During July we enjoyed hosting family members who came to visit us, and we traveled south to see loved ones too. Summer gifts us with long days but they seem especially long and full here at home. With no buildings nearby to block the sun, we see the light early and it stays with us late. The only thing making the days a tad shorter now is that the crazy tall corn stalks all around the house block the sun from reaching us as often as it did back at the solstice.

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In addition to fun times with family (including swimming, hiking & grilling), we had some good house project successes this month. I finished staining the nine new windows we bought over the winter, so they match the original wood molding color and blend in quite nicely. It was a hard job mostly because I had never done anything like it before — and required a lot of patience between drying coats, but proud of myself for getting it done. Mark became master of the pool and the grill this month. The pool was especially tricky at first to get a handle on when we opened it, but he stuck with it and now it’s doing great. We also got our wood stove cleaned out and had some work done in the basement. Finally, in terms of other larger projects, we worked with a wonderful local craftsman and door expert to repair and restore our two sets of pocket doors.

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We are switching gears for the coming month and going to try and focus on two things — First, enjoying more time with family and friends — visits here and travel for us away from home too. Second, tasks related to our orchard. It’s a perfect month to take a break from house projects (although some tasks from the Fall to-do list might make an early appearance) to take stock of where we are with the orchard and upcoming spring 2022 plantings. There is a lot of fall prep that needs to be done, and August is a great month for planning it all out and doing some of the needed advance work. Taking a break from house projects will be good.

So will all the relaxing time with those we love — while the weather remains warm and those long days keep gifting us more time, we will enjoy as much as we can. It has been extremely wet this summer with double the usual rainfall (which had made irrigation a project we can put off until next year!) and lately we have also had some VERY cool days. No complaints here — considering the devastating heat and flooding in other parts of the world. But we hope it warms up enough to enjoy a good dip in the pool. Not wishing for a heat wave but a few warmer days would be nice. Much to be grateful for as the height of summer passes and the next season seems not that far off.