we all know it's hot

So I'm not going to talk about the heat. The only good thing is that as long as Tom keeps watering the garden, the tomatoes continue to grow. We've had our first bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches, and tonight we had one of the sweetest yellow tomatoes I've ever eaten.

The bad part about this heat is that even though the garden looks like a great place to spread out and read the paper, it's just too hot.

Fortunately second-hand stores are air conditioned.Solid wood, good joinery, nice curves, and gently worn. For $15, it deserved a good home. And it's indoors, where it's cool.

back in business

I bit the bullet and ordered a camera, and yesterday I managed to take a few shots, download them, and print some pictures within a few hours, and without any frustration (well, not a lot anyway). That's my favorite new blossom in the garden this year, but even the cheap dahlias that we found on sale have produced some great blossoms.

And here's a picture that I didn't take: 17.5 inch, brown trout caught at Quaker Lake by Ed on November 13, 2005. (Yes, everyone, all that information was in the label Ed used to name the photo.)

Happy Birthday, Ed!

about that camera

I'm still trying to figure out what camera to buy to replace the camera I dropped and destroyed at Mark and Carol's anniversary party, so you won't be seeing any up-to-date photos tonight. Instead, here's one that speaks of summer. According to my label, this was in 1980, on Weezer and Anne's boat. Another good hat day for Dad.

And here's a picture of Dad in the water.And mother and Bridget. This is probably sometime in the mid 1970s. Mother had figured out that no one else was at the pool around 4:30 in the afternoon. Dad did his side stroke, mother kept her hair dry, C and B swam, and I took fuzzy black and white photos.

Bambi's on the run, maybe

The deer around here were patient. They waited until plants put out blossoms and reached a certain critical state of readiness—that time in a garden when there's a lot of hope that this is going to be a REALLY good year. They've eaten the purple blossoms off a phlox, sheared off some tomato stalks, and even munched on pumpkin vines. Twice this week Tom has been up around 5:00 and surprised a doe as she ambled into the corn patch. Maybe she'll spread the word—avoid cranky white-haired man in the end unit townhouse. Either that or she'll bring reinforcements and they'll do brunch at midnight.

But that's not the reason for the strings. We had so much rain that the soil became waterlogged. Add a little wind and the corn couldn't hold itself up. I don't know of any farmers in Iowa who would individually tie up and stabilize every fallen stalk of corn, but so far it's working.

Henry on drugs. We have a healthy catnip bed in the garden, and every once in a while I pick some and rub it on the mice that Sarah knit for the cats 6 years ago. This is Henry in a state of bliss. Yes, licking the mouse.

The bargain of the week? All mine. It's about knee high and has 40 drawers. At $4.50, I figured I could indulge myself: paper clips, push pins, rubberbands, stitch markers, cable needles, exacto blades, glue sticks... Think of it as the dining room cupboards at 413, in miniature.

up the lazy river

One quick run through the second-hand store on Saturday morning and we now have a collection that our children can fight over when we are gone. The tallest is about 12 inches, the smallest about 6 inches. All of them were a little dusty, but out of the six we came home with, five of the music boxes play their plunky little tunes, and the moving parts—like the teeter totter—work.Sometimes the excitement level on Devereaux Terrace is off the charts...