Summer is passing

Tomorrow is the last day of July, and I have blessedly little scheduled in August. It seems this has not been a summer of leisure but of appointments, to-dos, travel, and uncompleted tasks. I'm very happy to say I've gotten one sweater almost finished (the knitting is done!), the yard is taking shape, and I've spent some good time with friends. All in all, it's been a good summer, even though it has seemed hectic. 

August is going to be a month for me - to get some good, healthy patterns and routines established (eating better, exercising, maintaining my house, getting some more projects done). I'm very much looking forward to it. Nothing major - just taking care of me and mine.

Ah, summer - those hot days when all I want to do is stay cool. Got to keep moving, though. So much to do - so little time. So many lovely hikes, gardens to enjoy, sunsets to watch, picnics to take. All that lovely stuff! Ah, summer!

New start

Well, July is 1/2 over as of tomorrow, and I'm just now getting started on my big summer project. The house my husband and I recently moved into has nothing growing in the yard except dirt and weeds. Observe the beautiful yard we bought! ;-) Not even very many weeds. I have volunteered to landscape the whole thing. I love to garden - to research what plants will grow here in our short, but somewhat hot summers, what will tolerate the very intense sun, what will do well with very little watering. I made my plan, made a list of plants I wanted, found the best deals and today bought my plants! Very exciting!

All I have left to do is buy soil amendment, work that into the ground, build up my slightly raised beds, move the rocks into place, and then my lovely plants can go into the ground. I sure hope this turns out looking nice. You can be the judge as I make progress. 

Hautacam morning

Tim and I got up at 5:00 a.m. to watch today's stage of the Tour de France live. As usual, it was a wonderful morning! We love doing this - getting up before the sun, first thing making a pot of coffee, and watching the riders work their way up and down some gruesome mountains. There's something very magical and intimate about doing this. We've done it for years and it brings us much joy. Can't really express it!

The Tour is progressing in its usual way with great battles, unexpected stage wins, amazing cooperation between riders, teamwork of an unusual kind, sacrifice, suffering, nobility - all the stuff that makes us cycling fans. On with the show!

Questions

The little, downtown church my husband and I attend had a women's retreat in the mountains this weekend. It turned out that only 5 of us went, but that allowed us to have really nice, intimate conversation. I enjoyed my time with the ladies, but seem to have returned home with more questions than answers. 

What might God be calling me to give up in my life, turn over to him? 

Since God encourages us in the Bible to tell him the desires of our hearts, when does one stop praying for that desire and just say, "God, do whatever you want. I will be at peace with that."

How do I work with God to change unhealthy habits and thought processes that seem to be deeply imbedded within me? How do I work on transforming my mind?

How do we really build intimate, authentic, very personal community with each other within the scope of both new and already established relationships, our busy lives, different personalities and priorities? When does this effort go from trying to foster community to forcing the issue?

How much of my spouse's undesirable personality traits (or just plain bad habits) do I try to influence for the better? Am I completely without responsibility for him if we are supposed to be a team, and I believe that God has called me to be his help-mate?

All this stuff is floating around today. I'd better spend some time thinking, praying, studying on some of these questions. I think, too, I'd like to have some conversations with other women about these things and see what they have to say. Send me your thoughts. I'd love to read them!

Look what I did!

Well, I'm actually getting to work on the house...just like I said I needed and wanted to. I have to admit - I am quite proud of myself for this first task I've accomplished! 

At the back of my house, I have a lovely sunroom. Really, it is a greenhouse attached to the house. It has windows that only open partway, a ceiling full of skylights, and has no insulation. Only problem with this is that in the summer it is like an oven...and all that heat soaks into the rest of my house. You see, the doors between the sunroom and the kitchen are interior quality French doors - quite pretty, but very little insulative value. What did I do? I bought a very inexpensive quilt ($6.00) at a discount store, cut it into curtains and hung myself 2 insulated curtains. I think they are quite pretty, and they're making about a 15' difference in my kitchen on hot summer afternoons! Yeah, me! On to my next project. ;-)