontaneous and unplanned.

Whether or not I decide to look for fireworks tonight, I plan on relaxing and enjoying the last waning hours of a fun, extra-long weekend. I hope you, too, make/made the most of it.

Happy July 4th and happy Monday!

Embracing the Season...Bugs, Worms and All

I woke up today and thought it was Friday. Needless to say, I was disappointed when I heard the sound of the Rumpke Recycling truck and soon after heard the sound of my recycling bin being emptied and realized as I lay in bed that it was, in fact, Thursday.

I decided to embrace the fact that I still had another day to go until the weekend because, well, I quite like Thursdays. They’re on the downward slide of the climb towards the weekend. Also, during the regular TV season, they’re good nights for TV. Also…I just like Thursdays.

When I got to work and we had our morning meeting, my boss asked if anyone else felt like it was Friday. I was surprised that several people said yes and not just me. It must be the anticipation of the three-day weekend.

Even though we do have to work tomorrow, I anticipate it being rather quiet. That’s the thing with holiday weekends. People leave early and come back late so the days before and after the holiday are pretty quiet.

I don’t mind. In there, for me, are three lovely days away from the office where I get to hang out with my mother and my pups and just enjoy the summer days.

Even though summer isn’t my favourite season, I’m finding ways to appreciate it. Obviously, the best way that I appreciate it is through food. I love summer food. I love going outside, picking fresh basil and tossing it with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella to make the perfect summer caprese salad. I love seeing the cucumber on my vine growing to the size of one you actually buy in a store and knowing that I had a part in that cucumber growing. I love the promise of my own fresh tomatoes as the first flowers on my tomato plants appear.

Most of all, I love that everything is so…fresh.

That’s the thing with winter food. While I love it’s heartiness and the comfort food overtones of autumn and winter flavours, it’s not fresh. It’s heavy as cold-weather food should be.

It’s why I love the seasons. It’s so nice that when we’re finally getting tired of salads and grilled fare, it’s time to bring out the pumpkins, winter squash and stewed dishes. Then, when we’re growing tired of heavier winter fare suddenly the first asparagus and fresh vegetables appear in the stores.

So, even though I’m not a fan of the heat and humidity of the lazy days of summer, I do appreciate the fresh produce it gives me. I love grilling a piece of fish quickly and having it with two sides of fresh veggies.

I also love that I can sit outside in the evenings and appreciate the summer nights. Granted, these evenings are accompanied by the gentle ‘whirr’ of my Off battery operated mosquito fan but it’s still a nice way to spend the evenings. I do think that the mosquito fan works. The only thing is that it only works on mosquitoes. There are still plenty of other irritating little insect life forms that circle but since they don’t bite like mosquitoes, it’s not so bad.

I like to sit outside until it’s just about to get dark when the fireflies first come out. I find there’s something magical about fireflies. One minute, it’s dusk and then it’s filled with these little sparks of green glow that flicker out so quickly you wonder if they were ever there.

My only problem with the fireflies is that I have to remind Sookie constantly not to eat them. Unfortunately, she’s got a certain fondness towards eating bugs. Well, she doesn’t actually eat them as much as like to catch them with her mouth for sport. Of course, she accidentally kills them at which point they’re no longer fun and she spits them out. Sometimes, she brings them as a gift. It’s a little vile but a dog’s got to do what a dog’s got to do.

Rory, on the other hand, doesn’t like bugs. Her preference is worms- dried ones. I discovered when we were out for a walk one night after it had been rainy for a few days and then the sun had been shining for a few more. The rain had caused a mass population of worms to be washed onto the paths and roads. Then, when the sun shone, they dried up and their little dessicated corpses were all that remained.

To me, they were rather yucky little additions to our nightly work. To Rory, they were a sumptuous feast. It took me a while to realize why it was taking my little dachshund so long to catch up to Sookie and I when I realized she was trying to eat all the worms.

Yes, again, this is a little vile. However…worms are supposed to nutritious…right? I did try and stop her for a while but unless we just stopped going for walks, the sheer amount of dried worms that were out there made it impossible. Also, we had some on our patio. I just made sure to give her some teeth cleaning biscuits after she’d had her ‘feast’.

I will say that the eating of the worms and bugs are not exactly one of the best things about summer but, well, in the winter, I deal with snow-covered dogs who like to go out and roll in the white stuff and then come in and roll on the carpet to get the snow off.

Each season has its merits. When summer gets really hot, muggy and comfortable, I might start looking towards Autumn but, for now, I’m enjoying the fact that the summer bring fresh food, long days and fireflies.

I also like that it brings us a nice long Fourth of July Weekend. I intend to enjoy mine. I hope you do too!

Happy Friday!

Random Rants: Extreme Air Conditioning

There are some things about summer I will never understand. At the top of my list would be air conditioning.

I’m not saying that I don’t believe in air conditioning. I definitely do. In fact, if you read back in my blog to almost exactly a year ago, my air conditioning died during a very hot period. My whining and moaning definitely indicates that air conditioning is pretty much a necessity when it’s 95 degrees outside and the humidity is high.

No, what I am saying is that I don’t understand Extreme Air Conditioning.

I’m sure you know what I mean. Extreme air conditioning is when you’re coming in from the sultry outdoors and within seconds, you already have goosepimples.

Extreme air conditioning is when you’re sitting in your office and your fingers are numb from typing. Then, when it’s finally time to leave, your hot, greenhouse effected car feels wonderful as you slowly begin to thaw.

I don’t understand it. As I said above, I’m a firm believer in air conditioning. I like to be comfortable. Who doesn’t?

However, Extreme Air Conditioning is not pleasant. I don’t think it’s necessary. Yet, it’s everywhere. If you go to the mall, the cold air feels great at first. Then, once your body has cooled down comfortably, the freezing cold air continues to cool your body down until you’re suddenly regretting not remembering to wear your thermal underwear in the middle of summer.

You should not be longing for a scarf and jacket when you’re already wearing a light sweater. I find this usually occurs in movie theatres. Having been frozen like an icicle several times while watching movies in the theatre, I’ve learned my lesson and, as a rule, I try to take a cardigan or light jacket with me to avoid completely freezing. However, when you find yourself STILL shivering with the sweater or jacket on when it’s almost 100 degrees outside, there’s something not quite right there.

My theory has lately been that malls and movie theatres crank up the air conditioning to cater for the crowds of people that they expect. Crowds of people generally make a place hot and stuff. Thus, to account for this potential, they crank up the AC and thus you have Extreme Air Conditioning.

The thing is that I still find myself shivering in Extreme Air Conditioning even when there are crowds around. Granted, there will always be those pockets in the mall where it gets hot. I find this most often in those malls with skylights that let the sun stream in. These places get hot. However, the rest of the mall still resembles being on the inside of a refrigerator. I’ve wondered if they have it automatically set to a certain temperature and it kicks on much more quickly because of these skylit hotspots. Yet, since these hot spots remain hot and the rest of the mall feels like you’re about to go visit Santa at the North Pole, this theory doesn’t really hold water.
I’ve been experiencing Extreme Air Conditioning at work this week. I’ve mentioned our thermostat wars before. Well, lately, since it’s been hot outside, the thermostat has been cranked to allow for Extreme Air Conditioning. Since I quite like feeling my fingers when I type, sometimes I try to turn the air conditioning down just a little. This will inevitably lead to my next door neighbour/account manager suddenly yelling “HOT!” at the top of her lungs.

She does this a lot. Very occasionally, she shouts “COLD!” but more often it’s “HOT!” She also gets “HUNGRY” and “TIRED”. I’m not sure why she has to yell so we all know but, well, that’s her way.

Interestingly, she’s usually the only “HOT!” person. Yet, somehow, she usually wins. All I have to do is go to the bathroom and when I get back to my office, the air is suspiciously growing colder by the second.

I suppose Extreme Air Conditioning really is relative to a person’s normal body temperature. I’d say that perhaps I tend to just run colder than everyone else which is why I sit in my office shivering but the truth is I’m not the only one. I’ve been told to wear a sweater but, well, it’s summer. I shouldn’t have to wear a sweater to be comfortable in my office.

No, the truth of the matter is that I personally believe that air conditioning is intended to make the room comfortable. Honestly, I think it should just cool the room to a comfortable liveable temperature. Generally speaking, when it’s 75-78 degrees outside and it’s not humid, we consider that to be a perfect temperature. So, why is it indoors where there’s nowhere for the cold air to go but sit between the four walls that Extreme Air Conditioning Enthusiasts decide that 64 degrees is an acceptable indoor temperature?

No. It is not an acceptable temperature. An acceptable INDOOR temperature is when you can wear traditional seasonal attire without being uncomfortable. This goes for winter as well. There is also the case of Extreme Heating in winter. To summarize Extreme Heating basically that boils down to you needing to shed almost every layer of clothing you’re wearing because you’re sweating indoors while it’s below zero outside.

Thus, in summer, I wear t-shirts, short sleeve blouses and capris with open-toed shoes. While I’m inside, my feet should not feel like blocks of ice. My arms should not be covered with little goosebumps and my fingers should not be numb. Just as in winter, if I’m wearing sweaters and boots, I should not be wanting to peel off everything because the heat is cranked high. Now, if I’m wearing the capris in the winter and I’m cold, that’s my own fault because, well, it’s winter. Likewise, if I’m wearing a thick sweater in summer, it’s my own fault because I’m too hot. At no time should I feel I have the right to make everyone else freeze to death because I made a poor wardrobe choice.

Thus, I go back to my original statement: I do not understand Extreme Air Conditioning. It’s rather silly to wish you’d brought a pair of socks to work because your feet are cold. Also, it’s distracting because I find when directly affected by Extreme Air Conditioning, I spend much more time focusing on the fact that my nose is running, my toes are numb and I can barely feel my fingers than I do working.

I’d like to advocate that thermostats not be made to go below 68 degrees and above 79 degrees, please.

Ok. Rant over. Thanks for reading. Here’s hoping you’re not freezing while you’re doing so.

Happy Thursday!

Commerical Seasonal Disorder and Other Rather Random Musings

It was snowing when I went home from lunch. It wasn’t the good, fluffy type of snow that I love but the cold, not-quite-sure-if-it-should-be-rain-or-snow pellets that actually sting a little when they hit you. It’s a peculiar juxtaposition to see the bright yellow daffodils bowing their heads in the grey day.

It’s hard to know what to do when the weather is like this. Just yesterday, I was overly warm as I walked the pups around the neighbourhood wearing just a light cardigan. Today, I had to dig out my winter coat and I’m not sure it’s going to be warm enough to walk the girls. They quickly got used to the warmer weather and this morning, when I let them out, they trotted right back in and gave me an accusing stare as if to say, “Where’s the sun? Give it back!”

The weekend is also supposed to be grey and gloomy. I had plans to work out in the garden. Right now, my Tuscan room redesign project is at a standstill. The room is done except for the floor and getting a few pieces of furniture and I can’t do the floor until I get my dad to help me move the rather heavy cast-iron stove that dominates the room.

I should use the colder weather as an excuse to indulge in some of the activities I can’t justify when the weather’s nice. Staying inside and doing jigsaw puzzles, for example. Curling up on the sofa and watching bad movies would be another one. Even though I could do these things when the weather’s nice, I feel horribly guilty and feel as though I should be doing something more useful.

The problem with getting a taste of spring is that you quickly get used to it. I had mentally accepted the fact that it was time to start planting seeds and landscaping when, in fact, it really is too early, just as it is every year when I do the same thing. We’re still getting snow. Since most of the seeds I have state that they shouldn’t be planted until danger of frost is passed, it’s definitely far too early to think about planting them, especially when we’re still getting snow, never mind frost.

I’m pretty impatient my nature. I do recognize this fact but it doesn’t change it. This is why I want it to snow in October and why I want the weather to turn warm in April. I love winter and I like it when it arrives and passes but when spring starts being a possibility, I want it to be spring. The only season I don’t anticipate is summer. I’d rather have a very long spring and go right to autumn. Summer is hot, humid, full of bugs, flamingos and pink plastic drinking glasses.

You may wonder how flamingos and pink plastic drinking glasses belong in that sentence. It’s because when I think of seasons, my brain automatically jumps to associations. Spring is full of pretty flowery gardening gloves, little garden ornaments and seeds. These are what signify the season in the stores. Then when summer is nearing, the displays change to plastic tableware, patriotic stuff and paddling pools. Autumn is fake leaves and scarecrows. Winter is hot chocolate, gloves and snowman stuff.

I am quite aware that I’ve allowed commercialism to invade my perception. It’s not a good thing. Yet I can’t help it. It’s happened and I am a victim of Commercial Seasonal Disorder (CSD). It’s a new condition. I invented it. Feel free to use it.

So, it’s established. I suffer from CSD. Thus, when I think of summer, my brain thinks of plastic novelty ice-cubes in the shapes of summary things like fish and flamingoes.

What flamingoes have to do with summer, I do not know but doesn’t it seem like they’re featured a lot during the summer? Whoever decided flamingoes were summary? Is it because they’re bright pink?

Oops. I went off on a tangent. Imagine that. Back to the topic at hand- My impatience.

I’m impatient for spring now. I’m not angry with winter for intruding on the next season. After all, spring trod on winter’s territory. I appreciate the last minute snow. It’s just…well….my mind was already harvesting the first asparagus spears and that’s a little hard to do when there’s frozen precipitation coming down around my head.

Also, I’ve already bought seeds and my flowery gardening gloves and thusly given in to my CSD for Spring. Therefore, it should be spring.

We’ve also moved the clocks forward. SPRINGed them forward. Well, sprung, really but it doesn’t have the same emphasis on the season if you say sprung. Although, now I think about it, people say “I wintered in Florida” and “we summered in the Hamptons.” Do they say “we springed in Myrtle Beach or “We sprung in Myrtle Beach.”?

I apologize. I’m exposing you to a little more of how my mind actually works than usual. Normally, I filter my thoughts a little more when I blog so that you don’t know how strange I actually am. My mind has a tendency to wonder about odd things. For example, I’ve always wondered when they change the light bulbs on traffic lights. I’ve never seen them do it but obviously, they must burn out. I could look it up online, I suppose but I like to wonder. It’s harder to wonder with the internet at your fingertips to give you an instant answer although it is convenient, I suppose.

But sometimes, you don’t want to know….you just want to come up with a fictional answer of your own. For example, a candidate was asked “Why is a manhole cover round” in an interview. This, apparently, is a question that Microsoft ask their candidates. There are all sorts of logical answers online to be found. My first response is because it’s easier for a man to climb through because his head is round. This is not the correct answer, not is it logical. The power of the internet told me how wrong I was. I don’t like finding out I’m wrong. I like to wonder things. I suppose I don’t have to look them up but, well, I’m also fond of closure so I’m compelled. This is a personal issue but along with my impatience and my CSD, I do recognize it and as I and G.I Joe always say, “Knowing is half the battle.”

Doing something about it is the other half of the battle, I think. Of course, I don’t think G.I. Joe ever explained that. He might have done but I’m not really a G.I. Joe fan. I just steal his phrases. In England, our version of G.I. Joe is Action Man. I’m not joking. Boys play with Action Man. Girls play with Sindy. We have Barbie too but the British fashion doll is Sindy. I always thought she seemed a bit of a priss but I still had one. I had a Barbie too. I didn’t really play with them. I just cut their hair, changed their clothes and then got bored and picked up a book instead. Yes, I was a nerd but knowing is half the battle, remember?

It turns out that this is a self-awareness blog on my part. I had no idea it would end up that way but, well, that’s what happens when you have absolutely nothing to blog about and end up just randomly typing. Now I’ve established that I know a) that I am impatient, b) I have Commercial Seasonal Disorder, c) I need closure and d) I’m a nerd.

I appreciate you staying with me if you still are reading. You’re very kind.

I think, however, that this blog proves that it’s been a long week and I might just be ready for a weekend, even one that is unplanned and supposed to be cold and unspringlike. Never mind, Spring will take grasp soon enough and I’ll probably be blogging about how much I hate mowing the lawn.

At least I’m consistent.

Happy Friday, have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

Muddled Days...

Do you ever have weeks where everything feels like a muddle? For me, these are weeks where my house needs cleaning but I don't have time. The table is cluttered with mail that should be sorted, the floor is messy with dried leaves that the puppies have accidentally brought in from outside by getting them stuck to their fur and even when I do the dishes, the kitchen cries out for organization?

This is one of those weeks. I haven't had time to get much done in the evenings and I'm feeling like my house is just one big jumble at the moment. My desk at work is also cluttered and just my general feeling towards life is that it's a bit complex at this present time.

I don't know why. I'm using my ever ready excuse of the change of the seasons. It's not quite autumn yet. Even though tomorrow marks the official first day of fall, it's going to be 90 degrees. It still seems like summer has her hold on us. Until she lets go, we're stuck in a pattern where we feel like it's wrong to use the air conditioning because it shouldn't be necessary and yet without it, we swelter. It feels odd to wear summer colours when summer is over but our autumn clothes are too heavy for the current weather.

It's just hard to dive head first into autumn when it's clearly not ready to be autumn quite yet. Fortunately, we are supposed to get some crisper weather next week but, for now, it feels a bit muddled.

Which, I'm thinking, is why I feel a little muddled. I've realized that, as a person, I tend to like things to be organized. I'm not fanatical about it but I like things to be simple and tidy. For example, let's take ice-cream. I find that two components are about as much as I like in my ice-cream. Mint Chocolate chip, rum raisin, vanilla, raspberry ripple…that's as complicated as I get with my ice-cream. No Rocky Road or Chunky Monkey for me. I don't really like to combine things; I think that's it. I like my salty on one side of the plate, sweet on the other. I'm one of the few folks who doesn't like salty-sweet combinations very much. I don't like to dip Oreos in milk. I'd rather eat the cookie then drink the milk.

So, you can see why I don't like this combo summer/autumn thing that's going on. It's got me in a muddle. It's either summer or autumn. Right now, the weather feels like summer but the world around me, both nature-made and human-made is ready for autumn. The clothes are in the stores, the scents and foods have crossed over seasons. It's just hard to embrace it when it's not in the least bit autumnal in temperature outside.

I suppose it's why I was always grateful to escape to the Midwest for Christmas when I lived in L.A. While it was a nice novelty to sit outside after Christmas shopping in 75 degree weather on the ocean, it never felt right. Christmas should be snow covered and cold. It should not be balmy and warm with palm trees and flowers blooming. I'm sure it's dependent on what you're used to. Me, I'm used to it being snowy and cold on Christmas.

What I'm trying to get at is that I think my current state of muddle is rather due to the fact that I can't define it as autumn or summer. It's a weird hybrid. I'm not big on hybrids. I like things to be what they are. Hybrid cars are ok but that's only because they're cute, quiet and nifty. Also, since I don't understand automotive engineering, I find hybrids to be rather magical and anything magical is ok by me.

But you get my point, right? We're still in transition of the seasons and so I'm feeling trapped in the middle. It's hard to move forward but we can't move back. This explains my state of muddle. My subconscious doesn't know what to do and thus, it's not doing anything. We're caught in a state of stasis. It's peculiar.

Perhaps if I clean my house and tidy my desk, I'll feel better. I've still been feeling like I'm missing something in my life though that feeling has been a little better lately, especially when friends have told me they understand exactly how I feel.

Still, for now, I'm sitting in a state of muddle. I need to move forward and embrace the autumn. Yet it's still 90 degrees out there.

Maybe I'll wait until it cools down. Autumn…where are you?

Happy Thursday!

Hot Days and Swimming Pools....

Short weeks at work are nice. It means that today is the middle of the week instead of only being Tuesday. It's shaping up to be one of those weeks where I just feel frustrated with my job and am starting to get the itch to look elsewhere again.

It's not that I don't like the work. I'm just frustrated with the politics. No matter what I do or what I say, I end up playing second fiddle to my coworker who seems to be able to do no wrong.

She mostly doesn't do wrong although she's a little bored at work at the moment. Thus, she goes to 'talk business' with her friends and disappears for hour-long stretches at a time. My boss doesn't notice. I know that sometimes she does talk shop but, mostly, she disappears and starts whispering with one of her friends.

I hate whispering in the office. I think it's quite unnecessary. There are enough locations throughout where people can go inside, shut the door and talk properly. Whispering incites gossip and I get fed up with that.

Still, it's not all bad. I've been busy lately which has made the days go fast. Also, it's been so hot outside that going to the office isn't so bad. It's very cool in our building on hot days where the heat index is above 100 degrees, it's nice to be in the air-conditioning, looking out on the hazy day.

It's so hot out there that it feels as there's no air moving at all. It feels like a classic summer day where all you want to do is lie on a raft in a swimming pool and float the day away. I've done that before and it's one of the pure joys of hot days. You lie on the raft, listening to the gentle lap of the water as it brushes the sides of the pool and the edges of the raft. Chances are, you got in the pool to get on the raft and so your swimsuit is wet and the last drips are evaporating on your skin. You start to get warm as you dry, the hot sun beating down on you and, just when it gets to be so hot that you're going to start sweating...plop! You roll into the pool and begin the whole process again.

When I was younger, my parents got us one of those inexpensive above-ground pools. It was somewhat flimsier than the more 'permanent' models but it held water and was deep enough for us to float. My younger brother and I were the primary users of the pool, playing and floating on a Little Mermaid raft that provided endless hours of amusement. Summers later, the pool began to leak and we got rid of it.

Sometimes, I think it would be nice to have one of those pools in my back yard now I have one of my own. Unfortunately, my back yard isn't nearly as big as my parents' and a pool would take up most of the grass. Also, I'm afraid if I did get one, the summer's day peace would be interrupted by the yapping of the Dog Whisperer's beasts.

The closest pool is just down the street at the community center. It requires a membership to use and, given that it's summer, its primary users are children. This means that it would be hard to peacefully float on a raft because if there's even enough room for a raft, it would probably be jostled and splashed by kids doing cannonballs and learning to swim.

The best floating I ever did was at a spa in California with one of my best friends. It's a wonderful place, that spa. You pay an entrance fee and you have access to their multiple pools which include saltwater, sulfer, hot springs and other spa-oriented pools and you can also get a mud treatment. My friend and I floated for hours in the pool that allows rafts, slowly getting punchier and sillier as we floated and we relaxed more than more. That was a hot summer day where it felt good to get wet and let the sun dry away the water.

Since I don't have a pool now, I can only close my eyes and imagine I'm floating. The closest I've come is accidentally soaking myself with the hose while trying to screw it to the tap a little tighter. The cold water felt good on my skin, even though it soaked my clothes. I let myself dry in the sun and the sensation was very nice and cooling. It's not a pool but it did the trick.

Sometimes, we just have to improvise. Especially on hot summer days.

Happy Thursday and stay cool!

Lazy Days of Summer

Mondays can be nice, I think. They're especially nice when you don't have to work. Since it was Independence Day yesterday, we were lucky enough to get today off. It's a lovely feeling to know that it's a Monday morning and you don't have to get up. Extra long weekends are wonderful things. I only wish we could have them more frequently.

Still, it's best not to be greedy, especially when the past extra long weekend was so nice. It was a perfect 4th of July weekend, weatherwise. It was breezy and cool-ish on Saturday; tolerable, even in the sun. Sunday, being Independence Day itself, was very hot. The coolness faded, replaced by a warm, sultry breeze that was only slightly refreshing. Even though my family is British and thus really don't celebrate July 4th, we decided to do a traditional thing and have a family barbecue.

It was my dad's idea and so he was in charge of the grill. The thing with my dad is that I think he secretely likes to compete with mine and my mum's new love of cooking. Thus, instead of just having hot dogs and hamburgers, he decided to also make marinaded steak and salmon steaks. The salmon steaks were grilled in a sauce that was Asian-inspired. He put me in charge of potato salad and guacamole.

Mostly, the food turned out ok. The salmon, I admit, was not to my taste and I think we would have been better served to keep things a bit simpler because only half the food was ready at the same time. This meant my sister, the lone vegetarian in the family, didn't get her protein- the salmon- until long after the rest of the meat was ready and she'd had time to eat all the sides.

Still, for the most part, it wasn't bad. There were a few slight annoyances. For example, my mum and I spent quite a lot of time getting the patio furniture set up so that everyone had a place to sit on the deck which was very pleasant since it's under trees and always has a pleasant breeze. It didn't just entail moving the patio furniture but meant we had to get it out of the storage shed which has a door that doesn't open. After much effort, we got the door open wide enough to get the furniture out and set it up so that all 14 people who would be at the barbecue would have a nice outdoor place to sit and eat.

We tried to tell everyone that we'd be eating outside but, alas, for the most part, everyone wanted to stay in the air conditioned house. Thus, only my older brother's family, my mother and I sat outside. I get that it was cooler inside but it was a barbecue and, well, isn't the point of a barbecue to eat outside?

Nevertheless, it was a pretty pleasant evening. My mum and I cleaned up. We don't have the type of family where people say, "I'll clean up." No, everyone sort of just...left when it came time to clean up. They actually went to sit outside.

Yes, I groaned.

Still, it was a fun, very traditional July 4th for the "American" members of our family and it's the first time we've all been together since Christmas. It's nice to see how the children play together. It's also sort of interesting to watch them fight because it makes me look back on how my siblings and I must have acted when we were young. We were always bickering as siblings. We still bicker as adults but we no longer are able to scratch or bite one another the way little children seem to do so freely. Sometimes, I think that might be best- we'd get it out of our systems instead of silently sulking and harboring resentment for something that ends up being rather silly but seems significant enough at the time it upsets us. I do think my sister would look twice if I reached over and poked her repeatedly with a sharp pointy straw the way my nephew did to his older sister though.

I did end up watching fireworks with my sister and her husband and brother and his wife. I'm the lone unmarried in my family which bothers me at times but no so much at others. Thanks to the magical Off Mosquito Fan, I didn't get bit whereas my siblings did. Yes, I was a little smug about it.

The fireworks were pretty but never seem as exciting when you're watching them as you think they're going to be. It didn't help that we had a surprise rainstorm about ten minutes before the city fireworks were supposed to start and the rain came down hard and heavy enough to flood the streets for a few minutes.

In the end, it turned out to be a pretty good holiday, even though it was hot and humid. Today was also hot but it was one of those 'lazy hazy days of summer' where it was hard to find the energy to do anything but sit outside and enjoy the breeze. My mother and I made a point of sitting on the patio furniture that we dragged out yesterday.

All in all, it as a lovely long weekend. It also is lovely because it means it's a short work week this week and another weekend isn't too far away. It's supposed to be hot again but given that it is summer, that's not wholly unexpected. It's not really unwelcomed either, despite the fact that it's not always comfortable out there.

After all, what would summer be without a little heat?

Happy Tuesday!

A Hot Weekend...

It's really hot out there. The thermometer on the bank as I drove back from my parents' said it was 93 degrees. Of course, trying to be an energy conservationalist, I turned off my air-conditioning on Friday night as I left for my parents and now, in an effort to stay sane in my house, I turned it on. I think anything I saved by not having it on all weekend is probably going to be spent trying to cool the house down. Ah well, it's starting to get cooler, at least.

I had a fun trip to my parents' though. Saturday was another citywide garage sale day, this time for a neighbouring town. I went last year with my sister and brother-in-law, my garage sale gurus. This year, my sister couldn't make it due to some pretty massive homework commitments- she's in her last weeks of school before graduating with her nursing degree. Since I've become a bit of a garage sale junkie, I ended up getting my mother to come along. She's only gone to a few in the past so I thought she should have the experience of a whole lot of them.

It was a very successful trip. I managed to spend less than $30 and I managed to get the following: a Giada DiLaurentis cookbook, some Harry Potter bookends, a Harry Potter jigsaw, an oil-filled heater, four paperback and two hardback books in mint condition, some copper butterflies to decorate my future-Tuscan-villa room, some mini mirrors in antique frames for the same room, a combination immersion whisk/blender, a plant basket and a very nice opera CD (for which I paid a whopping 5 cents). I'm sure I got some other bits but that wasn't bad going for a couple of hours work, I think.

It was pretty hot though, traipsing through the sales. My favourite one was the people who will always be "The Cat People" in my head. They had a box of books for perusal. In this box, they had two copies of How to Live with a Neurotic Cat, as well as books entitled, Talk to your cat!, How to Communicate with your Cat. Also, there were, Correcting Behavioral Problems in Problematic Cats and Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers' Soul along with Cats have Feelings Too!. Something told me that they were very serious about dealing with their troublesome cat. I don't know why that amused me but, as a dog person, I couldn't help but wonder if it was possible that a cat could be that problematic that they had so many books. Perhaps they were gifts? Who knows. It amused me.

There were also a lot of underwear people. Note to anyone selling stuff at a garage sale. It is NOT cool to sell used underwear. People like cheap stuff and I get that but, uh, it's used underwear. That is disgusting.

Still, I like citywide garage sales. You learn a lot about a town. In this one, they're hardcore romance readers. There were so many garage sales with nothing but Harlequin romances, Danielle Steel, Johanna Lindsay and all the brain-candy/trashy novels that provide escapism. However, in contrast, the citywide garage sale a while ago in my parent's town revealed that people really, really like Christian fiction and, even more prominantly, Christian non-fiction.

I had fun showing my mum the ropes. She was a little timid. I couldn't blame her. I used to be like that. Then I became a junkie and I don't mind anymore. I have no problem rifling through people's stuff when it's for sale. I hope that doesn't say anything bad about me.

The rest of the weekend was nice. Today, being Father's Day, brought my siblings to my parents. That's always fun although my older brother can sometimes be a little oblivious. He arrived at lunch time and, thinking he and his wife wouldn't stay too long, we decided to wait until he'd left to eat since they'd already eaten. Well, today, apparently, my brother was in a chatty mood. He also did a slide show of his recent trip to Japan. Long story short, we probably shouldn't have waited for lunch since by the time he left, it was almost 4 p.m. Nevertheless, it was fun to see him since I don't always get to spend much time with him. My sister and her family arrived after he left with my almost-ur-year-old niece was pretty hectic. The puppies get a little overexcited when she comes over to play. Getting them in their carrier to come home was not as easy as usual.

All in all, it's been a nice weekend even if it is hot. I had to drive through another scary storm on Friday night to get there. The sky was so purple, I thought we were going to have a tornado. As it was, we were hit with gusts of wind that blew branches in our path, gravel from the rural roads against our windows and, at times, almost blew us off the road. We forged onward and ended up having a nice weekend.

Now we're home and the house is cooling and I think it's time to see what the puppies are up to. I hate that the weekend is winding down and that tomorrow starts a week of work. This week, I'm a little afraid that the conference attendees are going to be a wee bit superior and full of their news about how awesome it was. I'm sure it was. Still, our week in the office was pretty awesome too. We wound up the Office Olympics on Friday with rubber band archery, paper plate discus, paper plane flying and guess who contests. I'm proud to say I took the silver due to my ability to flick rubber bands. I did have a former coworker who used to be a target so I have had plenty of practice. It was nice to stand up and get my medal though- as a group, we had a lot of fun.

Still, whatever the week holds, there's always a weekend at the end of it. Which is a sad thing to say on a Sunday night but, let's face it, I think we all prefer not working to working...right?

Happy Monday!

Hot Summer Days...

It was another quiet day in the office. I’d complain but I have to admit, it’s pretty nice. Tomorrow brings the start of the Office Olympics. Today, we decided to create a pre-Olympic event called “The Eating of the Ice-Cream.” There’s apparently a great ice-cream place in Cincinnati that even Oprah cites as her favourite ice-cream in the world. It’s called Graeters and I have to say, it is pretty fine ice-cream. Most of the people who sang its praises added the addendum: “It’s expensive though.”

I think I lived in L.A. for too long because a scoop of ice-cream- a generous scoop, I’ll add- was $3.25 and two scoops was $3.75. To me, this seems to be a reasonable price for a bowl of delicious ice-cream. It’s no more expensive than Cold Stone Creamery, Ben and Jerry’s or Haagan Daas. Also, it’s still cheaper than a large cup of fancy coffee at Starbucks.

It was a nice treat on a warm, quiet afternoon in the office. I’m starting to get used to the quiet. It’s nice to have freedom; all of the managers are at the conference. We’re policing ourselves which is rather a nice luxury.

I’m really quite enjoying not having half the staff in the office. The week is going quickly. Normally, I wouldn’t mind but next week, everything will return to normal. The conference attendees will return, full of information and stories and we’ll all have to listen to them. I’m sure that I won’t be the only one who will try to appear interested but wish I could just walk away because I honestly don’t care that much. It’s a sad thing but true. I’m sure that, as usual, there will be drunken evenings, stories about clients, inside jokes… the usual thing.

The rest of us will probably sit here with our own inside jokes. We’ll know who the best rubber-band archery shooter is or who can win a race by wheeling themselves in their chair down the hallway. It’s a trade-off but I can’t help but be glad I came down on this side of the trade.

Still, with the week going quickly and the weekend approaching, things are definitely looking up. The humidity faded a little this afternoon and it’s finally tolerable to be outside without feeling as though you’re going to burst into flames because you’re spontaneously combusting from the closeness of the air. It’s been horrible for the past week- damp, muggy, buggy and hot.

The puppies don’t seem to like the heat either. They run outside and within a few minutes, resurface in the living room, their tongues lolling out of their mouths to show how hot they are. They run out again and run back in again quickly. It’s a constant routine. They’ve taken to hunting the evil bunny that steals my vegetables and flowers. It ate all my swiss chard, my corn and now my lone sunflower. I see it running through the yard at breakneck speed every so often, usually chased by two little dachshund puppies. They’ll probably never catch it but they’re certainly trying.

Of course, they don’t just hunt bunnies outside. They dig holes. Rory has become a champion digger. She’s quite amusing to watch because she has a bit of a temper. If the ground doesn’t give way to her furious attempts to burrow, she starts yipping and ‘yelling’ at the dirt, clearly upset. She stomps and whines at it and then tries to bite it. She’s awfully cute and I don’t mind because it means there’s going to be less of a hole if the ground doesn’t give way.

Fortunately, she does seem to have given up digging up my plants which is nice. Instead, she digs near them instead, sometimes accidentally flattening them. If she isn’t the one to sit on them, Sookie is. She likes to watch her sister try to dig a hole. I now have several squished squash plants from Sookies’s observations.

I’m trying to train them to dig weeds which is a losing battle. We’ve had so much rain that the grass and weeds are growing way faster than I can keep up. The weeds are the worst. No matter how many I pull up, there’s ten ready to replace them. I’m trying but I’m losing. Some of them are quite pretty but others are mean little invasive things that try to choke my actual plants.

Nevertheless, summer officially starts in just a few days. It now means that I’ve made it through an entire year of seasons in my house since I moved in during summer of last year. The summer is the hardest because of the heat. It’s hard to not put the air conditioning on because otherwise, it’s just miserable. Winter was hard because of the snow but I didn’t mind the shoveling and I love snow so no complaints there. Autumn was nice with an unexpected Indian summer tucked in there. Then there was spring…that’s one of my favourite seasons and it felt like it barely got a chance to stand up between Winter and Summer before Summer kicked it out of the way and tried to take over. I’m hoping Spring wins back a little and can inflict some cooler days on the calendared days of summer but we’ll have to see.

In the meantime, I’ll take today’s lesser humidity and sunshiny day as a sign that Spring is still trying to win. Even though it’s hot, it could be way worse. Besides, today there was ice-cream to cool things down.

Ice-cream makes everything good. Having the office to ourselves makes it even better. Sometimes, I actually like my job.

Happy Wednesday!

Oh, Those Summer Nights....

It's back to work tomorrow for me after a nice long weekend. I'm currently watching three boys, probably around age nine, wheel their bicycles down the street, candy in hand, chatting casually as they stroll. For them, it's summer. There's no school tomorrow and even though they probably have to be in at a certain time, chances are that tomorrow they'll wake up and have another lazy summer day.

I miss those days. When I was in England as a child, our summer holidays were only six weeks long but that seemed like an eternity when it started. I remember waking up, the dew on the grass, not having to do anything resembling a scheduled activity. If my mum didn't have anything planned for us, I'd either spend the day reading or, if I felt like being social, I'd go around a friends and we'd while away the day doing very little of any consequence.

We lived on a crescent street which meant it was basically an open ended semi-circle. In the evenings during the summer holidays, all the kids who lived close by would gather on the communal grass outside the houses and we'd play games like Red Rover or clockworks or "It" (which is what we called 'tag' in England). Sometimes, we'd play cricket or football (aka soccer) or we'd make up games of our own. Since the summer evenings in England are much longer than they are here, it would sometimes be almost 10 p.m before it got fully dark but most of the time we were all summoned in by our respective parents just as the sun started to go down and the shadows grew longer.

Those were great days, full of ease and freedom. There were a core group of kids who'd play in the evenings- I was usually one of them along with my older brother- but other kids would join us when they were allowed. Some would also live on our street, others would be our friends from other streets. Regardless of who played, it was, as so often it seems to be when reflecting on childhood, an idyllic time.

Seeing those boys wheeling their bikes takes me back to those times. The cool of the night would be falling as we'd be going to bed. When I was too young to really play games on the street, I'd have to be in bed by 8:30 p.m. and some nights, it was still fully daylight out which made it very hard to sleep.

Nowadays, even when the days are long as they are now, the freedom that came with youth has vanished a little. As an adult, I get to make my own choices about bedtime as well as more important choices such as: Do I dare try to wire my own ceiling fan or should I wait for my dad? (answer: wait for dad). I get to choose my own meals and clothes and pretty much everything in my life. I have freedom over my life but it's not the same type of freedom found in those lazy summer evenings where sometimes all we'd do is lie on our backs and look up at the clouds to see what we could make out in their billowy forms.

I still do that on occasion although it's harder now. For one thing, I have to worry about if the grass is too long to lie on and, if it is, I have to mow it. Also, I have two puppies that can't resist a face dive if they seem me lying down within reach. I still look up at the clouds and I still can find shapes but it's not the same as lying on an English patch of grass, head to head with my friends and trying to out-cloud one another.

In some ways, I do envy those boys outside with their bikes. It would be nice to have the summer off without commitment until school starts creeping its way back into their consciousness at the beginning of August.

But in other ways, I can't help but feel glad that I'm through the adolescent years ahead of those boys and living my life the way I want. It's a tradeoff, I supposed- the granted freedom of youth vs. the earned freedom of adulthood. Being an adult is not a bad thing at all.

Of course, it doesn't mean I wouldn't say no to a summer vacation.

Happy Wednesday!

Panic-Inspiring Weather Reports....

The thing with spring is that it doesn't seem to last very long. You go from winter to spring and then, suddenly, just as you're enjoying pleasant days with balmy breezes and cool nights, summer comes creeping in, far too prematurely and steals away the balm with humidity and dryness.

That's what's been happening here. For the past week, our temperatures have been in the mid to high 80's with a ton of humidity. It means that it's hot outside in the sun and with the closeness of the air, it feels even hotter. It also means that the mosquitoes are already out in full force. I'm horribly sensitive to mosquito bites. Instead of a little bump, I get a mound that sometimes swells as much as up to an inch across. That, sadly, is not an exaggeration. Last night, during my deadly nightshade genocide, I managed to accumulate no less than six bites, all now swollen and inchy. The worse thing is that I was wearing bug spray!

Still, I'm not really complaining that much. There could be worse things. Tonight, we had a major storm, probably the first really severe one we've had this year. It was the type of storm that makes you jump with the ferocity of the thunder and the lightning feels like it's coming in the windows after you.

I was afraid for the puppies just because they tend to startle at loud noises. Ironically, they didn't seem bothered by it at all. In fact, Rory went outside to find out what the noise was all about. Meanwhile, I'm in the house trying not to jump at the thunder. I like storms but I made the mistake of putting the news on. I don't think there's a quicker way to go from simple jumpiness to complete worry than watching the local weather. They interrupt regular broadcast television to bring you "Storm Event Updates". This would be fine but weatherpeople tend to be drama kings/queens. If you're feeling even the slightest bit susceptible to worry, they bring it right out of you and have you convinced that there's a tornado forming outside your window. They breed fear with their dramatic reporting of heavy rain and strong winds. Stupid me was worried we were going to have a tornado before they'd finished their reporting. I began to worry the puppies would get struck by lightning outside because the weatherman kept saying how dangerous the lightening was. Then I was afraid they might drown because we were going to have heavy flash flooding.

The moral of the story is don't listen to the weatherman. For one thing, they're never right. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't know how weathermen/women manage to keep their jobs when they're wrong so very often. This morning, the weatherman I watch on Fox 19 Stormtracker Weather informed us all that we might want to pack our lunches because the weather was going to be horrid around lunch with the storms.

At lunch, the sun was shining and there was blue skies overhead.

Of course, I actually don't watch the morning weather because Frank Marzullo and the Fox 19 Stormtracker Weather might actually be accurate. I've started to watch it because I enjoy the moments of obvious tension between Frank and the morning news host, Rob Williams. There have been several snarky interchanges between the two men where they obviously dislike one another immensely but cover it up with a smile and a tense laugh.

It's sad but I really enjoy those moments. It makes the news more fun. Sometimes, I wish one of them would just completely lose it but I highly doubt they will. Nevertheless, I do enjoy watching Frank get annoyed at Rob because Rob dared say something about the weather. Frank does NOT like it when Rob tries to give a weather forecast. That's when things get tense. For example, Rob said something like, "It's shaping up to be a nice weekend," and Frank's response was, "Oh, are you predicting weather now, Rob?" And then there was a very tense moment of silence when you could tell Rob was trying not to leap across the studio and strangle Frank.

Sometimes, I'd like to strangle Frank. His weather reporting isn't particularly accurate and he loosens his tie rather too much. Also, he's the one with phrases like, "impulses of rain" and "pop-up fog." Still, the annoying thing is that he's become part of my morning routine and being a creature of habit, it's not likely I'm going to start watching something else in the mornings. It's the channel that's set on my TV and at 6 a.m., I'm not exactly coherent enough to channel-surf.

Still, at least he did get it right that we'd have storms at some point today. The storm is over now and the world looks flattened and wet from my window. The humidity hasn't left which leads me to think the storms aren't finished yet. I do like a good storm.

As long as I don't watch the news while they're happening.

Happy Thursday.

Life in a Neighbourhood...

It's a Monday today and, at least, it didn't feel as much like one as the past couple have. It was very sunny today- sunny and hot. We seem to have moved right out of spring into full-on summer. It's nice but it's a little humid and it means the pups are getting hot and panty as they play in the yard. Fortunately, they're enamoured with ice-cubes which makes it a quick and easy treat that keeps them busy for at least a couple of minutes.

On evenings like this, I feel as though I should be outside but it really is rather hot in the sun and there are a plethora of bugs, gnats and mosquitoes out there that seem completely resistant to my bug repellant. I find that annoying. Is bug repellant just not effective or do I have some super-hero, hybrid-bugs that are invincible. Of course, if that were true, they wouldn't get splatted whenever I discover one trying to bite me. Rory and Sookie like to catch bugs- particularly spiders. It's quite handy except Sookie tries to bring them too me when they're half-alive. I'm not terribly afraid of spiders but I don't really want them, if that makes sense.

So, I'm being lazy tonight and staying inside. I want to walk the pups but I'm afraid it's a little warm and, also, creepy possible-serial-killer-man is starting to bother me. I ran into him at Big Lots the other day and he wants me to come on by and see his 'to-mad-as' which is how he says tomatoes. While I'm happy that he has planted tomatoes, they're not particularly...enthralling to see, if you know what I mean. Also, I have rows of them growing myself. I think he was just being friendly but I'd quite like to avoid popping 'round there on a regular basis. I also feel bad because I said he could have my extra zucchini plants even though he didn't know what a zucchini was (seriously). Then I ended up finding room for them and now I don't have them. I hope he doesn't come looking for them.

My neighbourhood is an interesting place to live. There's always someone doing something. Lately, my non-dog-whispering next-door neighbours have had a lot of guests. This is not particularly remarkable except the neighbours have four cars for their household and even though they park two in the driveway and two on the street in front of their house, this means their guests park in front of my house. More unusual is that sometimes, said guests sit in their car for hours. I'm not sure why. I find it very odd but since I know they 'belong' to the neighbours, it would be weird for me to bash on their window and say, 'excuse me but you're bothering me with your sitting here and not getting out of your car. Could you leave?'...wouldn't it?

My neighbourhood- and several others around- has a new trend of mowing the grass in diagonal lines. It looks...diagonal. For me, it's way too much work since I have trouble getting my mower to mow straight lines of any kind and my lawn is on a slope. It isn't, however, a problem for the Dog Whisperer who seems obsessed with mowing his grass because he does it three times a week, sometimes in the rain. Unfortunately, he just now decided to try the diagonal mow which means that since he's a bit of a lawnmowing junkie, the last cut hadn't grown out and currently, his lawn is a bit of a crosshatch design. It looks a little wonky. I think he realized because, no kidding, he's out there now mowing and it looks like he's gone back to the horizontal mow.

The Dog Whisperer's son is an interesting little boy. He likes to shoot baskets in his little hoop which is quite a bit shorter than him. He's seven years old and is SO proud when he makes a basket that, if I'm outside, he asks me if I watched. Of course, I don't like to tell him that when you're towering over the basket, it's not that much of a feet to reach out and drop the ball in so I just nod politely and say "good job." Today, when I popped home at lunch to let the puppies out, the Dog Whisperer- off from work this week- decided to let his beasts out even though I only had a 15 minute window to let the puppies play outside. I know he doesn't do it intentionally but...sometimes I wonder. As I was leaving, Son of the Dog Whisperer was wandering down the street. He does this a lot. He's one of those kids who's always looking elsewhere rather than where he's actually going and you can actually hear imaginary 'la-di-da-di-da' as he sort of skips along. He's fun to watch because he's always carrying a stick or a light saber or a toy. Today, he made a point of stopping in front of my car just as I was about to climb in and go back to work. He said, "I live in that house with the porch back there" as he pointed...at his house...which is next to mine. I smiled politely and nodded and said, 'good job'. I think it's my new standard response. He's a sweet kid but very head-in-the-cloudsy. Also, he just seems to stroll off at any given time. I'm sure his parents know where he's going but I sometimes pass him just 'la-di-da-di-daing' at the end of the street which is quite far from home for a seven-year-old.

But it is nice to live on a street with neighbours. Even though the Dog Whisperer's beasts continue to yap continuously, I now know that it doesn't just bother me because Larry, the possible-serial-killer told me. He likes to go to the neighbours and have a gossip so I trust him on this. Even with the awkwardness that is caused by meetings with Larry, I still enjoy the fact that I have a neighbourhood now. It's coming up on a year since I bought this place and it's unbelievable how my life and priorities have changed. It's much better than living in an apartment where every spanking sounds through the floorboards and there's a stray student needing a ride to his ice-skating lessons.

Now that summers here, the neighbours are out and about and there's nothing more fun that peering at a neighbour through the window. In my family, it's a time-honoured family tradition going back at least as far as my great-grandmother who would stand at her windows and stare out, peering behind the net curtain. I found myself doing this the other night as Larry strolled by on an evening jaunt. I couldn't help it. When I realized what I was doing, I realized that perhaps its a genetic trait. Either that or I'm just nosy.

But there's nothing really wrong with that...right?

Happy Tuesday!