"I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying."
- from John Masefield's "Sea-Fever"
In winter I get up at night,
and dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
-Robert Louis Stevenson
With a dinner party in the works for tomorrow night, I had a list a mile long today. Somehow I only managed to conquer about a quarter mile. Meaning I will be dead sprinting the last 3/4. While my guests aren't likely to check the tidiness of the junk drawer, I will be able to draw comfort knowing it is reorganized. And who knows, if things get boring, I can always lure them in to take a peak at it. But let's hope it doesn't come to that.
I did manage to get a couple of Amelia's new (old) Barbies' hair restyled...
Again, let's hope the conversation at our party doesn't turn to doll hair. But just in case it does, I have plenty to say on the subject, along with some visuals.
Aside from the junk drawer, Barbie beauty shop, and 10,000 loads of laundry, our Friday was mostly uneventful. We did, however, do up our Friday night the best way we know how...
...grilled Georgia boys escorted by pickled okra with a fine sporting event (water duels) going on in the distance.
Bring on the weekend!
Being the warm weather birds that we are, you can bet your bottom dollar we are thriving in this summer's delivery of hot and hotter. With our air conditioning hardly a match against near triple digits, we are beating the heat the best way we know how ... cold water straight out of the house. Add in some galvanized tubs from the hardware store and that is how we are spending our days. I got creative this year and bought a bifurcated hose connector so that Jack and Amelia each have their own hoses. It may well be one missed opportunity for a good lesson in sharing, but my backyard grass has never been greener. :o)
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the grilling we (Mike) has been doing.
I will definitely miss our back porch when we leave. It is certainly not anything fancy. But we have a covered portion of the porch that has a large ceiling fan ... large enough to keep both the heat and bugs at bay. We eat dinner out there most evenings, and Mike and I sit back while Jack and Amelia duel it out with the hoses till the lightning bugs come out. After they have caught (and likely killed or badly injured) 10 or so, we decide it's best for both the lightning bug population and Jack and Amelia that we all come in for the night.
One of my favorite parts of summer ... the cicadas. Do y'all love their song as much as I do??
A long time ago (LONG ... like, when I was in the fifth grade long ago), I found some that were just about to "hatch" from their brown casing. Having never seen this stage, I jarred them (with holed lids, of course) to take to school with me. Wouldn't you know I set those jars on the dryer in the garage and momma ran a load of laundry that evening ... and well, I fried those little guys. I found them the next morning, melted at the bottom of those mason jars. So, naturally, I feel I owe the entire species a little adoration.
August feels like such a special month to me. Maybe because it is the last month of summer, and I want to savor every moment of the fleeting season. There is no denying that late summer has a special charm all its own. I'm trying to finish all of the things on our "summer list" ... and I'm only about halfway through!
I have so many things I want to cram in before the summer's end. I'm on a mission! :o) I also had challenged myself to BLOG EVERY DAY for the month of August. And, well, I missed the first day. So I will put that on my list of things to work on ... alongside of the item:
Learn to take decent pictures with a tripod.
Oh, well. As my daddy would say, "Speak at ya tomorrow." ;o)
The Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite times of year, probably because it is smack dab in the middle of the best season of all the year (summer) and because I consider myself very patriotic. Though I will be the first to admit to taking for granted (and sometimes not even recognizing) my freedoms all too often.
(Old vintage schoolroom flags ... love these!)
We had friends over for the day for grilling and fireworks. The kids played in the water and on the slip 'n slides, while we all got to visit. We fixed ribeyes and my favorite grilled chicken with a maple-bourbon glaze. It is the best!
The adults also played MR. FREEZE!
It was enormously entertaining! Everybody draws a slip of paper, all of which are blank except one that says "Mr. Freeze." Mr. Freeze then has to freeze at some point, and each person freezes as soon as they notice that he is frozen. The last person who notices must (fill in the blank) . Then we would collect and redistribute the slips of paper for the next round. It sounds so simple (well, um, because it is), but it is very fun. :o) I wish I had pictures of people playing the game, but I was either laughing too hard or frozen (and trying not to laugh too hard). I must point out that Mike was almost always the last to notice. And I may or may not have told him that explains a lot. Ha! I love him. :o)
THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO SECURE AND PROTECT OUR FREEDOM!
We have had a sweet start to summer. As much as I want to be in my new home now, I am trying to be patient and enjoy the rest of our time here.
Amelia's dolls are dressed in their new summer "frocks." ;o) She is content to play with her dolls for long stretches of time. When I listen in, I can be sure that I will hear that one of her "girls" is having a birthday and the rest are in the throes of party planning. It is precious. She is precious.
Jack is not getting near enough pool time to suit him. He is constantly asking me to take him to the pool. Getting him ready for the water is quite the ordeal, because he requires just about every flotation device known to man to keep him afloat and right-side-up. I was always against using any time of aid in the water, on the basis that I didn't want my children to have a crutch. However, Jack is so very fearless and so very non-buoyant that I deemed it a major safety hazard to let him go without. While he is in the water, I am usually able to sneak a couple "crutches" off and force him to work. He does well, and I have no doubts that he will grow into a great swimmer!
A few weeks ago, we ventured up to BGKY to visit The Clubb House ... Uncle Derrick, Aunt Kiki, and Baby Neely. Kiki and I made every effort to get some cute pictures for the grandparents ... and this is most of what we got.
Amelia cooperated for a short period of time. Jack was more interested in all the swords (large sticks) that had fallen from the recent storm. Neely was just in awe of the other two.
Love this Bitty Girl!
If Neely could talk, she likely would have been saying, "Well, I never..."
I got a couple comments about where we were eating barbecue in Austin.
Yes! It was Salt Lick ... and wow! It was amazing! We will definitely be re-visiting this joint. I had never heard of it, but apparently I was the only one who hadn't, because on Saturday evening it was packed! So much so that the sheriff was there directing traffic into the gravel lot.
Against all of my begrudging and protests (and trust me, they were many), summer has come to an official end. And with that comes the end of watching my babies' sweet feet walk across weathered, painted wooden platforms at our swimming hole. Their sweet summer feet...brown as biscuits on top with sugar-white soles. Maybe it will be a short winter. :o)
We are cooking up a shin-dig this weekend for a very special guest of honor!
More on that later... ;o)
I hope y'all have a good, good, hot, summer weekend! Make it count! Don't forget there are only 19 days left to wear your white linen!! ;o)
That was my initial thought when I came across a collection of sliced seashell at one of my little shops the other day.
I really have no clue what the intentions were for them, but I knew how I wanted to use them.
At the table...
A couple years ago, Mike's aunt was so sweet to give me a beautiful set of pink hemstitched napkins that belonged to her mother. I like how the pink pulls out the naturally-occurring pink tones in the shells.
And I think it would be only fitting to serve something pink and beachy ....
... a tried and true shrimp salad from none other than The Queen. ;o)
I should not be the least bit surprised if both babies sprouted gills. Jack Jack has full intentions of testing that theory...
He must have heard me blogging about him, because he is up from his nap. Back to the pool we go! ;o) Hehe!
