Day Lilies in the overcrowded garden. There is so much self-seeded David phlox everywhere that I really can’t get to anything! The positive in that is that there isn’t much room for weeds.

Also, to the right of the day lilies:

A self-seeded coneflower in a place it’s never been before.

We are, as are many of you, trying to do what we need to do before the ‘heat dome’ arrives on Wednesday. Wednesday’s high will be 97° , Thursday’s high will be 102°, and Friday’s will be 99°. It will be 95° on the 4th. And that doesn’t include the heat index which will feel like several degrees higher. Dreading this, of course. We’re going to stay indoors because it will be very dangerous out there, and I will water early in the morning and in the late afternoon. We have an “Extreme Heat Watch” which, I’m sure, will turn into a warning.

Crap!

In the meantime, I’ll do what I can on the dollhouse while awaiting that wallpaper. This will be the last time I order from this seller, but I had to use her again as she’s the only one who carries the wallpaper I’m using in the kitchen. Today, mini-Stella arrives. She’s out for delivery! I’ll share her with you on Wednesday. And I finally decided on the wallpaper for the hallways. That seller always ships quickly, so by the end of the week I should be able to start applying it. (After the heat wave, because: no air conditioning in the studio.)

Right now, it’s lovely outside. Should I mow? Because we haven’t had much rain, the grass is growing slowly. I’ll think about it.

Joe updates: He can talk, hum, and sing a little. He saw imaginary things for a few days there, very normal for what he’s ben through. He passed his swallow test and he can drink liquids now. (He missed his daily dose of coffee.) He is a bit confused at times, but doing so much better. And he was moved to another floor the other day which is a very good sign. But he’s very weak and they have him marked as a high fall risk because he’s still very weak. He is getting respiratory therapy and physical therapy. Very, very thankful.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

An older photo of the kitchen in progress just to remind you I am still waiting for the replacement wallpaper – this seller is so SLOW! Again, a tracking number has been issued but nothing has happened since. And that was 5 days ago. I always suspect she hasn’t dropped it off at the post office yet. I’m trying to stay calm, but it occasionally drives me nuts. I can’t do anything until that arrives. I also can’t do anything until I decide on the hallway wallpaper and I can’t figure out what I want. Since I will be papering 3 floors, I don’t want a wallpaper that’s too expensive.

I can’t seem to make a decision.

But, that 3-D printed “mini Stella”  that I commissioned has been shipped to me and should arrive on Monday! I can’t wait to see it in the kitchen.

So, I’m just in waiting mode. I’ve done a lot of work outside this week, but the grass hasn’t grown enough to mow yet – it’s very dry here. I painted Don’s birthday present, which took about 4 days from start to finish. And now, I’m out of things to do!

I’m attempting to read Maggie O’Farrell’s newest book, Land. As per usual lately, my attention is scattered. But I’m going to make myself sit down and read a chunk of it today.

And vacuum.

That’s it. That’s all I’ve got for you today.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

I have nothing for you, really, except for a couple of pictures of my crown vetch:

It has a life of its own this year.

The weekend was spent working on a painting for Don. I threw one out. The second stab at this is not going well. Sometimes I think that the stretch where I painted all of the Roseville Pottery was a fluke. For that brief time, I had it. But since then, every time I’ve tried painting in oils, it’s been a struggle and I’ve usually tossed whatever I was working on.

I’m on hold with the dollhouse until I get the wallpaper and, you guessed it, she hasn’t shipped it yet. I painted the walls and ceilings in the hallways in preparation for wallpapering, but I have to find a pattern I like.

And, of course, the ongoing attempts to find out something about Joe’s status. Thank goodness for the two women that I am communicating with on a separate text chain. We share our frustration and can freely vent about the lack of communication. I wrote Carmel, who is our contact, yesterday asking for more information and tried to explain that having no updates since last Tuesday had become very upsetting for many of us. We just want basic info: is he conscious? is he still on the ECMO machine? how has the hospital classified his condition? I was very polite and expressed my gratitude that she is there for him, by the way.

Anyway, just after I wrote Carmel, we did have an update. He had surgery to remove the ECMO machine, but he’s still on breathing support and she promised to update us when he woke from the anesthesia. That was mid-day yesterday and…we have heard nothing since then.

Then we got chided by the other woman who is there for “bombarding” them with questions. Well, maybe if you communicated more often, that wouldn’t be an issue.

There’s a lot more I could say, but I’ll stop there.

Thank heavens for Don, who lets me talk all of this out, who cares about Joe, and agrees that the lack of communication has been maddening. I also called the hospital, but legally, all they could say was that he was in the critical cardiac care unit.

So that’s where we are.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.