It’s hot. Just a few short days ago I was wearing my capris. Now it’s strip down time! Whew ... today was in the low 90s and sweltering. I knew when I got up this morning and the sky was sheet metal gray with a fine haze lingering in the woods. A strong signal for humidity and hot weather ahead.

I am all alone right now with Rick on a business trip in L.A. I don’t really envy him since he said it was smoggy, crowded,  and hot there, but I do miss him. I haven’t left the house (via car) in two days. I don’t think the dogs are going to want walkies tonight since as I type at 6:30 p.m. the thermometer still hovers at 88 degrees F. Ouch. They would burn their little tootsies on the pavement! I am eating off of what is in the fridge and cabinets and doing rather well. Tonight since it’s so hot I am having a fresh Jersey tomato sliced, with a drizzle of olive oil and seasoned with lots of salt and pepper, and an avocado. Oh yes, and fresh basil grown right here on my deck and a shave or two of Asiago cheese on top of those luscious tomatoes. A glass of white wine added in never hurts either.

Today I couldn’t help but jump in the pool for some serious pruning of fingers and toes. I tried reading on the lounge in the sun but I started to sizzle after about 15 minutes or so. The pool welcomed my over-heated body into its cool depths.  ~ aaaaaahhhhhhh ~  The pool water has a different odor this year. Last year I’m certain that we weren’t putting the right thing in and it always smelled a bit like chlorine. This year it smells like a hotel pool, so I think we’ve finally gotten it right. It certainly is crystal clear.

After a few laps I hopped on the float and just vegetated, letting the current that the pool pump generated move me slowly around the pool. On occasion I would bump ever so gently into the side of the pool giving enough oomph to set me adrift in a different direction. My path was slow and languorous, allowing me to view things in slow motion. The day lilies drifted by in a haze of orange.  bump  Then came the view of the dense canopy of green all our lovely trees cast.  bump  Another view I can’t even remember now. My hands dangle in the cool water. Some bird is using its shrill call to send morse code. Ack! Something swam into my hand, fluttering against the palm and brought me out of my reveries. A bee of some kind which I quickly fling to the side of the pool. Okay, after a slow float around the pool for about 15 minutes, I’m ready to finish my laps and go back into the cool air-conditioned house.

Back inside I finally take my shower for the day. The dogs loll around with no ambition to go outside in the heat. We all watch a movie. Something about the behind scenes of the Partridge Family. Hmmm…how many of my readers remember this show? It’s nostalgic for me because I was the teeny-bopper audience they were looking for. I had the definite hots for David Cassidy. Big time. I had all the Tiger Beat magazines with him on the cover. 

“I think I love you ...” [he sang ...]

Now I wonder why I found him so attractive. Actually, he came off as being quite “girly.” I was only thirteen, so I guess I can cut myself a bit of slack here. But really. What was I thinking?

Dinner was delish.

We had a bear visit this morning. Check out the Bear Diary for the latest entry!

Thanks to all of you for your caring thoughts and wishes. It was like getting a caring cyberhug in return. I am feeling a bit better and not as strung out. I have to get a handle on my emotions and not allow the actions of other people to contort my life so. Really, should I be making myself miserable over events that I cannot change and that are beyond my control? Wasting precious moments of life being depressed? I think not, but it’s so hard not to fall into the same pit time after time. Maybe I can blame it on my cayenne temper from the Italian side of the family. Then again, maybe not ...  I am going to try and do a better job of keeping emotions in check.

The stress brought on another scary incident of sleepwalking on the night we learned about the cancelled contract on our Colorado house. I haven’t had one in a few years, and they are creepy. I found myself opening doors in the hallway outside our bedroom, looking for the bathroom which of course is not in that direction. I even picked up the gate we lean against our bedroom door opening to keep the dogs in with us at night and placed it across the stairs instead. Of course, I didn’t realize it until morning dawned and it was time to go downstairs that I had even done it. I don’t remember going through the gate the first time, but I do remember fussing with it on my “return” trip. I don’t like sleepwalking!

In the meantime, our weather has been delicious—cool, sunny and non-humid. I think that’s about to change this week with temps in the 90s and the return of humidity. Pool time! The day lilies that surround the pool are now blooming (see above), the phoebes are adding to their nest in anticipation of a new crop of babies, we now have a red fox prowling the neighborhood, and I have a wonderful supportive husband who understands my dark, stormy moods. All in all, life is pretty good. So what if we go broke?

Yes, that’s right. For now I won’t be posting for awhile. I need time to think and contemplate on recent happenings in my life. After the second failed contract on our house that we just learned about tonight, I am totally and utterly discouraged and depressed. I have nothing to add to anyone’s else’s life at this time. I need all my resources for myself or I might go a bit crazy.

I don’t know what people want anymore. I can’t figure out the total greed that consumes people these days. A buyer’s market must translate into let’s see how much we can wring out these sellers. Well folks, I can tell you that this particular dish rag is bone dry. Please, wring it out of someone else. I am completely dry.

If you read my blog and can wait until I return with my sanity, please hang in there. If not, I’ll understand. Since I only have a handful of people that comment on an on-going basis anyway, maybe my blog entries won’t be missed too much. I just don’t have the energy or creativity to continue right now. So sorry… To my loyal readers—thanks and I love you all! Cyberhugs! Check back in a week or so ...

No filters, no adjusting in Photoshop; just the way this photo came out! These small, white butterflies are everywhere in our flower beds. Everything about them is white, even their legs and antennae.