Two eastern swallowtails. There were three – I saw them from the bedroom window – but by the time I got downstairs, one had departed. It’s rare for me to see more than one at a time.
Yesterday, I saw a monarch laying eggs on the milkweed. I tried to get a picture, but that butterfly was on a mission and moved very quickly.
I also saw another fawn outside the kitchen window. He/she was alone, so I gently urged him to go back to the woods, not down toward the street. The mission was successful until I went out on the porch about ten minutes later and saw him running across my neighbors front yard (very near the street) toward their pond. Maybe Mom was over there?
The humidity is back and it’s so oppressive. I have to limit my time outside because a) I hate humidity, it makes my brain feel foggy, and b) I’m allergic to molds and mildew and humidity is not my friend. I must admit, I’ve always hated humid weather. I could never live in the South.
Don asked me to send him a copy of the butterfly and bee that I posted yesterday. Later in the day, he ran some errands. When he got home, he gave me this:
I love seeing it enlarged and frame. Love you, husband.
Also yesterday; I couldn’t stand my long hair one more minute, so I enlisted Don in z “I HAVE to have a haircut!” venture. We took at least 4 inches off! Heaven.
Meredith still feels absolutely miserable and she was running a fever yesterday. Little Z is getting more computer and tv time than he is usually allowed. Mom needs rest.
Okay, my friends.
Stay safe.
Happy Friday.
Prayers for your family…I can relate. Lovely picture…lovely husband…
Thanks, Brenda.
Stay safe.
The difference here on the coast of Florida..always a slight breeze so the hateful humidity is not as bad as I had it in Ohio, Indiana, Wv, South Carolina. The ocean is right here…makes the world of difference. I never liked Florida that much esp inland or the Atlantic side. Miserable. I can’t stand heat, and I am fine here. The other fact is no cold brutal winter anymore so less pain. I don’t have to use that dreaded cane. The people here are younger acting. Less stress it seems to me…never thought I would like living here and put it off for years. I now understand my Mother’s love for this state. She would be surprised that I am here. She died at sixty, so did not get to enjoy much time in this paradise.
It’s a big no for me, but I’m so happy that you’re happy there. That’s all that matters, Brenda.
Stay safe.
Good man, Don! And bad news about Mere — thanks for keeping us posted. I hope the fawn makes it. We saw one in the wild yesterday — no camera, of course and it was dashing across the road into the woods fairly quickly. But a lovely sight indeed. Wish I could send you our weather and get something a little warmer. Last night we had a fire in the fireplace.
I’m due for a serious haircut which is scheduled in mid-September when I’m back from the lake. I may have to change it for the trip to Mpls. to see Rick’s dying aunt. We hope she makes it that long and I’m not sure it’s wise to wait. But not my aunt, not my travel plans. And I confess, I would rather go in September than leave the lake now if she will be around — the said three months but that isn’t always reliable.
Take care and lay low in the humidity. Nothing is so important it can’t wait a day or two.
Thanks so much, Jeanie.
Stay safe.
Good morning, Claudia. That was so sweet and thoughtful of Don to surprise you with one of your photos enlarged and framed. Those kinds of gifts (thoughtful, unprompted) are the best ones ever.
I can’t stand the humidity either. I don’t mind heat, but the humidity makes me physically ill. I get terrible headaches and feel nauseated. Like you, I have allergies to mold and all other environmental things: pollen, trees, grass, ragweed, etc. Our summer weather here lately has been mild and beautiful, but next week starts the oppressive heat and humidity. We’ll be in the 90’s to low 100’s with humidity. Ugh.
I read on Meredith’s blog yesterday that she now has Covid, too. I hope that she’s able to get a lot of rest. If Little Z has to stay glued to the computer and TV all day, so be it. Been there, done that!
xoxo
I have the same allergies. Sigh.
Meredith is very sick with Covid. It will pass but right now, she’s miserable.
Stay safe, Melanie.
Love the present Don gave you! We left the humidity in Illinois in 1976, right after our wedding, and never looked back. That and mosquitoes! Do not have either in Phoenix. It is true when they say it is a dry heat! Arizona is such a wonderful state for its many different elevations. You can be in heat one minute and then drive 1 1/2 hours north and be in cooler weather. We love it. For those of you who have asked about my MIL, she is still with us, but everyone is wondering how.
I guess it is not her time yet, but it is hard to see her suffering for so long. We pray it will be soon.
Take care to all of you who are in the extreme heat and humidity!
You know, I’ve stayed in AZ and places where it’s a ‘dry heat’ – I still don’t like it. High heat with humidity is terrible, but routine high temperatures? That’s a deal breaker for me. But with climate change, everything is in a state of flux. Nothing will stay the same.
Stay safe, Deb.
I am kind of surprised you and Don did not stay in San Diego, to me the perfect climate. We would probably be living there if it was not so expensive! Plus I don’t think they get really good thunderstorms, which I love when we get them here. Hope your sister is feeling better. My sister is doing pretty well with just a lot of fatigue. Take care!
Not as perfect as it was when we lived there. There was virtually no humidity or high temps. There are both now. The truth is, Don grew up there and he needed a change. After 8 years there, I missed the seasons. I’m a midwestern girl at heart and that means seasons. I only moved there because I had a new job at USD/Old Globe. And while is was quite lovely for a while, I wouldn’t go back.
my husband was stationed for almost 7 years at San Antonio, TX. When we left there I think I had heatstroke. It rarely went above the 80s but it started in March and went until Dec. I was so glad to leave all that humidity.
… jan, I had a clinically-diagnosed heatstroke when I first moved to Houston from Calif and knew nothing about Gulf Coast weather (I almost ended up in the hospital; couldn’t stop throwing up or feel I could cool down; I could only be in a totally-dark room for days afterward; some of it I can’t even remember now as it was 30 years ago and I was pretty sick); same thing happened to my mom when she traveled across the desert southwest in a NOT air-cooled car in the 1940s; and what’s scary about a heatstroke, although opinions vary on it, is that you’re more prone to another, e.g. your body never really recovers entirely after going thru it once; both Mom and I always were watching out to not get overheated through the years following our heatstrokes (and always, always carry drinking water; I’m never without a bottle by my side if I go out in the car, for instance; I never not prepare; with my mother, we’d keep an eye out even when I was a kid, to see if her cheeks/face were getting too pink, as she’d simply just faint away/pass out with too much heat) … heatstroke is indeed a nasty business; a serious illness (during my time in southeast Texas, I’d read too often of someone having passed away due to heat exhaustion/sunstroke [heatstroke] … I remember one case particularly of a construction guy who was building homes in my subdivision at the time, right across the street from my house; was so sad … and, you know, it also affected people’s pets, if they were left outdoors in the tremendous heat of the day) …
Thankfully, it usually happens for a week or two here and there. Though this summer has been a real challenge.
Stay safe, Jan.
I love that you can identify the butterflies. As we watched more eucalyptus trees go down via chainsaw yesterday, which have been where they are, in a long beautiful row for over a hundred years (it’s some big, involved tale of homeowner liability vs old land the trees have been on since probably late 1800s; I’m heartsick over it; I see it every day as it’s the next block above my neighborhood and those trees were there LONG before I was born of course, so I’ve always ‘known’ them and the sight has always been comfortingly-familiar to me), my husband solemnly said, “I can’t even remember the last time I saw a monarch butterfly.” Their roosts are gone.
We’re definitely humid in coastal/warmer Southern Calif right now, typical for summer, hazy horizon, but NOTHING like what I experienced with living on the Gulf Coast for three years. I’d ask people how they endured the heat and humidity year after year in Texas and Louisiana, and they’d say, “You just get used to it.” Well, I never got ‘used to it’ and wanted to say, “Don’t you know, you don’t need to live like this!” But they’d probably say the same thing to me about Calif with its wildfires, earthquakes, water shortage, high cost of real estate, etc. (Anyway, I’m sorry you’re pushed indoors due to the darned humidity; and, ugh, we still have to get thru August.)
Your dear and good sister, Meredith (I so LOVE that name; one of my faves); you must be so worried for her; hope she’ll start feeing some improvement soon. Glad Z just skated right thru the virus and that he’s okay (but bored!).
Vicki,
I had to laugh at your “You don’t have to live like this” statement. We always use to say that about our friends that we’re back in Chicago with the humidity and snow storms. “You don’t have to shovel heat!” was my husbands favorite line! What part of California are you in? My sister is in San Diego and her subdivision is full of eucalyptus trees. I would hate to see them chopped down too! Take care!
I currently live in that stretch of coastal Calif between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. I’ve previously lived in cities like Carpinteria and Ventura (small/modest coastal ‘resorts’) — of course living IN Santa Barbara itself (the quintessential Calif-coastal enclave, at least for what’s called The Central Coast as opposed to Malibu in L.A. County which is 70 miles south) was probably THE most pleasant place of all (was such a privilege/joy and I wish it could’ve lasted forever!); it’s a beautiful, beautiful city with Mediterranean vibes, and I swear the Pacific Ocean is bluer there.
Have to say, though, there was nothing I ever disliked about many times I’ve been in, or driven through Arizona. So many vacays with my first family when I was a kid, to states East, traveling through the southwest states of Arizona and New Mexico particularly (I loved-loved Albuquerque, the Old Town), road trips of the 1960s on the old Route 66, seeing the majestic mesas of the desert with their pastel colors stretched wide across the great land; staying in unique places (motorcourts/mom & pop motels; tourist cabins) on the road, like Winslow (oh, Glenn Frey/The Eagles, standing on a corner in Winslow AZ, just tak’in it easy); of course Flagstaff is lovely and cool.
One time with work, my ‘boss’ flew me to Phoenix for a conference and I stayed over the weekend with one of his partners who had a GORGEOUS home in Paradise Valley; I walked on egg shells in this beautiful, ‘authentic’ desert home, to not knock into all the artifacts or furniture; my bathroom sink was handpainted pottery with illustrations of desert wildflowers; their yard was created to look like a dry creek bed; after that, I decided I needed to move to Paradise Valley or Scottsdale; ha(!), til I saw how expensive it was to live there! Another lifelong neighbor of mine retired permanently last year to Prescott and another couple I know from here decided to retire in Sedona. They’re not gonna escape wildfires there, but they prefer the climate and ambience to Southern Calif!
Glad things turned out well for you in Phoenix. As for San Diego, our host here, Claudia, has a history there with the wonderful Don. Always love hearing of their San Diego adventures! That’s another stretch of coast I love in SoCalif: Los Angeles to San Diego. Problem today is the freeway traffic (‘getting there’), but Carlsbad is dear to my heart and I’d love to visit La Jolla again as well as San Clemente (haven’t been that direction for awhile). Of course I love anything, too, from Santa Barbara to San Simeon and Carmel-Monterey. Or anything north of San Francisco; I once very nearly came to live in Mendocino. The coastal bluffs there are just magnificent.
So, I guess I really do have part of my soul enmeshed in the whole of coastal California. Although the central part of the state/San Joaquin Valley and Delta region is also pretty fascinating … a lot of it is ‘high-tech’ agriculture now (whereas some of my Dust Bowl ancestors hand-picked a lot of sticky apricots back in the day there [1930s]), but the array of crops are mind-blowing, from asparagus to garlic and grain, with fruits being dominant, such as tomatoes, peaches and oranges. I worked for ranchers who had land there (Exeter, Tulare), so we office workers (some 200 miles away) sometimes got to reap the ‘spoils’ of big, fat, purple plums and other stone fruit (and, ohmygosh, the green and red table grapes were SO delish); but it’s also a big raisins/nuts area (walnut orchards; almonds). A long-long time ago, starting in about 1913, my cousins’ step-grandfather was a young apprentice winemaker who later owned a small winery in Fresno, specializing in champagnes; he was Swiss.
But I could go on & on with California Stories, and of course the state has many problems with drought and fire and water, but it really is an interesting place; of course ALL the states have their own, unique characteristics and I have SO many of them yet to visit, like Claudia’s own New York!
Thanks for all the info! We have not been to New York either or anything on the East coast. I feel like I really belong there because I love the character of the houses and all the history. We have a little too much stucco here. If ever you or friends or family are in AZ you have to stay at BriarPatch Inn in Oak Creek Canyon. We discovered it about 20+ years ago and have gone twice a year ever since, our anniversary and my birthday. Our favorite cabin is the Casa de Piedra, right on the creek. It is a little pricey, but worth every penny. We have met people who come all the way from Europe once a year to stay there. The property it is on is amazing!
A few months and we will be staying there. Can’t wait!
I hope you have a wonderful time in Cabin Casa de Piedra at the resort; I know nothing of this place and will look it up!
Incidentally, about real estate and what would SEEM to be a slowing market with rising interest rates, my neighbor’s lifelong home of nearly 70 years, clean but outdated, sold (yesterday) in less than a week for what is likely list price of $600,000 (reportedly a pure-cash/fast deal). This is on the lesser-desirable part of town in an old neighborhood, plain ‘ol rectangular-‘ranch’ (style) tract houses. 3-bed/2-bath, absolutely-positively NOTHING fancy or charming, which our parents paid $14,000 for, in the mid-1950s. Not even a huge yard although it’s block-wall fenced entirely with a build-on patio room which could easily be turned into a family room.
I’m glad for my increasingly-ill neighbor (so sad; she’s only age 73) as she needs the money to pay for her care in another state where she was forced to live to be near family, but I feel more negative than positive about what anybody new will do to one of the last originally-owned homes of the old neighborhood (which still has its 1955 pink bathtub and original 1955 pink bathroom sink … I’m sure they’re in great condition [I’ve only seen photos], as these people were frugal but kept everything spotless; all-everything in the house just very-gently used; small family and no one else ever in it] … totally mid-century color-kitsch [viewed though as good quality; quirky; quaint and ‘vintage’; as opposed to cheap and garish; the other floor plan when the homes were new, 50 houses and just two floorplans offered to young-prospective homeowners of the day, having mint-y GREEN porcelains in the bathroom {I adore all this color-rich tile; luv-luv-luv the 1950s!}]). I need to work on my pessimism, but if the new owner puts in granite kitchen counters, I’ll puke. Thankfully, there’s a continuing reverence with new home buyers when it comes to wood floors.
But this may be the last of the fast-moving sales, at least in my town, because everything one seems to read lately, or hear about on TV, is that Recession is looming, shades of 2007-2009 (hope-hope-hope not; Joe Biden is still saying it’s premature for the economists to be so gloomy). Warning to folks right now … is to not accumulate any new debt, pay off your credit cards, try to have a money cushion if you possibly can, scale back and wait on purchasing. Like, we desperately, my husband and I, need a different car (‘desperately’ is an exaggeration, but not only is it hard to FIND a used car in Southern Calif right now, you have to pay a fortune for them, and it’s ‘spending ill-advised’ if a downturn in the economy is inevitable, besides which the mechanical part of things my husband still feels he can repair, such that snobby-me just will have to ‘deal’ with the cosmetics, of how horrible the dents and paint and upholstery look [I got ‘totaled’ in this car six years ago; we bought the car as ‘salvage’ after the insurance company considered it junked, as the car had a brand-new air conditioner … and, although it’s a wreck of a thing, it glides along wonderfully on the open road despite it being 23 years old]). But truly, I really still can’t believe (can any of us?) what I’m paying for food and gasoline right now, so a car just isn’t going to happen. Expenses will have to ongoingly be prioritized; no frivolous spending allowed for sure; I don’t want to be caught off-guard about Recession ever again. Been there, done that.
I know of two people who work at animal rescues and the shelters are just overrun right now with cats and dogs. People got pets in the early part of the pandemic; then, when they could no longer work from home, they gave up the pets. But, in a bad economy, when people can’t pay their bills, maybe have to give up the house and go into an apartment or bunk up with somebody else, the dogs often don’t get included. They’re just another expense, or there’s no room, or it’s “No Pets” where they move to — one shelter I know of which is outside the L.A. county lines says they are taking in SO many pets from the City because Los Angeles shelters are suffering; over-packed with dogs particularly (whereas my own city shelter right now is overrun with cats and new kittens).
I just pray and pray that people will be able to hold on to their pets, feed their kids; be able to pay the light bill; be able to afford fuel for the car so that they can get to a job. Just do NOT want to see a return of yet-another Great Recession when it’s taken us 14-15 years to get out of the last one (ask some people and they’ll say we never did).
It’s a great gratitude tool in times like this, to look around (as you do with your property, feeling so lucky to have it), assess one’s surroundings and state of being, assure ‘self’ that it’s all okay and we’ll get by and get thru anything that comes our way as we’ve always managed to do before, even when things were very grim. I think again and again of that old WWI saying which was used greatly later in The Great Depression of the 30s and again in WWII, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” All good advice; it’s really a lot about recycling, which we all should be doing anyway. My fingers aren’t very nimble at this age, but I’m re-learning how to mend, since I’m not ‘into’ clothes at this age, not interested in buying anything more clothes-wise, so trying to remember from 8th-grade home economics class of how to sew on a button or stitch up a hole, a seam; just got lazy over the years with this sort of thing!
xoxo
Vicki, great financial advice. People need to not take in additional debt and save all they can. How much stuff do you need?
Maybe it just my age but it just gets to be too much. We lived in southern Ca for many years ( a coastal community) but now live in a beautiful coastal community in New England. I could never live away from the ocean. Our family lives in Huntington Beach and Pacific Palisades.
I had to smile at all the places you mentioned , so so familiar.
Carmel is special to us as that is where c we spent our honeymoon.
I always enjoy your comments. I think you should have your own blog.
Linda, hi; thanks; Claudia is amazingly tolerant, patient and generous to let some of us write too much, as this is HER space as host …
… but, oh, my dream … to live in New England! Be positioned to see the whole East Coast which is unknown to me but which beckons; lucky you! We have friends in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire (somewhat newly-retired there from Maine, to Gulf Coast [Texas and Florida] and now a return to the Atlantic since paying jobs no longer take them here and there; they bought a dear little retirement house at the edge of the woods but within walking distance to the beach, from how I understand it to be), crooking their fingers now, trying to get us to move; it is SO tempting; also to be near my husband’s niece in Rhode Island would be nice.
The Palisades of L.A. County, just a wee-teeny-bit north of Santa Monica and Malibu; so, so beautiful up there on those great bluffs (but so, so expensive). It’s just like Santa Barbara further up the coast in the other direction; and why the commuting in and out of that city is getting worse and worse, packed highway, which is why they’re currently trying to enlarge the PCH/Hwy 101 there (10-mile stretch on the south approach to Santa Barbara) … because if you work in the city, you have to live elsewhere, in other burbs; just too cost-prohibitive to rent or buy within the city itself. Even in the 80s when I was there and rented, my rent doubled with my move (but I was young and single, a hard-working office girl, just didn’t care; I needed a life; I wanted to live there THAT much!).
Did you just close your eyes and just point with your finger to pick out a place on the East Coast map, did you have family in New England; jobs; did you make a conscious choice to move to one particular area? I’m just so curious to know how other people pull off their dreams like you did!
Mere is still feeling pretty miserable. The fever is gone, but she is really down and out.
Stay safe, Vicki.
Although today has been hot, humid, and oppressive, the chickadees and wrens have made good use of the bird bath throughout the day. I’ve sat inside and watched their antics in the bird bath, as well as in the nearby Japanese maple where they sit and groom themselves after bathing. Such a relaxing way to spend a few minutes here & there throughout the day.
What an absolute treasure — Don and the photo he had enlarged/framed for you! ❤️
And what’s this fella do for an encore? He cuts your hair.
You and Don are such a charming, beautiful, caring, talented, and all-around wonderful couple!!!
Stay safe, stay well.
Yes, one of the perks of the heat is watching birds in our bird bath. I love it.
Thank you for your kind words, Amy.
Stay safe.