Field Notes- Sunday July 31st. Sunday paper. Watering Peach Trees. Mosquito bite. 80 degrees.

 Choosing Garden Dirt Fabric.  I went with the one with the yellow stripe and the brown bean like spots..  Contrasts well with the carrots.

Grocery Store.  Again.  I was hungry.  I needed a few carrots, celery and onion to make the Tucci pasta. I had nothing in the vegetable drawer.  I still have plums. And half a baby watermelon.  But none of that mixes well with "finely diced tomatoes" and pasta.  I could have eaten the pasta with butter and cheese. I could have but I didn't want to........

And it was delicious as always (the pasta).  Then I ate the second of three Blue Bunny Tiny Sundaes.  Excessively Sweet. One more to go. Then NEVER Again. I drink about a quart of cold water after.

I am hip deep in this Summer's obsession.  Reading every variant of Pride and Prejudice I can get my hands on.  Not every author will admit to it.  You have to let it creep up on you.  And then BAM!! it's all you can see or read or think about.  Woven into a modern plot with modern characters doing things Jane never considered.

I need to do a load of wash today.  I took a shower and noticed the laundry basket was FULL. (the laundry basket resides in my walk in shower between showers)  I have on clean clothes.  No food stains. (it's still early)  My hair has been washed and conditioned. Sort of staying put. Not bunching up in the back from my recumbent position on the couch (reading).......

Husband is looking around confused.  He's going to water the garden.  Been two days so he is anxious to get out there.  He now has his hat.  He also wears a bag of water on his back with a way to drink the water as he needs it. Stay hydrated.  Now he's disappeared......... 

I am finishing Eligible today.  Not many pages left and Darcy and Lizzie are still not together even though they have had "I hate you" sex four times after running miles together. (no shower). She also tells him not to talk.

 Jane and Chip have gotten back together  and everyone is going to be on the Wedding Reality Show -Eligible for the Big Wedding.  That makes three times Chip has been on the show. GAK.  I can't imagine why Darcy would participate (best man)...........but Jane's entire WACKA MOLE family is flying out..... This has to be the all time best adaption of Pride and Prejudice.  Daughter, I think, said she found me a copy at the resale book store.  Would be lovely to own a copy.

Next up.  The Wedding Crasher. Gal walks up during ceremony to say "this is a mistake"..........oops!

Field Notes- Saturday, July 30th. Rain overnight (damp and cool) but heat is coming back. Sun..

 I just liked the flies all around his head.  I know he always looks dirty- but I wonder if he smells??

It was quiet when I went out to get the paper this morning and the street was empty- no cars and trucks..it felt strange.   Then I remembered- Saturday.  That's why it was quiet. Two days without hammering.

My daughter went to Goodwill and got an armload of linen clothing in my "size?"- colors I like etc etc. ONLY, when I tried them on- they were way way too large.........how could that be?  Only one item fits. A pair of Land's End (not a brand I buy or wear) linen pants that stop a few inches above the ankle.. Cherry Red.  Perfect.  Quite a few items in daily rotation are LLBean XL. Usually a bit snug.  But not........ 1X fits perfectly.

The FLAX clothing is way too large.  I wish Connie lived closer-- she does clothing and she could show me how to make the big clothes smaller.  I think, but I could be wrong- (because the tops are boxy)- I could remove the sleeves and then cut off a few inches of width from top to bottom and then reinsert the sleeves.  The length is easy enough to take care of.  It's the width..........

Or we could just return everything.  Except the cherry red pants............ the dark jacket with the fancy turned collar- is really really wonderful looking. Very Law and Order. But above my sewing level. Way.

Now I am wondering....what's happened????  I have been wearing the same clothing for years now. Some years it's a bit tight but this Summer everything fits perfectly- really comfortable. 

Could "Not Cooking" have been the answer all along?  Seems too simple.  The Avocado's are now just right. And I found a bottle of lime juice in the cupboard.   Perfect.

 Reverve Books arrived at the library.  Will go pick them up........but need to wait till library is OPEN.  Got up way way too EARLY!!!! Seven am.

Field Notes- Friday, July 29th. Rain overnight....tons of mosquitos. Sunshine and Humidity. Grass starting to look green.

 Not my backyard but what my "way" backyard looks like.  Woods. Weeds.  Mosquitos.  Deer.  Ticks.  Far Back. We haven't gone there since Riley died.  Will most likely never go back there. Our mingled ashes will go for one last walk. Someday.

"Don't go into the woods today..........."  I had a little red record of that song on my tiny little record player. No bears in our woods but the mosquitos and ticks would be abundant. Teddy Bear Picnic.

Still working on the house next door.  They still need to replace the roof shingles.  Can't wait. So much nail pounding on a new roof...

My ankles are itching from the many many mosquitos that chewed on my ankles as I went to get the paper and then picked up 7 or 8 peaches that had fallen off the trees.  Cleaning up seems to keep the animals away.  

I think the avocados I bought are just about ready to eat.  They were very hard when I bought them. I am very interested in Avocado Toast.

Watched Moneyball on BBC America.  Sound.  When I watch it on regular cable the sound is all muffled.  BBC had a great picture and great sound. Analytics.  The Baseball Boggieman.  The Red Socks tried to hire the Moneyball Guy but he said no...now they have a "guy" and he's running the team into the ground.

I was trying to get interested in a book- the Wedding Season.  British.  The Bridesmaid Parties.  GAG. There seems to be one in every British Rom Com.  In this one- eight??? weddings and 8 Bride Do's. Massive drinking and a male stripper. Gets old.  So terribly old.  Thing is...no one actually enjoys them.  On to the next book.......... Bet Me.  A golden oldie. Never let's me down.  And now I OWN a copy!!!! Bookstore Guy called yesterday and I ran right over to get it.  So great...

Field Notes- Thursday, July 28th. 80's with a chance for evening rain. Hot. Mosquitos. Boring.

 Not my garden........But very colorful.

Work continues next door.  They finished spraying insulation or "seal coating" after 10 plus full days of listening to the generator on their big rig. Now they are doing something on the back of the house. I am assuming all the siding is up and all the new windows installed.  There are always five to seven worker cars lining both sides of the narrow street......... Number one on the corner has several vehicles etc in their yard.  I think they are getting granite front steps and perhaps a walkway.  Straw ...so perhaps some grass?  Across the street Servpro has been steam cleaning the floors and carpets.

Here?  Nothing.  I have been watering the Peach trees and then counting the number of mosquito bites I get.  Husband has been watering the back garden.  The tomato plants from the back porch look green and are enjoying a "'second life" it seems...even if it is quite astonishing to husband and I.

The grape vines are bountiful. I'll pick and make jelly and then with the remainder dye cloth- the grape juice gives a glorious blue.

More people are arriving uninvited to the big house in the book I am reading- Adult Assembly Required. Old boyfriends and girlfriends.  Mixing things up.  Everyone is eating a lot of donuts and pizza.  Drinking too much wine.  We are adding baseball and Goodwill clothes shopping to the mix.  I can't see where the plot is...where we are going with this mess.  But Nina Hill was a mess also.  Other People was even larger MESS.  I'm wondering why I am still reading?????  I guess because of Bob. He's my kind of guy. I would not be his kind of girl.   Who's kind of girl would I be??????  At almost 76- I still wonder.

Field Notes- July 27th. Sunshine and Mosquitos. Three- possibly four tries to spell Field.

 I don't know what these are or where I found them.......They look like the wool balls I have in the dryer.  Sprouting leaves. That are supposed to remove the "snap crackle and pop" from my clothing. My picture file is....a disaster.  

I am trying to read the fifth book by Abbi Waxman.  I loved book one- Garden of Small Beginnings and own that and I loved book three Bookish Life of Nina Hill and own that..   Book two and four- I did not like and even seeing them on sale...marked down...I didn't buy them.  I guess I wasn't alone in not liking them.

Now I am trying to plow thru book five- Adult Assembly Required.  Even though it has characters in it from the two books I actually liked......I don't like it.  And I don't like the representation of the characters I liked...in this book. The lovebirds in book three are not living together and don't intend to... I'm halfway in and that guy hasn't even shown up yet.  Everyone else has.  In tiny cameo appearances. Building a raised bed garden and then driving away as fast as they can- like they robbed a bank..  It felt like "filler" and a way to get to Denny's for breakfast.

The one major returning character is Bob (the other is Polly).  And with the raised bed thing ringing a bell...... Bob is the guy driving a tractor in Small Beginnings.  Bob gets a BOOK? And when did Bob become unbelievably "good  looking"?????  I must re-read Small Beginnings. 

I asked husband if he wanted Blueberry Cake for dessert yesterday. YES.  Turns out the cake was a "treat" for his family on Sundays in the Summer when he was a child.  The things you find out after 54 years. I had no idea how or why the recipe card-- in his mom's handwriting --got in my recipe box. Now I know. Been making Blueberry Cake for years.  Wow.

Field Notes- Tuesday, July 26th. It rained yesterday late afternoon and overnight. Mosquitos.

 Brand New Day- Janet Skates.  I liked the black and pink circles. And the beige ones on pink. And the black dots to the right side.  Imagine making all of them with embroidery floss. (gak!!)

It rained a second time at 6 pm to jazz up the drive from work to home for so many people.  Like daughter- she said it came down so hard the wipers were useless.  She was just happy to make it home.....

I think it rained last night as well. My ankles got bitten, quite often- as I walked down to the street to get the paper out of the box.  Itching like crazy.  The browned up grass is looking a "bit" greener.  The fertilizer pellets that TruGreen dropped on it- might have activated......we'll see if it's greener in the next few days. Stranger things have happened. I should write a check to TruGreen.

I need to go inspect the garden.  See if there's another zucchini.  George, the seed planter, is not happy with the progress of the corn.  It looks fine to me.  Making tassels.  It isn't as tall as he wanted, I guess.

I finished up the McFarlane book- Don't You Forget About Me.  British Pub Life.  Made me cry at the end.

So...was well worth the pale ink on the pages. She has four previous books- I have them on my list. But not ordering them right away.  I have plenty here on the table and I have cloth to work on--perhaps. I also have the dumpster fire that is my sewing room- to clean up.  Find somewhere for the cloth. Bring down a storage tub from the Attic.  SOMETHING!!!!!!

I bought three tiny Blue Bunny Sundaes from the grocery.  For a treat since we don't go to Dairy Queen. I put back the fourth- a cherry sundae.  Not sure I would like it.  I was considering the mini Drumstick cones.  But it's only July.  Plenty of time to select other things. And I have cake.  And mosquito bites.  July.

Field Notes- Monday, July 25th- Clouds in my Coffee. Hoping they contain rain.

 Blueberry Cake.  Finally made.  Needed two full cups of blueberries so used up all that I had picked in the back garden (most of the plants didn't make ANY) and then added the berries I had gotten at the grocery.  Big Fat ones.   The cake is delicious.  We had cake instead of lunch.

Finished my book.  The guy from the last book invited all the characters from THAT book into THIS book for a birthday party.  It was like a visit from old friends.  They had things to tell us.  Babies.

It's gotten darker.  Looks like 5 or 6 pm in here at 9:20 am.  

My eyes have FINALLY signaled an end to a book a day.  They are exhausted and want me to just sit with eyes lubricated and closed.  I will listen.  To music.  I will daydream.  Make up stories of my own.

It's RAINING!!!!!!!!  I can hear it hitting the roof...........Raining!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Coming down hard.

I had carried in husband's gardening clothes.  He hoses the mud and dirt off of them and then spreads them over a lawn chair to dry in the Sun.  Gets a few extra days out of each set of clothing.  I appreciate it.

Still raining.   If I was younger I would go stand out in it.  Saying thank you.Today's book is Don't Forget About Me.  I have no clue what it's about......British.  So lots of Pub Drinking and Shagging Idiots. And the ink on the print is very light.  I might give it a pass....and my eyes a rest.  Look for something with darker ink.

Field Notes- Sunday, July 24th. Not sure what today will be like. 90's possibly rain.

 These paintings....I keep wondering what it would be like to make the same (sort of) thing from cloth? I can see how I might appliqué and then do embroidery...... has gotten me thinking. Rough, uneven torn edges.

Yesterday...was it yesterday?  That I did two loads of wash or was it the day before?  I don't know. 

The days seem so long and boring that I can't separate them anymore.  It's always this way in July and August.  Each day so much like the one before and the one after...that it's difficult to figure out where one begins and another ends.  Rain.  I usually can remember if it rains.  It hasn't.

I am re-reading ( I am reminded I read parts of this book years ago)  Life's Too Short.  It's number three in the stack of books by author Abby Jimenez.  There's is always a connection to one the characters from the previous book.  The main guy here was just a quick date for the lead character in the Playlist book.  Just a few pages in from the end of that book.  ALS is the theme in this book- Life's Too Short..  So...from the get go...not going to live happily ever after.  I read this one before but skipped around.  I plan on reading the whole thing.  I always do...but sigh...sometimes the author drags the plot too much........

Not just this author.  Quite a few of them do.  I often wonder if they were pressed to add content with the editors thinking what they had written was 'not enough pages" or something.  Like adding water to a cup of coffee.  Yes, it fills the cup...but you won't want to drink it.

So....the living room is almost dark enough to start turning on lights @ 11am..  I will have to turn on a light to read my book.  Husband says it might rain.  Wow, I hope he's right.

The Sunday Portland Press has stories, today, about people (families) living in their vehicles.  Going to work.  Washing up in restrooms.  Dreaming of a day when they can take a shower or a have a bath.  Employed but unable to secure housing.  I read once that so many are just one illness or missed paycheck away from disaster.........there used to be housing on the Air Base next door.  Perhaps they should have kept it???  Use it now to house people.  Instead they built 300K houses...

Field Notes- Saturday, July 23rd. Hot already. Promised rain never arrived.

 My largest container out in front of the porch steps... the African Daisies died suddenly.  They were so lovely.  Just curled up one day and that was it.  I miss them........happy, at least, to have this photo.

The Back Deck Planter is mostly marigolds now.  Everything else in the container died.  There had been blue pansies.  The plants in the Workshop Planter were eaten by Deer in the first few days of being planted. It has taken a wire contraption over the top and lots of water and fertilizer to get the three very lovely coleus to to make a "come back"......but they have.  The Driveway Container - hasn't had it's Annual Hiccup as yet.  Another pot that "self seeded" has produced a very healthy crop of weeds I think.  I keep hoping they are Sunflowers.  From the Birdfeeder nearby.  We'll see.  Birdpoop Container.

I just arranged the sprinklers on the Peach Trees.  Since we began cleaning up fallen fruit under the trees- there have been fewer visits- by animals.  Knock Wood.

There are acorns.  Very small and misshapen.  In the past, the lawn out back was dangerous to walk on- (so many acorns)-but after two years of not a SINGLE acorn- there are some. Global Warming Acorns.

I got a handful -five- new (to me) books by Abby Jimenez.  I just read the "Friend Zone".  And it was very very good. I stayed up past bedtime to finish it.  I do need to do a load of Washing today.  I need underwear. That's my standard in the Summer.  Laundry because of a need for underwear. Or clean sheets.

I have eaten all the pastry I bought.  Now all I have left to eat are vegetables and fruit.  No source of protein.  Which isn't the best situation. I have to do better on Monday.  With the groceries.

Field Notes- Friday, July 22nd. Hot. Humid......Repeat. Not On Fire.

 Abstract-- Janet Skates.  Painting but could be cloth appliqué....... giving me thoughts......

Sigh.  TODAY the books were at the Library for pickup.  Not yesterday. And I got the brand new Waxman.  And it continues with the Trivia Gang and Nina (sounds like minus the carpenter?) but I hope not.  Last we saw Nina she and the Carpenter were driving to Mexico in the Charger.

Looks to me......like I have FIVE MOST EXCELLENT BOOKS......I know I will be making a photo copy of at least one of them.....for the Bookstore Guy.

They are pounding and spraying insulation in the house next door.  This is a Full Week now. Woke us up at 7:30 this morning and not 7.  No radio. No loud voiced CHAT.  None of them look happy.

I had a list for the grocery run.  Husband was out of dry mouth lozenges......we needed kleenex.....husband was a bit hesitate but then said he'd like more cookies.  (might be done with the Anorexia thing for a few weeks) and he told me this morning that his left hearing aide "doesn't work".This is an ongoing adventure.

Watched the Committee Report last night.  The out takes of Trump making his "statement to go home" were pretty weird.

Steve Bannon?  Not sure how to spell his name and can't be arsed to go look it up. Wore FOUR SHIRTS to court.  He's usual is TWO SHIRTS.  Must have been EXTRA STINKY.  I remember someone saying he doesn't bathe.  And they provided ZERO defense.  Just sat there in his FOUR shirts looking dirty and stinky.  They'll love him in Prison.

Field Notes- Thursday. July 21st- Another Day in the 80's but with Clouds.

 Someday.

Before I stop cooking altogether.  I'm pretty close.  To not cooking.  At all.  Toast.  Is not cooking.

The big trucks are back next door- insulation or seal coating.  There was mold mediation at closing. So I am guessing there are problems.  The big rig was in front of my house and I was reading the words on the truck- so the driver waved at me.  Like a Prom Queen.  On a parade float.

I got a mosquito bite as I watched.  On my ankle.

At least I was in clothes.  Some neighbors aren't when they drift out of their houses to get the paper.

The grass is damp from overnight moisture.  I needed to fill the birdbath as a good number of birds are bathing......a few catbirds are hogging the bath and the Goldfinches aren't happy. I emptied a few gallon bottles of water into the Annual containers and the bird bath...brought the empties in to fill in the kitchen sink.

Daughter came over to drop off the book she got me at Goodwill yesterday late afternoon.  And I gave her a bowl of ice cold cherries to eat and two nice plums.  She'd had a bad day- hauling and spreading bark chip mulch. I wanted her to drink something but she refused. She probably was drinking water all day.

We worked on the big 1000 piece puzzle husband has out on the table.  Finished the edges. Daughter worked on a bird she found interesting.  We talked.  She was exhausted.

It's very hot here in Maine.  Clouds today so that might cool us off a bit.  We are still better off than the rest of the World so I shouldn't complain at all..........it sometimes is a good thing to live where I do..

The owner of the Bookstore- asked me if I had a photocopy in my hand when I went to pick up my books. I did.  I try not to disappoint.  And he laughed out loud at the title- Agnes and the Hitman. We'll see if they have trade paper.....my bookcase is almost full...so I am looking for somewhere to put my husband's books.  So I can free up space....for my  "future new" books.  He does have a bookcase in his office (which- I am laughing) is NOW my downstairs sewing room- with piles of cloth all over the floor.  The closet is too small.  And the Sun shines on the bookcase so the fabric would fade........so I shut the door and walk away.  I KNOW I could hang a cloth over the front of the bookcase.......will I?????

When did I stop being neat and tidy???????

Field Notes- Wednesday, July 20th. Hot, Humid, chance of Clouds but No Breezes

 Yesterday was cooler but today we got orange so--80's.  

Trugreen showed up.  Sprinkled fertilizer beads.  Suggested I water.  Not in person- he wrote it on the the slip he left on the front door knob.  News was not good.  Law and Order was not good.  Sports Talk TV was baseball......gag.  So, I dragged extra hose out and set the Timer and watered as much of the front lawn as I could reach.  When the timer went off...I got up off the couch and dragged hose, turned on the water and came back in, washed my hands and back to the couch.

It FILLED the day.  I had purchased a loaf of Cinnamon Bread- thinly sliced from the grocery bakery section.  It's very good.  I had intended to toast and butter it.  But it's great just as it comes out of the bag. I defrosted the remainder of the frozen peas and added them to the leftover steamed rice and had that for supper along with a handful of 4 inch carrots that George (the guy who gardens here-infrequently) put on the back deck.  I had gone out earlier to cut the one very nice zucchini and give the squash pots extra "blue water".

Long Ago and Far Away- I used to grate the zucchini and salt and let it drain extra juices- them mix up a patty mix and fry patties.  It was a lot of Work.  Tasty.  But not tasty enough to repeat the process years later.  Once I turned 70-- I lost my cooking giddy-up.

Agnes and the Hitman- in the housekeeper's back bedroom (!!!) Agnes was VERY ANGRY.   I love this book.  I have to pick up books I ordered from the bookstore...I should see if Crusie is in Trade Paper.

Field Notes- Tuesday, July 19th- It rained yesterday. Softly which allowed the dry ground to soak it up.

 I watched the news.  Yesterday.  Saw Europe burning.  Saw London sweltering at nearly 100 degrees. No one has air-conditioning.  Well, when I was there- few had it.  

Grocery yesterday.  I got Black Plums (the bag (Canadian) was marked on as Prunes- possibly the French word) but they didn't have the shape of the prune plums my grandmother had on several trees. Plums which I ate even though they often had tiny green worms in by the stone.  Plum Kuchen. The large family next door had a sour cherry tree- huge- some of the older children climbed and picked.  Climbed without shoes or ropes.  We had Sour Cherry Pie.

I loved that house and I loved the big family next door and the Rag Man and his cart and slow moving horse.  And I loved the smell of the whiskey and strong coffee in the cup I carried to my Grandfather- still in bed.  He had a drinking problem.  It's an inherited quality in my family. My youngest brother took it further into drugs......and worse. So much worse.

So...I felt rather guilty having gentle rain falling on the garden and lawn as I watched Europe on fire.

Today's entertainment is ME waiting to see if TruGreen shows up at MY address or goes elsewhere.  "Trudy" called yesterday to remind me that they were coming today. Husband asked why they were coming and I answered-- quite honestly---I have no idea why......if they show up- great....if they go elsewhere I will call Trudy and let her know.........not to send a bill.

Daughter found a hardback copy of Longbourne (behind the stairs version of Pride and Prejudice with the servants speaking) for $2.50 at Goodwill.  I am ever so happy.  I loved reading it but my library doesn't have it on the shelves.  So we have to borrow from other libraries that do keep books on their shelves.

Field Notes- Monday July 18th. So far, at 8:18 it's still cool. The construction next door continues.

 Purple Smoke Bush in bloom.  I can see it from the desk chair. Quite fabulous. 

The saw and the nail guns woke me before 8 am- I actually think they start at 7.  The siding application is endless.  I have to get up to close the window.  Then I am awake.  No newspaper this morning- they stopped printing a Monday paper- guess they didn't want to pay weekend rates for the employees putting together a Monday paper.  

And really- what news is there?  Ukraine.  Uvaldi- and the school shooting/police etc. Trump (who now has one less thing to worry about as the "chatty"ex Mrs Trump has died).  Here in Maine the ignorant blow hard who was once the Governor of the Great State of Maine (a Trumper) is planning to run again.  I was going to say the man has the intelligence of a Turnip but that gives Turnips a bad rap.

I cooked yesterday.  I had "harvested four yellow crookneck squash" so I used the always very dangerous slicing machine and thin sliced the squashes and salted them.  No fingers were sliced- and that rarely happens.. Then cooked the slices down into browned mush with a thin sliced onion- now that was dangerous- and some butter- takes a long time- I watched an episode of Law and Order.. and cleaned  OLD mouse poop off the top of the refrigerator.  I hadn't noticed they had carried candy up there and ate and pooped.  I had to use the tall ladder.  I am lucky I didn't fall and knock myself unconscious. 

The squash would have burned up. 

I was taught how to make this "meat and three" side many many thousands of years ago in a small apartment kitchen in Riverdale, Georgia. Was reminded of the "sides" by the recently delivered Gun and Garden magazine I subscribe to.  Yes.  It's about Gardening and Hunting with dogs and guns and buying high priced Bourbon, leather handbags, jewelry and going on vacation.  Usually there is a full page picture of a very deliciously good looking man being all moody.  Not this month. This month we got a messy fat man.  

Okra would have been a nice addition to the rice and fried squash.  And a sliced ripe, warm tomato. 

I don't think I like the 'No- Show" book.  It's too "wordy" and I have lost track of who is who and what man stood them up and the business of cutting down trees.........it's all way too confused. It's going back.I guess I will hit publish and go make my oatmeal and coffee and get on with today.........y'all be sweet.

Field Notes- Sunday July 17th. Sunshine and the 80's.

 Something to make with the zucchini in the fridge.  A recipe in my emails. And something very dangerous to do- thin slicing with the mandoline.  Sharp, razor thin blade.  Easy enough to slice the skin off your finger tips as well as a thin slice of zucchini..

I bought a jar of marinara sauce last week..  And I have some shredded mozzarella.  And Parmesan. Sounds like dinner. For me.  Just me.

Husband is watering the garden.  I gave him a few items I found in the garage.  I think I got him confused. Too many sprinklers and other things.   He'll come in soon to ask me what they are....again.

Read-- If The Shoe Fits- A Cinderella type story about one of those series on TV- 24 women and one man.  Dates and getting sent home.  Cindy (see you don't even have to wonder what is happening) is a recent Fashion School graduate (Parsons in NYC) interested in designing shoes.  Her step mother is the Producer of the TV Show in California.  Cindy is plus sized. She has also met "The Guy" for the show on the plane from NYC.  He changes seats with the guy she is sitting next to.....  so he can talk to her.  Imagine what she has to put up with the the other women........It gets hurtful pretty damn fast.

Today I am reading the No -Show by Beth O'Leary.   I've read her other  books- The Flat Share, The Road Trip and The Switch.  I liked the Flat Share.  I didn't care for the Road Trip and the Switch was sort of half and half. All the books have a secondary theme.  In the Flat Share the girl is being gaslighted by her former boyfriend.  The Road Trip- former partners are forced to share a car on a trip to a wedding.  The Switch is when a mother and daughter switch homes- and lives it turns out.  The No Show is a guy who no-shows three different women on Valentine's Day.  

I might, possibly, read something else.  I got the laundry done yesterday.  We now have clean underwear, tee shirts. socks and dish towels. I took the "chest pockets" (wow) off a ladies LLBean linen blouse and used the fabric of one pocket to mend a worn thru hole in a Vintage Camp Shirt.  Also LLBean.  I wear Linen Camp Shirts all Summer. I used to be able to score at least one or two every year at Goodwill.  But not any more.  They re-invented the shirt a few years back.....shortened the sleeves and added side darts to the classic box shaped shirt. Ruined it.  Just like they ruined the Classic Corduroy Pants I live in the Seasons that it isn't Summer.

Field Notes- Saturday, July 16th Sunshine and 72 degrees at 10am.

 Soft blue floor and ceiling of this porch.  Nice furniture.  Soothing.

Saturday.  Nothing on tv.  Husband is filling his weekly pill box container.  Click, click, click and I can hear the pills in the bottles.  I take two pills, A statin and a  MultiVitamin.  I put them into a tiny dish. Each morning.  Last time I had blood work....my doctor said the number were "perfect". I usually take that as agreement for me not taking pills any more.  But I got a refill......

So...... Watched episodes from season one of Castle.  The "getting to know each other season".  Before Castle starting putting on weight.  Bones has starting running on another station.  I actually used to watch that....but now...it's really tedious.  Not as tedious as the News.  And Baseball....kill me now...that is the Webster's Definition of Boring.  I gave up on Buffy.  I am thinking of giving up on the news for the rest of this month.

I still haven't done the load of wash I prepped days and even a week ago.  I'm going to do it today.  Like right after I hit the publish button here- with you.

Watered the Annual Flower containers and each container had small clover plants sprouting.  So I had to "weed" the containers.  that was "new".

I was in line at the grocery yesterday  (I had gone to the Library to drop off books that were due and then walk to Maine Street to the bookstore to order four books) and while in line behind an sweet older woman and her younger male companion (her son I learned)-- and she slid over to me to tell me she was having her 93rd birthday soon.  Her son drove across the State to come grocery shop with her.....and he paid. I wished her a Happy Birthday and said I also had a son.....who would love to grocery shop with me but the drive from California was a bit too long.  We both got a chuckle out of that.

I have been thinking about a 93rd Birthday ever since.  17 more years.  

Perhaps FATE sent that little sparkly eyed woman to me.  With a message.

Field Notes- (a change) Friday July 15th. Sunshine- We never got any rain.

 The Avocado Pit.   This has been an impressive year for the "pit" as it has grown taller and made an impressive canopy of large healthy leaves  and retained them for several months.  I need to investigate new housing for the Pit- a larger pot in case it wants to grow into an actual TREE.

Yesterday's book.  I almost didn't read this one.  But so so happy that I did. Author is Abby Jimenez and the title is Part of Your World.  A hard working ER doctor slides into a ditch on a rural road on her way home from a funeral.  A guy stops and pulls her car out of the ditch and later sees her at the VFW (in a very small poor Town).  She goes back to his apartment over the garage (for a grilled cheese sandwich) and they have sex.  Lots of it.  She's 36 and he's 24.  She runs off while he's asleep. There are lots of issues to unpack in this book.  Age. Education. Wealth.  Emotional Abuse (by the doctor she had been dating).

I am planning to read (or give the books a chance) other titles by this author.  Life's Too Short. The Happy Ever After  Playlist and The Friend Zone.

Husband got his hair cut- really short- he doesn't think he likes it.  But it looks fine. I had Hot Dogs for dinner.  While watching news.  I had intended to do a load of wash.  But I didn't.   Husband weeded the abandoned carrot, beet, radish bed in the fenced garden.  Lots of grass seedlings.  Weeds.

He also stopped at the Town Office and got copies of the land plot images (from overhead) to see if that ugly tree is ours or the new neighbor's.  Their parking pull out butts right up to the property line.  their house is right next to the parking spot.  Why would you build a house on or so close to the property line of your neighbor???  Sigh.  So I guess the very very tall tree with most of its branches- dead.....is ours. This is going to be expensive.

Daily Notes- Thursday, July 14th. Damp outside so it must have rained over night- not much.

 Garden belongs to someone named Tracy  Was in my email feed this morning from a gardening site. When I began working on this yard and laying out beds- making "elegant" curved edges etc.  I had intended for there to be annuals.  But age and a lack of interest arrived- I gave up that idea and just planted perennials.

Perennials take care of themselves.  

I limit the annuals to containers- three and now four and I stopped having hanging baskets.  And each morning I walk around and give water which I keep on the front porch in old large reusable orange juice containers.  Some hold "blue" Miracle Grow water (mixed rather weak).  Some hold murky beige water- cause I am using up any old bottles of liquid fertilizer this Summer. The  rest of the bottles hold clean water for the birdbath and the containers when they don't get "fed"..  And an old toilet brush (very clean) that I use to scrub the birdbath each morning before dumping out the old water and adding fresh water.

In the classes I used to teach- I asked bird feeding people to always offer fresh water to the birds that were coming to their feeders.  Fresh CLEAN water......... and to NOT stop filling their bird feeder once they start. The birds depend on the feeders once they come and visit regularly.  

The people in India or other countries have started their calls early today- 9am.  I hang up before they can even get started. All I need to hear is the sound of their call center in the background and I hang up.  

The JOY of needing to have a land line as cell service here (in Maine) is not reliable.  And we might need to call 911 or report a power outage or a fire or need the police.  1 point 25 million people in Maine ( but often closer to one) spread over land mass that is larger that several nearby states put together.  Visit in the Summer- YES.  Live here? HARD NO.

Nothing more today- and it's early and I haven't had my breakfast.  Something the new telescope in Space found.  something shaped like a human heart that is sending out a sound- very much like a beating heart.

something to consider....

Daily Notes- Wednesday, July 13th- Rain last night with strange animal noises.

 What a fantastic idea.  What small child would not love to see their art made into something that they could carry around and hug?  I know my two would have been over the moon.

The strange animal noises from the woods.  Husband said "at one Time, I knew what animal that was...but not anymore".  

We had Rain.  We had a Rainbow.  We then had more Rain.  Thunder.  Lightning.  Just like the Olden Days when Rain was sort of an every day event.  But not now.  Now Rain is an Oddity.  And then just as it was getting into the good soaking into the Earth part- the Rain Stopped.

I am going to make an old fashioned canning jar of refrigerator pickles today.  Husband no longer eats the Daily Sandwich.  Or eats Lunch for that matter.  I don't know who will eat the pickles.  But it's July.  And in July, I make homemade pickles.  I have garlic, dill and out in the garden- grape leaves.  My grandmother added a grape leaf to her pickle jars.  And on my shopping day, I bought small fresh from the Farm pickling cucumbers.

Will all of the "usual things" I do in the Seasons fall away as I move forward????  Already Thanksgiving and Christmas Food had passed in "just memories".  I could make and eat it all by myself.  My daughter remains on the Gut Protocol. 

I haven't made the annual Blueberry Cake.  The birds have eaten all the berries out in the fenced garden. They ate all of them last year as well.  And perhaps the years before.  I liked the cake.  Blueberries and sour cream.....  I don't think I made it last year.

My book is Shipped by Angie Hockman.  A small specialty cruise ship.  Galapagos.  Sea Turtles. Two Company employees competing for a promotion.  I've read it before- more than once.  Henley does not trust Graeme (cracker) and really needs the new job..........  he works remotely and this is the first time they meet in person.  He is already in love with her.  She does not trust him.

I watched the entire Committee Presentation yesterday.  Sydney Powell.  Got First Prize. Watching her chug her soft drink.......priceless.  Wondering about her IQ and abuse of Prescription Meds..

Daily Notes- Tuesday, July 12th. Sunshine now but was quite cloudy and windy a few minutes ago.

 Art by Sally Muir via Little Somethings in my sidebar.   This dog has Riley's eyes.  Lots more dogs. Go visit.

I found four shiny freshly picked Summer Squash on my back deck this morning.  Two zucchini and two yellow summer squash.  George was here and he picked them from MY containers (the ones that got Miracle Grow)- then went home, I think, to get clippers so he could give the rampant grape vines a needed trim.  They were shading the corn crop. And then both of us transplanted the tiny sweet pepper plants from their tray into the one empty spot in the left side of the garden.  The peppers and the corn will get Miracle Grow today when husband hauls the hose out back......I'll take my watering cans down along with the Miracle Grow.  Mix and Apply.

I just finished the last of four books about the Raje Family in The Bay Area of California.  Based on themes in Jane Austen's books.  This one was Emma (the Emma Project).  I wrote about it a few days ago.  Before reading the second half of THIS book- Incense and Sensibility was my favorite.  Now it's this one.  Quite heartbreaking at the end but it has a happy ending in the last two pages.  But until the happy part...I was in tears. Also...this is the last of the Austin series for this author.  No more.  I feel very Oliver Twist...asking for one more, please. But she's wrapped it up pretty tight- no loose ends.

Now....what to read next.  I have Curtis Sittenfeld's  Eligible.  Also based on the framework of Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice.  I've read it before but felt it was time to read it again.  And then I might read the Girl from Summerhill again.  For contrast.  Eligible comes closest to a modern version. Gritty.  Lots of Prejudice. No real reason for it to work out for either Jane or Lizzie.  If I am remembering it correctly.

My daughter has found me a book at the used books store.  One I really really like but had forgotten about (and in so doing, didn't order a copy from the Book Store).  And she has also found me an White Irish Linen Shirt at the Dump.  Not my size but she says I can add to it?  make it work? If the shape is simple enough.......easy enough to open seams and add width...  I've done the side seams before   Unless the sleeves are tight- then I will open both side seams ( sleeves included) and go from there. Irish Linen is actually very very good.  Possibly the best. In my opinion.

I hope the clouds move in a day early. It's cool outside. Sunny with clouds moving thru. Sleep has been pleasant with bedroom window open.  I have hot dogs.  Extra chicken dinners for husband. All is well.