Summer Bliss

Most of the summer sunsets I have enjoyed have been on Lake Erie. Our house in Erie had a large backyard that backed a cliff on the Lake,  and I loved watching the sun set over the water.  Since our RV site is surrounded by farms, I have recently enjoyed watching summer sunsets over ponds and farm fields.

This is our herb garden! We've already eaten all of the basil on one of the plants and need to restock that asap. We  have two tomato plants, a pot of parsley, and a pot of chives. The sage is being harvesting with the intent of using with campfires as the sage keeps mosquitos at bay. I dunno about that, but, I'm willing to try to natural deterrent. The fennel will be used for salads. Since our yard is very shady, this is about all we can squeeze into a small sunny area in the back yard.

Speaking of gardening, here is a  photo of our 100 year old Concord grape vine. I don't know why I feel I can take credit for this fabulous crop! I never trim or in any way attend to this vine.  This year, I think I will have to enough time to make grape jam and I know I can count on Paulette to make a grape pie. Yum.

Here are the some of the lilies from our garden. From these photos,  you could surmise that our garden is stunning. Actually, we have quite a bit of weeding to do. Ahem. We've had lots of rain, making weeding easier, and yet the weeds are winning and it could be said, by an honest person, that we have more weeds than flowers.

My garden boots are on the back porch and ready at all times. I clomp around in them and feel like a real gardener when I have them on-even if I'm just heading for the mailbox. Notice the hot pink rose gloves and trowel, too. I'm all about the gear.

 Emma is becoming a wonderful companion. We are so glad we brought her inside!  This week we started to encourage her to roam throughout house. AllieCat and Lucy haven't included her in any of their play sessions as of yet, but we haven't had many fights either. I'm currently reading a book called CatSpeak in order to better understand feline behavior. The author has trained both cats and dogs and explains that cats accept humans as companions and that dogs relate to humans as pack leaders. It's pretty fun to have 3 cats and 3 dogs running around-really, it is!

Our front porch was Emma's former stomping grounds. It was recently repainted, and now the trick is to sit still long enough to enjoy it. It is an acquired skill and I am determined to excel in the art of porch sitting this year! Every house on our block has a similar porch, but, I rarely ever see anyone actually sitting on their porch swings, etc. I am, however, sitting on the back porch as I write this blog, with all three dogs at my feet. They are very happy sleeping until a squirrel scrambles by. Marilyn, the sedate, former seeing eye dog, and the oldest of the crew, bounds down the porch stairs and madly chases the squirrels, barking and running at top speed. Honestly, we can't quite imagine her former owner, a blind 80+ year old,  hanging on for dear life as Marilyn spots a squirrel from two backyards away!

I've been reading quite a bit lately. In fact, I currently have 33 books checked out on my library card! There are books on decorating, vegan cooking, journaling, traveling, and housekeeping as well as several biographies.  I thought I would see if there were any tips for replacing my passion for librarianship with something else and so picked up the book shown above.  In the meantime, with Ron retiring in less than 3 weeks, I should probably find a few books on co-habitating happily 24/7 "until death do us part." Actually, I did find some tips from a book called, 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and Ture Advice from the Wisest Americans, by Karl Pillemer.