It was a beautiful morning for late July, a gift really, so I decided to spend some time outside in the garden to do some weeding and trimming.  It’s the time of year when I usually get tired of the maintenance, and it’s too hot to enjoy being outside, but this week has been a treat.  I know we’ll still have hot, sticky days in August, but they are easier to tolerate when we have some cooler weather sprinkled in. Here are my four things for this week: A novel I enjoyed, Murder 101, fresh-cut flowers, and interviews, photoshoots & painting.   what I’m reading I haven’t read any books this week that blew my hair back, but I finished A Girl Called Samson a couple of weeks ago, and it’s still hanging with me.  It’s beautifully written, and I fell in love with Deborah, John, and others in the

The weather has turned hot again, which is expected since we’re halfway through July and in the thick of summer.  Hot, humid weather means I skip my morning walk, don’t stay on top of the weeds in the garden beds quite as well, and generally stay inside except in the morning and evening.  I’ve already been looking ahead to appointments, deadlines, and things that are just around the corner, and it reminds me that each season is short-lived.  In just a few weeks, the mornings will be more pleasant for walking, the afternoons won’t be as sticky, and our electric bill won’t be staggeringly high from running our AC.  So, as much as I dislike the summer heat and melt in it, I’m trying to savor and enjoy it. I hope you are, too. Here are my four things for this week: Twatchman, Top Chef, don’t settle, and the usual.

I hope all of my American friends had a nice July 4th!  We kept the day very low-key, but it was nice to have a long, slow weekend, and I enjoyed watching some of the festivities in clips online.  I have spent years in the past going to see fireworks displays, but I find I don’t really want to sit in traffic and fight the crowds on a hot summer night.  I’d rather stay at home and listen to the pops and whizzes.  Both in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, we knew of overlooks where we could watch the local fireworks free from on-street parking and queues.  We haven’t found that place in Maryland, yet, and the boys aren’t at the age where they really care. I worked at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom when I was a teenager, and the fireworks I got to see nightly sort of ruined all other fireworks

Oh my word, it is hot as the blazes this week.  I often joke that I was made for Norway. (Although I have never been there, and the ancestry information I’ve found so far has all led back to England.)  I certainly wasn’t made for anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line.  I’m fair-skinned, have a sun allergy, turn beet red in the heat, and feel nauseous if I can’t cool off.  So, I’m getting my gardening and pool chores done in the morning, making sure everything has enough water, and then I’m spending the rest of the day inside.  The upside is we can enjoy the pool in the evening when the sun isn’t so intense.  I’m already dreading the utility bill, though.  Happy July. I hope you’re staying cool and enjoying the slower pace of summer wherever you are. Here are my four things for this week: Garden Potraits,