Summer Doldrums…

There’s something about this time of year that just gets to me.  I’m already a slow-moving person, but when it gets hot and humid, I definitely slow to a bare crawl.  This year it has had a detrimental effect on my picture taking and, consequently, my blog. I think summer always slows down my picture taking unless we’re traveling, but this year it has been worse than usual for some reason.

It's been like this for me for as long as I can remember.  I just really don’t like summer.

  I suppose there are those of you out there who could never understand the way I feel, but searching around on the interweb, I found that there are more people out there like me, albeit not that many. But it's a real condition called Summer SAD (Seasonal AffectiveDisorder) .  While I don’t think I suffer from it in a full-blown way, I do find it much harder to sleep.  The sun rises and so do I, like it or not.  Yes, we need room darkening shades.  I know, I know.   There are always too many blankets or sheets and not enough air.  I toss and turn and turn and toss.  I just can't get comfortable.

Summer is rather overwhelming to me in a social way as well.  Well, I've always been socially awkward so the parties and get togethers that seem to happen more frequently in the summer cause me a fair bit of anxiety.

The truth is that I completely and thoroughly hate the heat and humidity.  To me, the best day of the year is that first day I have to put on a sweatshirt in the morning and wear it all day.  It’s feels weird to me that when people describe paradise, they always seem to be talking about someplace in the tropics, sun-drenched, sand covered and sweat producing, while I always dream of places north.  I most definitely feel like a fish out of water this time of year or maybe a polar bear out of the Arctic.

  Oh, well, what can I do?  I have no control over it.

I decided that what I needed to do today is make the most of what is good about summertime, besides baseball, that is. Summertime is colorful and I do love color.  So I went out and took a tour of our yard and came back with these.

I did manage to accomplish something this summer and it is colorful.  Thanks to The Crochet Crowd for the free pattern.  This was easier than it looks and so much fun to create.  I love the pattern.  I think another one may be in my future even though I'm not sure what I'll do with it.

One thing that is very special about today, in particular, is that it is my very colorful daughter Carrie’s birthday.  My due date with her was June 21, but she waited until July 13 to be born, which was a Friday with a full moon, of course.  And yes, it was the hottest summer ever.  Of course, it’s always the hottest summer ever when one is greatly pregnant.  But I hit the jackpot with Number One.  She’s a wonderful, big hearted, quirky, intelligent and beautiful person.  Happy birthday, Number One!

Here's a photo of Carrie and her brother Evan (Number Two) taken in 1990.  Number Two isn't so bad either, by the way.

And here's how she looks these days.  Yes, that's a spider web in her hair.  I told you she was quirky.

My two-sided self ...

1.  I love nature, flowers, bugs, birds and all stuff like that, but I am not a gardener and never will be.  I just don’t have an interest in making things grow.  It seems like a real shame, because we have a large yard that would definitely benefit from some tender loving care…just not from me.  Whatever grows in our yard is a remnant from the former owner or transplanted there by some other being.  I am actually looking forward to the day when I have a small patch that requires nothing more than a quick mow, if that.  Then I might not be so overwhelmed and I will plant a pot or two.  Meanwhile, I will admire other’s efforts.

2.  Greg and I decided not to put the air conditioners in this year.  Initially, I was a little bit leery about that because if there’s one thing I truly hate in this world, it’s a hot, humid day.  But I keep thinking about the bottom line of our electric bill and also that we are polluting less than we would be if we were artificially cooled and I think that maybe I can stand it.  Fortunately for me, the summer has been relatively comfortable here with only a couple days in the 90s and mostly cooler nights.  And it doesn’t hurt that we have a whole-house fan.  That makes a tremendous difference at night.  If it gets too hot, I just sit in a dark room and wait.  After all, Mark Twain was pretty much right when he said, “If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.”

3.  My niece just posted this on Facebook:  “One day, when I'm extremely wealthy, I'm going to hire someone to read articles of my choosing and sum them up for me. I hate when I find an article I really want to read, but it's too long and I'm too lazy.....”   Well, I know that she’s not too lazy.  She’s a full time mother and going to college at the same time.   But I understand where she’s coming from, I think.  For a brief fifteen minutes one day, I thought about subscribing to The New Yorker.  I think I would really enjoy reading it from cover to cover.  But I know in my heart that I never would and they would just stack up.  There are just too many things vying for our attention these days.  Like blogging, for instance.

  It’s a world of sensory overload.

4.  I sat with some friends last night, one of whom recently lost her elderly Jack Russell Terrier Boomer.  Boomer was a fine, handsome, little dog.  I’m sorry to know I won’t see him again.  We talked about how difficult it is to lose pets who have been members of our families for a long time and the lengths we’ll take to keep them with us…maybe long after we really should let them go.  I’ve found that many people, after losing a beloved pet, often say that they will never go through that again.  It’s just too hard.  But I’m not one of those.  I think that you have to be aware when you take an animal in that you will most likely outlive them.  That’s just the way it is.  While it brings tears to my eyes to think about the pets I’ve let go over the years (Hobo, Henry, Clousseau, Gorky, Dinah, Kitty, Burgess, Tigger and Asta), I wouldn’t give up one minute of the time we had together.  And, I don’t care what my allergy doctor says; I hope to never be without a furry friend no matter how much it hurts in the end, because the joy that they bring while they are with us is worth it.

5.  The daylily pics I’ve posted here today are of a plant that is in our yard.  I didn’t plant it but it seems to be thriving through benign neglect and I’m happy about that.

Linking up today to Tanya’s Willy Nilly Friday 5

 on Around Roanoke…A Daily Photo Blog.