The Cool, Cool Days of Summer

Summer is a strange batch of cool fall-like days this year. It has been constantly cool, with quite a bit of rain and of course very little beach weather these days. July was actually the coldest on record here in the mitten state!

So what does August bode with this kind of weather in July? Can we find our way back to those hot summer days (with those occasional humid days as well!)? Most would say yes, of course we can! But for those of us who are physically affected by those hot, muggy days and nights there has been a literal sigh of relief that has risen quickly to the top of the heap with these wonderfully cool days. Cooler days mean no one is on edge, but it also means less days spent at the beach near the cold waters of Lake Michigan. Who really wants to sit in the cold, damp sand wrapped in a towel and watching the water edge closer as the waves reach out? (I sure don't!)

So, is it going to be a rush to the beach with the warmth, or will it be a season that instead focuses on what we don't have - heat - as opposed to what we do have, cool comfortable temperatures that dictate what we actually can and cannot do these days. Personally the cool day is really my kind of weather and that means some of us are enjoying this strange visitation of cool, crisp summer air.

But I hope that those who remain on the beach or dock wrapped tightly in the only warmth that available, their beach towels are enjoying the only comfort in this strange and unusual summer. Hang on! I am sure we have many warm, steamy days yet ahead this summer!

Parts of a Garden Life

I've had some requests for some pictures from my garden this year, so here they are!

This is one of my three clematis' that proved to be quite a bloomer this spring. (Ville de Lyon)

This is one of my many coreopsis in the garden.

This is one of my favorites!

(Crocosmia Lucifer)

These are my Candy Tufts.

One of the many Foxglove that I really enjoy!

This is one of my all time favorites in the spring garden. It is one of my peonies. I got a plant from a friend so I'm not sure of the name.

This is only one of Asiatic Lilies.

My Dahlias are so gorgeous this year.

A few years ago I developed a wild flower garden in a

spot in our yard that would not even grow grass. It looks great from our patio.

My garden is different and always growing and evolving each year.

These are only a few vistas that I see almost every morning over my

morning cup of tea.

Exploring My Own Front Porch Experience

Our Sunday excursion was really lovely, in every sense of the word. It began with our car winding it's way up a Northern bound road to the little town of Grand Haven. That was a bad choice of towns to visit since the Coast Guard Festival begins this week and the crowds were unbelievable! So, instead of stopping we motored on through another little burg until we found the end of a lovely lake and a place to get coffee. From there it was on to a small park with some benches where we could watch an eagle that had caught my eye.

One of the standards of my front porch experiences as a child was to watch all the birds that populated our yard and the skies above it, so birds have come to mean a real escape for me from the every day craziness. Those feathered creatures that aren't tied like us to this earth soar and dive in my imagination and spring most often from the memories from my childhood. As we followed the eagle with ours I am so eager to see the paths it follows and the circles it can makes in patterns in the sky above us.

As we sit I scan the lake below for possible prey and from where we are sitting there really isn't movement that I can see. As the great bird circles higher and then lower the pattern takes in that closer view for a small rodent or bird that might be lunch today. For many, the raptors of our skies are to be ignored or even hated, after all they eat those little birds that frequent our home feeders. For me these majestic birds are as interesting as the many species that frequent my own backyard feeders.

Don't get me wrong, I love to watch all the little feathered critters that frequent my yard and am usually part of the bird count every year. But I'm also am excited when a Copper's, or Sharp shinned hawks make a pass through my yard. I can often find them resting on a branch of tree watching my feeder area very carefully.

For me all the birds are an integral part of the well rounded backyard experience. Over the years some of the wild creatures have crept back into suburban life and on the whole that's a good thing. We actually have fox and wild turkeys that frequent our yard at times as well raccoon and possum. There have even been sighting of a coyote or two in some of the area cornfields. For many this is a source of concern, but for me it is something I've always experienced because I grew up quite a distance from any city.

To me the best part of my front porch experience often is what nature has to offer. Watching all of those creatures that frequent our yard these days are a real gift and I'm glad I can see and enjoy them many times during many of our summer evenings.

A Little Piece of My Heart

I wandered into my garden today. There were many weeds that have overtaken even some of the biggest and tallest of my flowering plants, so I spent the first part of the day weeding. There's something about the garden that can grab and hold your attention which in these days of economic crashes, and businesses collapsing is a true necessity.

Everyone should have an outlet or what I call a mad pile to work through their world's troubles. My own personal mad pile is my garden where I work out my world's frustrations during the summer months. It helps create a path back to the world and can make my life a more comfortable place to live in during tough times.

I'm looking forward to sharing some pictures of my little heaven here in my part of the Midwest in the next few months when we really need it!!!

Mediocracy, Not Multi-Tasking

Have you noticed that there are times when you write when it makes sense only to you, and when you go back to a post you really wonder what all those words actually mean and who actually put together on that page? (After all it wasn't you...was it?) As one who writes daily there are certainly times when I write and love what I put to paper, and then I go back go back to read it even after many editings only to discover that the first paragraph or sometimes the last is totally senseless!!

Does it mean that you can't write, or that you're a bit batty maybe? No, it probably means you had a great idea that happened when you were tired, or when your mind was trying to write one thought while contemplating another.

Is that normal? Yes, unfortunately it is. When we try to multi-task too often we end up adding that, "one more thing," to our daily plate and end up with a total mess. The productivity we so wish for often ends up with very little that is good copy (As with we who write know).

I am of a mind to suggest that those of us who believe we are multi-tasking are actually simply adding too much to our lives and as a result aren't doing very well at anything. We can juggle - the brain can do that, but by focusing on the many - we lose the depth that we need to do any task well, and in the end have nothing by mediocracy, and that is scary.

Front Porch Discoveries

This afternoon we put our traveling chairs in the trunk and headed off to our weekly rendezvous with that front porch experience. After wandering around a small local village that really is a great place we decided that for a quiet view of the world it just was too busy to open our chairs and enjoy watching the world today. Luckily this lovely village has a sister just down the road. We drove off over a bridge and found among the Victorian buildings in Douglas this small coffee shop. Right beside this wonderful discovery was a small side patio in the shade of some of the more stately buildings so we sat down with our drinks. This village sits so close to the busy summer hub of Saugatuck and still holds a summer surprise - a wonderfully peaceful place to relax.

From between two buildings we could see the street and any passers-by and still enjoy a quiet cup as well as a soft breeze and a sky that was puffy with clouds. That sky was the focus of much of this afternoon as we styled back in our chairs. We sat there sipping our drinks and watching some small birds that periodically dipped down to the cement flagstones that made up the patio and then up to the trees. Thier wanderings through our porch were cause for much conversation today.

The view of the quiet street from our vantage point was one of a tiny river side communitythat looked like it had stepped right out of the past except for the constant buzz of passing cars of course. This sultry warm spot shared a gorgeous view where neighbors and tourists strolled quietly together. Our undiscovered Brigadoon seemed not to have been discovered, but many artists and galleries call the town home. It amazes me that people could miss a gem of a city center with such history and charm. But I suppose with so many places along the lakeshore it's easy to overlook some of these smaller venues.

Now for many the beach or shopping is the summer thing to do but for me a place to sit and watch the quiet beauty of small town life is just the right place to be on a Sunday afternoon.

There's a Little Night Owl in All of Us

The night owl in me has been winning way too many nights lately. Once I get writing it seems to take over and I simply have to continue writing...and then re-read and edit, I mean how can you simply leave it there until maybe tomorrow since I know I might lose some great ideas! So most nights I write, and then rehash and rewrite whatever I am pounding out at the moment. By the time I'm done it almost always is around 2:00 a.m. and I need to finish my day! I'm usually off to the kitchen to finally create a lunch for the hubby and do a cursory final clean-up in the kitchen before I head off for the final tasks and and before I head off to the old softy in my life - the pillow on my lovely bed.

The alarm always rings way too soon and sometimes it is more a fuzzy alarm - you know, the kind that is like it's somehwere in another world. My dogs are known to stand by the bed to bother me when it does go off, or at times even jump on the bed to get my attention to remind me that it's time for that once around the yard trip which means they're done for the night.

For those of us who have spouse's who rise early and well before the rest of the working world with that 5:00 a.m. noise in our ears with a reminder that, "you know you should have been to bed so much earlier!" Through all the noise and commotion it takes but a few moments for sleep to finally claim me for those few hours of rest after the quiet in the house is resored once more.

I often get asked, "why are writers middle of the night marauders when getting articles or books done?" when so many can make it a day job and don't seem to be interrupted by those million and one phone calls for doctor's appointments, or other important disruptions that happen during a given day. There is a reason you know...many of us who write have to do so in small homes or apartments and must make do with our kitchen table scribblings, or living room computer visits to get the ideas in our heads and down on the page. Those small interruptions are miserable parts of a life of writing when there is no lovely isolated office somewhere else away from the center of busy family life.

The quiet of the night when most in a house are sleeping can be a very seductive siren's song that can magically give time for the brain to actually formulate thoughts without the constant disruptions that occur daily. For me, the writing nights do mean there is very little sleep while the muse has me - and little done the next day because of exhaustion.

But I wouldn't change my life for a desk job...maybe for a few more hours in the day, though.