If summer would just last a bit longer...

I can't help being sad as the days of summer rush by so fast. We've had such a lovely time so far. Plenty of lazy days at home and plenty of time with friends and plenty of time exploring and having fun. But still school seems looming up so fast.

We enjoyed a trip up to Maine for a week and tried kayaking with the kids. We couldn't help enjoying several stops for pop-overs at Jordan Pond and a little hikes. We took a mail boat ride to Isle le Haut duck harbor and hiked along the cliffs and stone beaches. My husband sketched one pastel of the coastline that I love.





From Maine we drove up to Canada and spent a week at CAMMAC a music camp west of Montreal. The kids absolutely loved it! I took one class in recorder and spent the rest of my free time crafting a bit and reading a few books.

Ahhh! Summer!

School is officially done and summer is here! Everyone had a slight adjustment to the slower pace. Lots of complaints of "I'm BORED!" But this week they are amusing themselves more and it is nice.

I am almost fully recovered from my little bout with pneumonia. Yes, I did catch this from my husband but its not surprising since I was taking care of him and sleeping next to him as he coughed for many days before we knew what was going on. Antibiotics work wonders. The lingering cough is annoying though.

My days are pretty much filled with working on my custom orders and fitting in some time with the girls too. I've stayed up late and worked on a few new things when I feel I deserve a little free time. That is the problem with custom work though. I do try and set a little free time to do whatever I feel like but sometimes this just isn't possible. But this type of work does allow me to work at home and be available to my children.


My vegetable garden is growing well and I am enjoying watching all the pretty "wild" flowers spring up in my gardens. I have a pair of Robin's nesting in my little tree we purchased this spring. The bees are happily foraging for nectar. We have left the back field pretty natural since there are so many wild flowers and clover as well. The butterflies are really enjoying it and the various milkweed plants that have sprung up. A small/baby skunk has moved into the girls "hobo" shack down back so they are a bit leery about venturing into the woods now. Well I don't blame them. The skunk has been sighted in the day time so I'm a little worried about rabies but it is a rather young skunk so maybe this is normal behavior.

Gardening

A few photos from the garden ...

hot Hot HOT!

This little heat wave took us by surprise. We enjoyed the girls dance recitals last weekend. They did very well and survived a very hot performance. I enlisted a little help from the girls this weekend to get some mowing and mulching for the vegetable garden since Dad was taking it easy -- recovering from his pneumonia.

The house has been unbearable these last few days and I have been uncomfortable working with out any cooling. We had intended to hold off on the air conditioning as long as possible in the interest of conservation but its nearly impossible to do anything let alone think in this heat. We broke down and put an air conditioner in our bedroom and one for the girls (sleepovers on hot nights). But the downstairs is still hot. My carpal tunnels is very painful recently and the heat as been a good excuse to give my hands a little bit of a rest. My doctor has recommended a hand specialist so I will be seeing him sometime this summer to see if they can improve the situation. I love to work with my hands and can't see giving this up. As it is I really have to pace myself with my work and not overdo it -- which is easy for me to do. A variety of work does help though.

Bumps along the road...

Sometimes unexpected things happen. We were anticipating a rather crazy weekend with a school lock-in, orchestra concert for the girls, my husbands orchestra concerts, meeting up with the school band in Boston at the Aquarium for a outdoor concert, and finally children's Sunday at church. This in addition to having grandma and grandpa along. But at the end of last week my husband came down with a fever and cough which has lasted over a week now. We did somehow manage to get through the weekend but without him to share some of the driving tasks I was exhausted. Both he and I got little sleep as he coughed and soaked the sheets with fever.

On Monday he finally visited the doctor but was back again yesterday because the fever just wouldn't go away and the cough seemed worse. Sure enough it is pneumonia. I was a more than a little frustrated at their not giving him antibiotics on Monday. Surely a man that has had a high fever for about 5 days with a cough might possibly have something that isn't viral. And with his medical history it would make more sense to just start him on antibiotics. Sigh. And then in the parking lot at the doctor's office just as he was about to leave... BUMP... a car backed into the side of his car. These things seem so frustrating especially when you are working so hard just to cope.

But the dent in the side of his car seems insignificant to the agony we have been going through these last few days. I think that having survived cancer twice we still worry so much whenever he gets sick. This fear never goes away though day to day life sometimes overwhelms it.

The girls dance recital is this weekend and we are excited to see them in their pretty costumes. I have been enjoying the last 2 days of rain and have spent some time admiring the pretty flowers that so quickly bloom and fade away in my gardens.

The calm before the storm...

That is what this weekend feels like to me. As the school year comes to an end we find the next few weeks and weekends are scheduled back to back and overlapped with activities. Music recitals, band concerts, dance recital, church activities, orchestra concerts, and school programs keep us busy and a little crazy. But it is fun and exciting to think that summer will soon be here.

So this weekend really is relaxing and the weather this year is cooperating nicely. My husband finished work on our blue stone patio area and I worked on the window boxes and my hypertufa troughs. I haven't put in the tomatoes yet but I did dig up most of the tarragon that was invading my herb garden. I stuck a small tarragon plant in a pot dug into the garden hoping to contain it a bit.

Work wise I have been very busy making up my little bird sets.

Exercise and allocating some time for myself.

Life is getting so busy with all the kids activities and my custom order schedule. Sometimes it so difficult to find time to relax when I have so much work I need to get finished. And sewing and needle felt work is not an active sport so my level of exercise has dwindled. I'm just going to have to set aside time to walk or garden because health-wise this is not good. So with the nicer weather I am promising to get out and walk and do some yard work.

I haven't had time to look much on the Etsy treasuries but someone sent me a nice note to let me know I was in one. I think these are so pretty.