Wed. July 13

I'm still wiping the sleep out of my eyes as I type this. Yesterday we headed over to a soccer field about an hour and a half away (how are they even part of our league??). Our son drove the "new" third vehicle and did very well. Husband sat in the back seat and I sat in the front because he has a hard time not saying things and really doesn't like it when somebody else is driving (including me!). The game was very good, but I wasn't paying close attention because I was talking to some of the other parents. One parent I have known for a  long time. She is interesting and informative. Both she and her husband were born in Holland and they have worked very hard to establish a large pig operation here and are successful farmers. The parent to the other side of me belongs to a religion where the women are required to wear long skirts all the time. I was constantly surprised at how uninformed she was of very basic, simple things in life. I did not have much in common with her. She spoke of how she didn't want her children to grow up and she wanted to live with them when they grew up. I couldn't hold my tongue and told her that it is important to let our children live their lives and become independent people with self-confidence enough to go out and become individuals in the world. I am not big on naivete and ignorance and I found it all a bit grating.

It has been incredibly hot here. I like hot. I don't complain about it because it is so infrequent. I also remember winter and what it feels like and I'd take hot any day. The lawn is crunchy and dormant. I water my planters and hanging pots daily. I have soaker hoses set up in my little vegetable garden. I don't bother to water my big flower beds. That would be a never ending job, so my perennials and shrubs just tough it out.

In bloom at the moment: spirea, hollyhoks, delphiniums, hydrangea, unnamed tall  yellow flower?

My front bed has become quite overgrown. There is actually a path that runs through it, but you can't really see it at the moment.

This plant is in a different bed. I do not know its name, but it is doing very well and puts on a nice show right now. It is a tall plant, generally over three feet in height.

I love this daylily. I'd have to go look up the name, can't recall at the moment.

How goes my gluten free world? Pretty good so far. The pain in my hips was quite diminished two nights ago, but I still have considerable pain in my tailbone region and am very stiff and sore when I wake up. I would not say that I have noticed significant changes yet. Here is a cereal which I bought. It is o.k. The flavor and texture reminds me of Captain Crunch cereal from my youth ( I was allowed to eat all kinds of junk as a child). It is specifically labeled gluten free. I probably wouldn't buy it otherwise, as there are other cereals which I much prefer.

Today has nothing special in store. I have been procrastinating painting the den. It needs a new paint job and the three cans of paint have already been purchased. I'm just being a bit lazy. Maybe I will wait for this heat wave to pass... but I'm not complaining.