May 26, 2008

God Bless America!

Happy Memorial Day one and all. It is the start of another summer. Summer brings to mind, lazy days along the river, swimming, walking barefoot, living in your bathing suit, blowing bubbles, flying kits, fireflies and just plain relaxing.



That said, it will be great to enjoy the above once the yard work is done. Thank heavens for these three day weekends. Yard is cut and sidewalks edged, fertilizer has been spread, flower beds spruced up and best of all, the pool cover came off this morning. So sounds like we are done and ready for fun.



Spring always brings such feelings of rebirth and makes me brim with ideas of things I want to paint or repaint, plant or repot, .... you get the drill. And that feeling just gets you started to be able to continue full force when summer arrives. The beach is nice but like everyone else gas prices and crowds turn me off. Let's keep it simple. Some of my best memories are the simple summer memories.



For this summer, I pledge to take every Sunday afternoon off. I could, if I didn't stop myself, find something to do 18 hours out of the day on both Saturday and Sunday. Then I go back to work only to feel like I had no time off. Why do I fuss so much about my yard and deck yet never take the time to enjoy it? Now that is a question we could debate for years.



Why is it that I always seem to be able to find something to do? Why is my list of jobs never completed? Could my husband be right - oh shutter at the thought - that I need to start one job and complete it before I start another? I didn't get the title of Queen of Unfinished Projects without a lot of effort on my part. I have friends that I drive by there house and there they lay on the deck soaking up the rays. When do they clean their houses and edge their sidewalks? Am I just too picky? I must just be a poor planner, a slower worked or someone who attempts to do too many things. I prefer the last option. Watch out when all of a sudden I complete a slew of all those projects.



I am on my way out to sit under the umbrella and work on a shawl I am knitting. Yes, sort of another new porject. But alas, my daughters are knitters and spinners so the cards are against me. We were recently in Lisbon Maine at Spunky Eclectic and I bought some beautiful mauve and blue and gray and green dyed alpaca. I need to make myself a shawl for when I sit on the sofa in the evening and the cold air from the windows chills me. I don't need something to cover my hold body, just something when the draft comes in. So if I start now, maybe by next fall or winter I will be finished. I have about 50 rows done and I am actually getting a bit creative and trying to work in a pattern of ribs up the back. I am not a knitter but I am really bored with the back and forth knit knit knit. I have to try something. Off to knit..........and enjoy the birds and the breeze and the lemonade and not much else.........





The pool cover can wait to be scrubbed, the pillows that hold on the cover that need to be scrubbed can wait, the weeds and planting of my flower pots can wait.....for now I will sit with a big glass of Crystal Light Lemomade with a fresh orange slice in it (sorry, no lemons) and I will listen to the birds singing and the leaves blowing in the window....I'll watch my extremely intelligent cat catch a rock...somewhere in the distance is a holiday cookout with patriotic songs playing and the smell of their burgers and dogs fill me with more memories and I will truly make this my first of many weekends to come that I relax.......that is til we have to repeat the mowing, edging, raking, sprucing up routine again.......