Mandrake of Simmer

I spent another hour and a half today weeding, picking some beans, and watering things. That may have been overdoing it, because it was really hot today. However, I did have enough purple pod beans to cook for dinner as a tasty addition to the leftovers, also tasty. My pea vines, defying the hot weather, showed up with another little clutch of pods, too. You guys are awesome!

This evening, we met with our friends from church for the first time in ages. We brought our own chairs and refreshments and sat at an appropriate distance around a fire container in our host's driveway. I brought a thermos full of ice water. One of our friends apparently decided he could save money by buying a gallon jug of vodka and mixing his own coolers with cranberry juice. I think everyone over the age of 16 knows that vodka and juice is a mocker and very deceptive. Certainly that proved again to be the case tonight. Perhaps our middle-aged friends had forgotten how easy it is to suck down more than you really intended. It was all fine until they decided they should go home. The husband confessed he had gone in the back yard to smoke, tripped over the rock garden, and broke his glasses. So his wife was going to have to drive. Not only does she have really bad knees, but she was at least two sheets to the wind to his three. Our host's house is 10-15 miles out of town, but our inebriated comrades don't live far from our neighborhood, so we offered to drive them. The host will bring their car over tomorrow. So we've done our good deed for the day. It was mildly amusing. It's been a long time since we had to confiscate anyone's car keys. Normally the gatherings we attend are more sedate. I think covid-19 quarantine is wearing everybody down. Oh, and for any anxious friends and family who may be reading, we all had masks on in the car, and the windows were rolled down. (FYI you can still smell vodka through a mask!) It was nice but weird to see everyone under these circumstances. Anyway, we're glad to be home now.

Rattlesnake of Simmer

Probably the nicest thing about today was waking up at seven and being perturbed because the promised rain hadn't come, and then hearing the wind announce its arrival just a few minutes later. There was a gentle grumbling and rumbling of thunder, and several waves of rainfall. The temperature dropped back into the 80s--very welcome. It was a good reason not to go out in the yard today, but I didn't do any of the jobs inside that I'd thought of. I was grumpy and sleepy. The Sparrowhawk took a shower, and something about that process caused water to go through the ceiling and into the downstairs bathroom just below. This is a problem. I felt that low-level twist of frustration and panic because I don't know what's wrong. I hate it when you have to trust the people who come to fix things, and have no way to know if they're right or not. Also, under current circumstances, I'm not even sure how to go about finding someone to investigate. Not a good start to the day.

I'm discouraged by my garden. I heard about my friends' gardens last night. They're all better than mine. I've wanted two things ever since I started gardening: 1) not clay soil and 2) no deer. I've lived in four states, and no matter where I go, it's CLAY. I compost, I dig, I mulch--to no avail. And now the deer will eat everything that I grow. Also, I found a clump of what I think is poison ivy. The Sparrowhawk apparently threw out the Roundup because it was poison. While he's quite right to abhor Roundup, I need it to kill the poison ivy because nothing else works and that stuff is evil and needs to DIE DIE DIE and every minute that I don't kill it is another minute that it's GROWING. Also, my FitBit stopped syncing and I had to fiddle with it for a long time. This makes me mad because I paid for it and now I have to fix it myself. These are not serious problems, but they add extra malaise to the general feelings of doom. I started thinking about all the other bad things that COULD happen. Bad idea.

Another nice thing was a lovely FaceTime with Tron, featuring a cameo appearance by the Lumberjack. It was so nice to see them. My kids always make me want to be a better person. I'm inspired by all their wonderful qualities. So hard-working! So intelligent and creative! So kind! I wish I were a better person, and that I could somehow be of more help to them.