Covid Journal, Day 84: Taking a Day Off, and Gardens

70 in the morning, with heavy humidity again. This is getting so tiresome.

I am tired of sweating. Yesterday I sweated working in my booth, then came home and sweated doing housework. Later in the evening I worked in a flowerbed, and was sweating so heavily I was literally soaked through and my eyes on fire from sweat dripping in them. I am tired of sweat dripping off my nose, running in my ears and down my legs. And it's not even summer yet.

So today, I took a day off. I did no outside work at all. I washed floors and did some other housework, sorted and put away a lot of clutter that had built up over the last week. I did an ebay listing or two, did laundry and dishes and just generally puttered. The only outside thing I did was to spray paint a bench for the garden. Then I spent the rest of the day in my rocker on the porch, reading. It was fabulous. I can't remember the last time I spent so much time reading in the daytime. I've been reading Midwinter Break (the link will take you to a review) by Bernard MacLaverty, a book recommended by Pat on her Weaver of Grass blog. It was a good read, well-written and insightful. I have a book of his short stories, also recommended by Pat, to read soon.

In this hot and sticky weather we could of course turn on the air conditioners, but we've had a long-running tradition of not turning them on until the temperature is 90 or over. While it's been close, we haven't reached that mark yet, even though the humidity makes it feel like it has to be 100. But if we sit on the porch under the ceiling fan, it's comfortable and even pleasant. So that's that I did today.

Larry did not join me. He had things he wanted to do. He worked a little in the garden, then ran to town to get supplies because guess what? A friend is giving us some baby meat chickens! So he got a place fixed for them in the chicken house and went to buy feed, a chick waterer and a feeder. Then he visited with a neighbor for a few hours. Larry feels comfortable going out now, and I am not as concerned as I was, but I still prefer to stay home if possible. When he came home he did some work with the weedeater. For both of us, it was a fairly low-key day.

I took my camera out for a walk through some of the gardens this evening. Here's how June is looking around here:

The little bench I painted today. It's nothing special but looks nice in the garden. That's piece of petrified wood in the planter--found it in a friend's driveway.

The old-new flowerbed I've been working on. It's really an overhaul of a sad space that I have tried to develop for years. Trying one more time. Larry helped me assemble the planter "wall" with cut stones and concrete planters. Then I had to build a barricade around the small new plants to keep our cat from using it as a litterbox. Fingers crossed it works!

The pink poppies have been outstanding this year. They are a bit of a challenge as they're annuals. So I have to leave the ground alone until they are up and a fair size before I can weed. It's worth it though.

A clove pink peeks out of its hidey hole between lamb's ear and iris.

This is wild yarrow. It came up in this garden by itself and I've just left it, even though it's really too tall to be in front. But it's just so pretty.

The daylilies are beginning to bloom.

I like the way the asparagus is bending over the fairy in the garden. I didn't plant the asparagus, it's another volunteer.

 I planted the red climbing rose last year. I hope it spreads along the fence.

Larry's melon patch on the left, and the new lettuce coming along in the bed on the right.

My work with the power washer paid off--the walks look a lot better, although could use more washing, and some of that concrete bleach. Maybe next year.

The chunks of glass are what we dug up in another friend's driveway. There used to be a glass factory in the building they live in. There must be hundreds of marbles, mostly broken, in their driveway. So strange. The stone is a chimney stone, which was in the roof of the last log cabin we dismantled. You can read a funny story about this stone here.

Mother Mary presiding over a pot of zinnia seedlings.

Another shot of the beautiful yarrow.

Tomorrow I'll get back out there, but today's respite was a needed break.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.