Monday, June 24, 2013

*Gasp!*

I've been trying to do more, and have made some tiny progress on my big watercolor/acrylic painting, but it's honestly been disappointing. Not the results, but my progress. Or really, getting to the point where I can paint.

It's been wildly busy, but even more than that? The weather is not my friend. I remember when we moved here, and Vermont summers were simply lovely. You had 1-2 weeks of misery in August but the rest was all a lovely 75 degrees or so, and the windows would be open. No one had air conditioners, and it was OK - because why buy one for only a week? Ahhh, I miss it.

Instead, we've been having thunderstorms like these:

(Ignore the target I drew on the window with eyeliner, it was to give the restless natives something to shoot their Nerf gun ammunition at besides my backside.)


These storms leave the ground soggy and gross, and add to the 80-million-bajilllion humidity. Humidity that is not breaking right now, and makes you sweat when it's only 70 degrees. Once you hit anything over 80, you're in total soggy misery.

I just took this outside, not five minutes ago. It probably doesn't look as humid as it does in person - but I will point out that there is a whole other mountain range behind the one there, and you can't see it at all! Ick! More storms expected this afternoon.

The only A/C we have is in the bedrooms (window units), and we've been hiding out there. Painting has been sort of off the table (or really, left all alone on it) during all of this. I keep trying, but it's getting to the point that perhaps I should think about how to set up a working table in my bedroom. That's assuming I have any time between all the madness. Fortunately, that's coming to a head this week. If I survive until Sunday, my crazy schedule should mellow out a bit. Although, big things are stirring in my life right now. I can't give details, but it's going to turn everything on its ear eventually.

Stress is not my friend.

Speaking of friends, I went and slogged out through the yard and paid a brief visit to see how the chickens and garden are doing. Mostly, the chickens are hiding out. Everything is muddy and hot. Although Buffy (the rooster, named before we knew it was a boy - and really, it fits him) was strutting along and was happy to say hello, along with a couple of the girls (there are 23 at present, most lounging about inside the coop):


And on our row of blueberry bushes, I actually spotted something I didn't expect:


Those, my friends, are blueberries! Out of the whole row, this is the only one with them. I didn't expect any until next year anyway, as we only planted them late last year. But this one little bush seems to be an overachiever! We'll still go pick at the farm in a few weeks, which I'm really looking forward to - if I get there early enough, they should have raspberries and strawberries too.

My garden was planted late this year because of the chilly rainy weather we were getting (clearly we zoomed right past nice weather and went straight to August misery) but when we did plant, we found onions we had missed digging up last year. But they were alive, so we left them. This is what they're doing now:


Apparently, I'm supposed to harvest them immediately and they're probably worthless, but I can put the flowers into water. So, I figure that's what I'll do. I looked up onion flowers, and really they're kind of pretty! I still have different seedlings to plant (like broccoli and peppers) but I'm waiting on a truckload of dirt, because our land is all clay.

And that... well, that's what's been going on here in between melting in the heat and humidity and ferrying my kids places. Oh, and trying to not have a heart attack while teaching my daughter to drive!

Actually, I know I won't get any painting in for a couple days because circumstances put me out and about. I will, however, apparently be catching Superman, and World War Z. I wonder if that means I'll start painting zombies wearing capes...

3 comments:

  1. This late Spring and early Summer has been a stormy wet one. A lot of other bloggers have also been complaining about the over abundance of rainfall and the horrible lightening storms. Think Mother Nature is letting us know she is ticked off at us.

    Your chickens look very healthy and happy. My daughter has chickens and they are fun to watch, and of course the eggs they lay are a nice bonus.

    Your little onion plants will produce a pretty flower but it will have the same fragrance as an onion - oh well nobody's perfect.

    Hope things settle down for you (and cool down too) so that you can get back to your amazing painting. Also you now have me on pins and needles wondering what big things are stirring in your

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  2. oop I did a copy and paste but didn't get the last part of my remark "copied"...so here's what it was supposed to say :
    Also you now have me on pins and needles wondering what big things are stirring in your life. Hope it turns out to be something truly wonderful. :)

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  3. I understand totally about the heat and the HUMIDITY!!!! It's so gross! As you know, we are doing the water proofing and we have no air conditioning! The humidity was suppose to let up next week, but guess what, no way!!! Ugggg! I hate putting a bra on when I feel like this! LOL! Love your chickens and garden pics ;o) Stay cool!!!

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