Outside My Window ~ 7.14.2013

Outside my window…today is hot and humid.  We have had intermittent sunshine and cloud cover but the heat has remained consistent.  At approximately 2:30 it is 85°F but feels like 92°F ~ humidity is 71%.  We had a dry, hot week until Thursday which saw heavy rains that afternoon, rain again on Friday and more heavy rain Saturday morning and early afternoon.  Our chance for rain this afternoon is relatively low at 20%, but then I have seen pouring rain when our chance was only 30% so hard to say.  I can see dark clouds outside my window looking East but there is plenty of sunshine right now.  I wouldn’t be surprised if there were pop up storms this afternoon.  This coming week has been forecast to be a hot one with temperatures hitting a high of 96°F by Thursday and little chance of rain all week.  Looks like I will be doing some evening watering by mid week if I want to keep the plants I transplanted during 4th of July weekend alive.

I am thinking…while we are moving into some of the hottest days of the summer how much I use to really look forward to the summer….time off from school for the girls and long days at the beach on the weekends. Before kids, there was backpacking, camping and road trips.  It has been a long time since I went backpacking or camping…as the girls have gotten older they are off with their friends now….and I don’t spend long days at the beach any longer.  I found myself taking a stroll down memory lane some this past week and have come to the conclusion that while they can rekindle some fabulous memories, sometimes the luggage you gather on those strolls can leave you with a heavier than normal heart.  Where did the time go?

Did you know…that you will have the ability to purchase selected prints from my website after Monday, July 15th?  I will also have note cards available.   If there is something you have seen on this site that you would like to see available, please let me know.

From my kitchen…was an excellent breakfast of white grits and eggs with some tomatoes.  Funny story….in an effort to improve my food photography, I will take shots of things I prepare.  Plate prepared, set up my white reflectors and I get ready to take the shot when one of the reflectors falls over into the plate….just perfect.  😐  Fortunately the reflector was actually a white canvas that still had the plastic wrap on it so I wiped it off and reset so I could take the shot anyway….you can tell it looks flattened out, even broke one of the yolks ~ but it was delicious.  🙂  Over easy eggs, white old time grits and pieces of the most delicious grape tomatoes I have had in some time….

I am glad I can still find some delicious strawberries too…

….and I revisited a sandwich I use to make a lot when I lived in Colorado except I used and English muffin this time instead of some good bread.  Mash an avocado and put on toasted bread (muffin), top with sharp cheese and place under the broiler just long enough to melt the cheese.  Top with tomato, sliced or chopped, and alfalfa sprouts.  It is delicious….

I am glad…that I have the major part of my garden work over with.  Trimming bushes, weeding and removing some low hanging limbs were the bulk of my chores over the July 4th weekend.  I was off on Thursday and I took an extra day off on Friday to give myself a long weekend.  I spent three to four hours Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning doing yard work…I took Sunday off, mainly because I felt like I had been hit by a train.  🙂  I generally began my work at around 7:30 or 8:00 each morning but it didn’t take long for the heat and humidity to make it miserable.  I struggled to get what I wanted to accomplish complete.  I have a little bit more to do but for the most part I am done for the summer.  I’m disappointed I didn’t get my morning glories planted this year….I waited a little too long and decided I wouldn’t plant them this year…next year for sure.  I saw some that grow wild along the road that Turbo and I walk down blooming this morning and it made me long to see mine covering my fence.  Next year for sure.

I am hearing…the ticking of my many clocks…..Mystic River on television ~ a great movie in my opinion….the quiet hum of the ceiling fan.

Plans for the week include…working from home on Tuesday….preparing the website….drafting and putting on paper a few new composites that have been floating around in my head before they are gone…trying to stay cool.

One of life’s little pleasures…finding Maryland crab cakes and lobster tails on sale for an extraordinary price at The Fresh Market and deciding that I would treat myself to a fabulous dinner on Sunday.  I can’t wait!  🙂

From my camera…is a capture of what has been a tradition the past few years ~ this years Summer Solstice sunset….and the approach of the June 13th storm ~ one of the wildest storms I have had to drive through in some time by the way.  I had a similar photo on Facebook ~ these were taken at the same time, one with my iPhone and one with my 60D.