Outside temperature: 79
Pool temperature: 70-ish
First swim of the year! At first we were just going to go in the pool just to see if we could entice Bella back in. I am still kicking myself for not pushing the right button to record when Bella jumped in and swam to Rick on Saturday. Darn it anyway! We were not successful in getting her back in with us. We bobbed around a while on our new cushy lounges while the sun went in and out of clouds. It couldn’t seem to make up its mind. I got out and Rick decided he was going to try to really get wet and swim. He was standing at what I call the “brink of no return” (where the shallow end of our pool starts dropping off gradually from 3 feet to 9 feet). He was stuck there. Trust me, it’s hard to make that decision to dunk yourself in that cold water! So, I asked him if it would help if I got in too. I walked in to meet him and my right foot went a little too far—right off the brink of no return. kerplunk. I was in the icy water. Oh well, might as well swim since I’m in! Rick was annoyed with me because he wanted to be the one who got wet first this year. Trust me, I didn’t plan it. He said the expression on my face was priceless. We swam five laps or so and that was enough. Actually it felt kind of refreshing once you got used to it.

The water so far this year is crystal clear. Last year we struggled so with algae. I hope we don’t have that problem this year. It was a real pain. We have these little bugs this time of year that we are always finding floating in the pool. They look just like a fly Rick used in Colorado for fly fishing: a wooly bugger. I was never sure about the spelling. Maybe it’s a wooly booger. They are always dry, never wet. Anyway, this is what they look like:

I have tons of foxglove that is on the verge of blooming. They must reseed themselves pretty readily because I used to only have two or three and now I have at least ten different plants coming up everywhere. I like them though so I let them go. The bees like them too.

I don’t know what this is. Something in the pea family, but exactly what I don’t know. It’s a pretty tall plant; about 3.5 feet.

The day lilies are getting ready to make their debut poolside soon. I love it when they’re blooming. So cheery and bright.

It wasn’t all sitting idle by the pool this weekend. We also trimmed the forsythia hedge into some semblance of order and the burning bushes in front of our windows have now been taken down a notch. If we let it go we would not be able to see out the windows. After living in Colorado for so long and coaxing things to grow, New Jersey sometimes feels like a jungle. I am always pulling baby trees up and the ferns are taking over the day lilies!

We had a nighttime visitor on Saturday. We had just gone to bed when Hailey and Alex started barking like crazy from the office downstairs. Rick went to investigate (Bella and I stayed in bed) and turned on the front outside light. He saw a big black shape over in the area where we feed the birds. Ho-hum, just a bear. Back to bed. He did think, however, to check to make sure we had closed the sliding doors in the sun room—we had not. Good thing he checked. But the next day while we were eating our breakfast of strawberries and fresh melon down by the pool I glanced up to see the door to the basement standing wide open. Uh oh. (It’s our habit to leave the door open when we are outside with the dogs in summer. They get hot and go in to the basement to keep cool and out of the sun.) Bravely I went in to check it out. No bear. whew. But how stupid to leave the door open all night! I’m sure the bear would enjoy cozying up in there without our knowledge! I think we need to do a full door check before going to bed from now on.

Bella says:
hey mom, you and dad can go in that big water bowl as much as you want but I think i’ll stay on the sides and look cute. don’t the new flowers make a lovely backdrop for my head?

hello to all my adoring fans out there. i know you’ve been waiting to see me post again. mom has sort of taken over for me since she got a new keyboard and the keys are smaller. i’ve been growing and growing and being really really good and then being really really bad. anyway, you don’t want to hear about the bad things, really you don’t. i think they love me anyway but sometimes it’s hard to tell like when mom’s face gets all red and steam comes out of her ears. like yesterday when she came out of the grocery store to find i had pulled up and chewed on the carpet in the back of the truck. oops.

anyway i’m supposed to be telling you about the pool ...

here’s the thing: i really really really really like water. i’ve always had my front feet in the water bucket and i like to stick my head below the water level to drink. it’s just what i do. mom and dad found an old kid’s wading pool under the deck where pool junk is stored that was left behind by the people who used to live here. it had some holes in it so dad fixed it up with black stuff. i liked it! just like a big drinking bowl. cool. but i tried to get the black stuff off.

then they opened up this really really big thing with water in it. i’ve been running over the top of the cover that was on it all winter long. mom always yelled at me when i did that but it was fun. i knew they were doing something out there in the yard with the thing last week and i couldn’t wait to go and see what it was. the minute mom opened the door i ran right down to it. i drank it. yucko! tastes funny. i pawed at it. i almost felled in. twice. mom and dad thought i would for sure just jump right in but i didn’t.

a couple of days after that mom and dad put this other cover over it. it looks like water but it isn’t. anyway, mom and dad were outside the pool area weeding and they heard a huge splash. when they looked up they saw me fly out of the pool by the stairs with my tail between my legs. i was totally wet. i know what happened but they don’t. they don’t know if i jumped or fell in. i know and i’m not tellin. i ran and ran and ran around the yard with water flying off of me. i was cold!!!!! i didn’t stop running around for a long time. i don’t know if i’ll try that again. it was scary.

then they put this funny thing in there. it moves around and it tried to get me but i barked at it and told it what-for. mom says it’s cleaning the pool but i don’t care. i don’t like it much.

i’m sure i’ll have more adventures with the pool this summer. i might even really get in if mom and dad are in there too. i still can’t figure it out. but i will. don’t you worry.

UPDATE! Saturday afternoon.
i did it! i wented in the pool! dad got in and called me to him and i jumped right in and swam to him. dad caught me and held me for a minute then turned me back the way i got in. i doggie-paddled as hard as i could to get out. i didn’t run around after i got out like i did last time either. mom had her little camera that takes moving pictures but she forgot to push the button. so .... nothing to show for my few minutes of glory. mom is dumb. but i will probably do it again. it wasn’t too bad!

I hereby declare firefly season open as of tonight. They may have been here a few days ago, I don’t know for certain. But as of tonight —  they have arrived. Whether or not it was due to the fact that I mowed the grass today or not, they seemed to be drawn to it tonight. Rick saw the first one. We were sitting out by the pool having a late night glass of wine, tiki torches lit. We went down into the yard to get a closer look.

As dusk descended around me I sat in the newly mown grass, knees drawn up to my chest, my arms wrapped tightly around them. Fireflies flickered on and off all around me. I sat there in perfect silence just watching. Mesmerized by their flashing lights. Winking so close to my body I could reach out and catch them. But I didn’t. I just sat and watched. A peaceful kind of joy dropped like a protective cloak about me as if nothing in this world could touch me outside of its custody. I was immune from everything happening in the world just then. Just me and the fireflies. They certainly didn’t care, why should I?

I find fireflies magical beings. I am so glad they have arrived for their brief stay here in my New Jersey back yard.

This morning I saved two toads from drowning. It’s true. I did. I love toads. Last year I didn’t see any. When I went out to skim the pool this morning I found a toad floating face down in the water. Oh no! I thought it was dead but when I touched him with the skimmer he moved, albeit feebly. I fished him out and put him somewhere safe. Here he is.

It took him awhile to gather his strength back again, but he finally managed to hop off. I think it’s the same kind of toad that we had the summer before last. The Golden Toad, as I called him.

As I worked my way around the pool I filled my skimmer with caterpillars and lots of spiders. When I got to the opposite side I found another toad, this time a different color. He too was doing the dead man’s float and I thought for sure he was a goner. I scooped him up gently and he moved! Again, I placed him where I thought he was safe from Bella and he too eventually hopped off into the yard.

So, two toads saved. Do you think I’m strange for liking (and sometimes kissing) toads?

Oh yes. Did I mention the pool is open? Yesterday was the first day. Bella did not jump in (thank goodness) but did have some cute encounters with it. She is working on her own blog entry to come soon complete with pics and video. It might be open but we won’t be swimming for awhile. The temperature stands at 60 chilly degrees. brrrrrr!!!!! Hopefully we’ll get some sun next week and the solar cover will help to keep in whatever warmth we might get out of it. We’ll be patiently waiting ...

Well, okay, it’s not technically summer yet but this weekend we made our preparations as best we could. It was a beautiful weekend weather-wise for doing things in the yard.

We put the screens and curtains up on the poolside cabana, brought out the umbrella and the deck lounges and chairs. (Pool not open yet, but hopefully this week!)

I planted some pots.

I did a lot of weeding of the back flower beds. In doing so I discovered two very different columbines. At least I think they are a variety of columbine since the leaf is the same. They are both in different flower beds and very far apart. Here is the double one.

And this one doesn’t open any more than this but has many layers. Anyone have any ideas? They were not there last year and I certainly didn’t plant them. ? Maybe I pulled them up last year in a fit of zealous weeding but they had dropped seeds the year before?

We planted marigolds in the front flower bed. We planted our kitchen herbs in the old dry sink which join the already planted and potted tomatoes on the deck. I am hoping for a great harvest of patio and cherry tomatoes this year.

Last year we didn’t plant tomatoes because we got such a late start with our trip back to Colorado in mid June. This year we decided to stay home for June since it’s such a lovely time of year here and the pool really suffered while we were gone. Plus, we missed some quality pool time, not to mention firefly season! So, this year we’ll do our cabin trip in September instead.

Water dog Bella had fun with her wading pool this weekend too. She is always sticking her feet and head in the water bucket, so we thought she’d enjoy having a bigger water feature.

...testing, testing ....

hey, this is fun ...

i think there’s a bone in here somewhere ...

I have no idea what’s going to happen once the pool is open. I know she’s going to end up in it at least once. Oh boy.

We went to the Warwick farmer’s market and bought fresh baby lettuces, scallions, radishes, bread, cheese, and a mini quiche for our Sunday lunch. Yum. I’m glad the market has started back up again. It’s a summer tradition for us and one that we love.

So, we had a busy weekend but it felt good to get things done. We ended the weekend with one of our favorite meals last night: grilled artichokes and lamb chops “scotta dita” (or burned fingers because they sell them on the streets of Italy and you just hold them by the bone and eat them quick while they are hot!) while listening to the cool vibe of Bossa ‘n Stones, (the Rolling Stones hits done with a bossa nova beat) which we discovered while eating in a restaurant in San Miguel.

I hope you all had a great kick-off weekend to the beginning of summer!

Tomorrow I’m taking you back to San Miguel again. I certainly hope you’re not getting bored with your armchair vacation ...