I know I should be doing 'stuff' - such as cleaning, perhaps baking, throw in
some gardening. . . . . .and writing more posts about Ireland as promised.
Eventually I'll get around to those things, but meanwhile I'm having a
lazy start to another summer week of predicted heat with storms and rain,
usually late in the day, and the outdoors totally inhospitable to me with swarms
of mosquitoes and other biting little buggers (yes, I swore because they turn
me into a not nice person). I will not apologize.
I've tried the latest home remedy on dealing with mosquito bites, the hot
spoon! Guess what, it really does seem to work. Immediately after being
bitten (this is if at home close to your kitchen or a bathroom), and the itch
is felt, you run a spoon under hot water and carefully hold the back of it on
the bite for a few seconds.
Be cautious, especially if using on a child, don't want to burn the skin.
I used this method over the weekend when bitten several times as soon as
I ventured outside. I noticed instant itch relief and the bites didn't swell up into
the usual red welts.
As for the garden, it's fast losing the fresh green lustre of spring/early summer.
The somewhat overgrown plantings, now displaying brown leaf tips,
dried or shriveled blooms, are melding into masses of fading leaves.
Deer have nibbled, squirrels have gnawed. It just seems much too soon
for a glorious garden to be changed so drastically, and all mostly due to the
climate here in the southeast. Perhaps the WELCOME flag should be
stored - seems all it brings is more biting bugs and hungry animals.
Sitting here in the dining room I'm surrounded by vases of hydrangeas and yes,
they are drying up too but, as mentioned in earlier posts, this is on purpose!
Some plucked blooms are already 'crisping up' so hopefully I'll have some for
decorating in the autumn/winter months ahead.
My thoughts are with people in California where the earthquakes have occurred
over the past several days. Here is an eyewitness description from blog friend
Kim at MY FIELD OF DREAMS . Kim tells it like it was sitting in her pasture when
the larger quake occurred on July 5. How frightening!
My very dear friend Gina in Utah, of the gorgeous blog ART AND ALFALFA ,
who welcomed us to the most beautiful home I've ever visited last summer, is,
after waiting 25 years, picking the first apricots from her tree.
Patience has paid off!
I love apricots and actually found a recipe today on another of the
for an Apricot Blueberry Galette. Personally, galettes are my favorite pies to
make - easy, attractive in their rustic beauty, and the fruits are always so tasty.
With plenty to keep one busy at this time of year I will sign off now.
Watering the pots - just in case the rains don't show later today - is needed.
Of course as you well know, it just about always rains after you water!
I'll smother myself in bug repellent and head out into the garden for a brief
time. . . . . . then who knows, bake a galette perhaps?
Dear friends, do have a wonderful week wherever you are.
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