Summer Time

 After lots of rain which the farmers really needed, it is a little cooler and less humid today. It still feels like summer though. One of the nearby county fairs (Saint Joseph? Elkhart? I just read the headline on my news feed so don't remember exactly) lost power. Kind of hard to run a fair with rides, food booths, etc. without electricity. Fort Wayne also had major power outages. Kosciusko County (my county) fair starts this Sunday the 10th. 

I don't like hot temperatures much, but I do like the melons, berries, and tomatoes that are part of summer. Sunflowers also remind me of summer. I bought 5 stems (flowers) on my online order/pickup at Kroger today.

I had planned to do laundry yesterday (Wednesday), but I saw the toilet bowel water was discolored Tuesday night and when I brushed my teeth the water tasted like iron. Today (Thursday) the water is OK again. I have ruined linens and clothes in the past as they pick up the rusty color when the water is not the way it should be. The good news is that Grace Village is in the process of changing from well water to the Winona Lake city water system. It is rather complicated, but they think we will be on city water by the end of August.

Speaking of clothes, I did order a NYDJ blouse online from Nordstrom Rack. What a fiasco. The blouse that arrived was black background with abstract blue flowers. The blouse I ordered had a navy background with pinkish and red flowers. The label and barcode on the blouse I received matched what my order said. Apparently the information on Nordstrom Rack web site was incorrect. I didn't even open the blouse bag since I didn't like it and it wasn't what I ordered.

 Using the chat feature I was emailed a shipping label for free return. The customer service lady encouraged me to reorder. I told her I was leery because I might end up with the wrong blouse again. She said she would make sure what came from the warehouse was right. But then she saw I had used Paypal on my order and said she would need a credit card number because she could not use Paypal. I told her to forget a reorder. The way she phrased things in her chats I think she was outside the US somewhere. I hadn't set up an account with Nordstrom Rack but checked out as a guest. I think the fewer people/companies that have my credit card information, the better.

 I am still waiting for my refund; they refunded the shipping charge to my Paypal account, but the purchase price has to wait until the merchandise is received. I mailed it July 1st. According to the tracker it was picked up by a returns agent July 2nd, but nothing shows except in transit to Nordstrom.

I bought book 1 of Cindy Woodsmall's The Amish of Summer Grove series at a library sale. When I checked Hoopla, I only saw audio versions. When I finished Ties That Bind, I downloaded book 2 (Fraying at the Edge). It wasn't unpleasant to listen to the book using my headphones, but slow. I knew I could read the book in half the time. I got the printed version of book 3, Gathering the Threads from the public library and finished it in a little over one day. I like Woodsmall's Amish fiction; she is a little different than the stereotypical Amish genre author though. The Warsaw Public Library has quite a lot of Christian fiction books.

Sunflowers and Sad Situation

Our partial sunny skies of  this morning have turned gray this afternoon. I am hoping to grill salmon tonight. The forecast is for rain tomorrow morning so maybe it will hold off tonight.

Instead of yellow sun, we have yellow sunflowers. Yes, they opened earlier today.

You can see the eastern plant has reached its height limit unless it curls up under the soffit. 

I see about a dozen portulaca plants that have reached a few inches high in the front of my patio plot. The Asiatic lilies are finished blooming so it would be nice to have a few colorful blooms but it remains to be seen if the moss roses will survive. That part of the plot floods often, and thunder storms are projected for the rest of the week.

A disaster has occurred to the couple that lives next door. She had a hysterectomy about 2 weeks ago. We all sign consent forms that list the risks of surgery, but you never expect to be the one who experiences the bad things. A police car and two ambulances pulled up in front of their house Monday night. I didn't see her put in an ambulance, but he backed the car out of the garage and followed it, the ambulance lights flashing but no siren. The official news we have received thru the prayer request is that she has a blood clot in her lung and that her heart has stopped multiple times in a hospital in Fort Wayne. The unofficial news is that she is unresponsive and the family has been told to gather.

My husband's brother in December also had clots after surgery, one going to the brain to cause a stroke, and a few days later one to the lung that killed him. We know these people are in God's hands, but it doesn't keep us from being sad when they and their loved ones suffer.

We received news late this afternoon that my sweet neighbor has died.

A Touch of Winter

I cut off my sole sunflower head and tore it into several pieces thinking a squirrel or deer might find it tasty. Nothing touched it. Yesterday I removed the seeds from the head and spread them around. So far, no takers. True there are bird feeders all around with seeds; but non-bird critters should find these easier to access. Maybe with the heavy frosts the next few days, more animals will start foraging. So far a bit disappointing for me. 

I finally put the mum and geranium out with the garbage bag today. No sense having to put them in the garage overnight when that would be every night in the foreseeable future. Our projected high for tomorrow is 37 degrees, quite a bit below normal. At least I can now wear my sweatshirts comfortably.

Saturday afternoon my husband and I are going to a Notre Dame ladies basketball game. We were given the tickets gratis. We will see Muffet McGraw in person. That should be fun.

I bought some yarn at Meijer and plan to try knitting a pair of slippers. I still consider myself a learner. This will be a new pattern for me. With the colder weather, things like knitting and reading books sound like nice inside activities. 

It seems a little early to cocoon in my house, but I am not a lover of cold weather. 

Floored

The installers finished the master bath and kitchen floors yesterday. The new flooring looks good, and I think we will be happy with it for many years. The duraceramic tiles should be easy to clean, too.

The "weed" I decided was a sunflower did bloom. The lower branching stalk that was nibbled off has the start of a flower, but since we usually have first frost by the end of October I doubt it will ever flower.

The moss rose plant against the house continues to put out blooms, too.

I may still try to take the seed pods and sprinkle them further out where I can see the new plants (if any come up) thru my window.

A cooler day today though upper 70's and low 80's forecasted for next week midweek. It seems like autumn though.

I saw a gorgeous magenta sunset as I drove home from a funeral last night as though the sky was paying tribute to the departed saint as well. There have been way too many funerals for us to attend the past 10 weeks. At least these acquaintances and friends loved Jesus and are in heaven.

Transition Time

We are having beautiful weather; expect rain tomorrow though. There are hints of autumn. The tree I can see from my west windows has quite a bit of color. It is always the first tree in our neighborhood to change.

But the maple tree behind my house also has some colored leaves.

In the six years that I have lived in this condo, I have never seen so many pinecones on the trees. Maybe because they received so much water in the spring and early summer?

These white pines are maturing so possibly that also means more cones. However, the towering tree in the adjacent yard is much older and it too is loaded with pinecones this year.

An internet search seems to indicate there is no correlation between prolific cones and a harsh winter.

We have a reservation on Hilton Head Island this winter. I am trying to find information on damage on the island. It appears the surge did flood some of the south end. Our rental condo is on an upper story so I doubt there would be flooding, but if lower units are having repair it would be noisy and unpleasant. The evacuation notice was just ended this morning. Also, Savannah and Charleston which we would visit on day trips have flooding. I have until September 28th to cancel and get my whole deposit back. Maybe more news will be coming out now that the evacuation has ended. The owners live in Ohio and won't know until their cleaning service inspects the unit what condition things are in.

My bad luck continues with growing plants. The coreopsis died, but a large "weed" seemed to be growing where I had planted them. I have now decided it is a sunflower plant.

It probably won't have time to develop seeds before first freeze. Yesterday when I looked out the window, the branching stalks had been chewed off, most of the leaves on the ground. I remind myself of Jonah griping about the death of the vine that sprung up on its own. I didn't plant it, and God can do whatever He wants with it. I had some weeds I was going to pull later this week; they are also chewed off.

When I went out to investigate, I realized I had a lone moss rose blooming against the wall. I couldn't see it through the window.

Our bird feeder sunflower seeds must have blown over to my neighbors earlier. She doesn't do anything with her small plot, but now she has blooming sunflowers.

Saturday I bought sweet corn and small tomatoes at the Farmers' Market. However, apples and cider are starting to appear. I keep changing blankets from light to medium weight. I put out a few fall decorations in my house yesterday.

I feel unmotivated to do extra chores. My assistant in the library has gone to help with her new twin grandchildren until October. I am shelving the books, but not much else.

I feel sad. Several friends and associates have died within the past few weeks. My cousin in California did not come through her surgery well and is on hospice. I see photos of Saint Thomas which was the lushest and greenest port we visited on our winter cruise, and it is unrecognizable. We have heard from Florida family members and they are fine though our nephew's family has no electricity. We have Robin Hood neighbors that lived previously in Naples, Florida or had winter homes on Marco Island and can't get hold of their friends. So much suffering. The "bowl" is full of the hard, gristly things.

Garden Gifts

My sister-in-law stopped by with some items from her garden. Green beans and tomatoes and some sunflowers.

It is a pleasant day with a nice breeze. We have the doors and windows open instead of running the air conditioner.

When I was shelving books in the retirement library after lunch, one of the Winona Literary Club members said she would be right back with a book. Her friend in Milford haunts yard sales, etc. looking for books and using the list of our series gaps has graciously donated a handful of books. Today the donation was Wanda Brunstetter's The Gift, a 2015 book that retails for $15.99. This copy looks like new. Thank you Nancy and friend for your efforts to improve the Grace Village Library.

Winding Down Update

Not quite so humid this morning though it is warming up fast. I walked over a block to take a photo of the sunflowers. Our neighbor painted his house a bright red while we were in California. It makes a nice contrast to the flowers.

 As long as I was outside, I took a peek to find the cheddar pinks. Hurray! They are alive and have even grown a little. No buds or blossoms. I don’t have enough experience with them to know whether they will bloom again when the weather turns cooler; but they did survive the terrible winter of 2014 so they probably will come back next spring. I started weeding the moss roses, but when I got kind of sweaty, I decided to cut short the weeding session. It was mostly that weed that forms a flat mat and when you grab far enough down the whole mat comes up at once so it wasn’t very much labor.

 Hope your summer is going well. The humidity will drop some, but we do expect temperatures in the 80’s clear through next week, with chances of thunder storms most days.

Morning Glories

We are starting to have some refreshing rains. The condo that backs up to ours has some lovely morning glories and sunflowers.