July ended, August begins

Today, I discussed with a friend how fast the summer goes, especially when trying to make sure the kids enjoy it.  Where does the time go?  It's the second summer in a row wherein I have spent much of the time with an unfinished project that I thought would "only take a week or so."  I've been repainting my shed, and facing the fact that I am indeed ten years older than the last time I painted it.  I can't remember if I painted with a roller or paintbrush originally, but this time I decided a paintbrush would keep the integrity of the original texture.  I can't do much more than a couple of hours at a time, and it needs three coats - one primer and then two color.  And the only part that really needed a fresh coat was the door! but I was tired of the old color.

Now I wish I had a picture for you, but maybe when I finish.  

In the meantime, I am still chipping away at family lineage.  My own family is quite large, laterally speaking, for the last several generations.  My husband's is quite small, with several members having only-child status.  This means not many people are looking for those grandmas and grandpas, and there are no great aunts to tell stories.  We went to search for a local grave, that we have been to before, but I had forgotten how desolate the cemetery is, considering the grave is from this century.  Even the field on the other side of the road seemed lonely. 

On the other hand, my garden has been full of lovely little songs in the morning.  Now I can identify finches and chickadees by their notes, and the humming bird, who loves to visit the red bee balm, by its whirring noise.  That bold little bird actually hovered about six inches from my cat's face!  Luckily, the cat was too stunned to do anything.  

I'm working on perfecting the scone.  A friend pointed me to this recipe on the King Arthur Flour website.  The friend had made the strawberry and pistachio variation for a tea party; oh man, delicious.  I have been making them with lemon zest.  Love!  Though to be honest, the strawberry jam overshadowed the lemon, so I like them much better plain.  

We built new garden beds this year, and getting the pH level right has proven to be more of a challenge than I expected.  I've taken for granted how well-adjusted our old beds had become.  However, we did have a nice little crop of beets - enough for a picture and one side dish.  

 

This morning, a little portrait shoot got me up and out early, and I spotted this little creature in the tall grasses.  So curious looking.  Not really curious about us, he quickly moved on.  

Many more lovely moments to come in August, to be sure.  I am knitting something interesting, a modular "scale" shawl for a client and friend.  I did not enjoy the pattern, which left some tricky steps to the imagination, but the yarn is proving to be a nice compliment to the design.  More on that later.  What will you be doing for the rest of the month?