After being chomped on by deer, this clump of phlox has come back beautifully. I would be very happy if phlox self-seeded every year like it has this year. It fills in all the spaces in the garden and it’s a riot of color.

Another insanely hot and humid day yesterday with some rain, but not nearly the amount of storms predicted. I’m wondering if I should try mowing a bit of the front lawn today? Don has a gig this morning, so I could sneak in some mowing time. I’m also putting off working on our deductions (we always file an extension) but I really can’t delay that any longer.

Morning photos of the big old work in progress. I was looking at my IG miniature feed this morning and found a woman who make kits for half-scale (1:24) dollhouses. I was envious. They would take up so much less space. I’m sort of wishing I had gone that way. Very small house and several large dollhouses = a problem. I still have no idea where I am going to put the Beacon Hill when it’s finished.  Between the Blythes and the dollhouses and Don’s many guitars and other musical instruments, it’s a wonder we have anywhere to sit!

Playing with placement. That’s an old table I have that is about the size of whatever kind of desk/worktable I’ll end up using. I had to pull it out of the Vintage Folk Art Dollhouse. The legs on this piece are a bit too modern, but it’s the right size.

Working on a dollhouse is a lot more fun than working on deductions…

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Yesterday brought 7 Rose of Sharon blooms. Unfortunately, they were kind of smashed when we had a major, rather insane, thunderstorm in the late afternoon. We are under a heat advisory with lots of humidity and high temperatures and it continues through today.

Both Don and I felt more than a little trapped yesterday. It was too miserable to go outside except to quickly water the porch plants and the birdbath and grab the mail from the mailbox. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves.

And working on the Beacon Hill was impossible – the office/studio was like an oven. The box fan just blew the hot air everywhere. I have the window open in that room right now, just to cool it off a little.

All of this reminds me of my youth. We didn’t have air conditioning and August always brought hot and humid weather. I would place my head at the foot of my bed, which was right by the box fan inserted in the window, so I could feel a slight breeze. It was the only way I could get to sleep. My parents didn’t get a window A/C unit until years later and it was purchased for their bedroom. (Thanks for nothing,  Mom and Dad.) A couple of years later the living room got its own unit. Those unbearable summer days always fell when performances started for the summer musicals I was in. Heat, humidity, heavy costumes. mosquitoes. I can be back there in a second in my mind – the smells, the heavy air, the faithful audience members, the excitement  – all of it.

Later I experienced dorm rooms that had no A/C, and a slew of apartments that had no A/C. One apartment in Philadelphia – which gets very, very humid in the summer – had no A/C, nor could I afford to buy a unit. I was a poor graduate student. I used to come home from my summer temp jobs and take a shower, then position three fans on three different sides of the bed. I’d sit on the bed and try not to move for the rest of the evening. My next apartment did have an A/C unit which cooled off the kitchen living space, but it never quite reached the bedroom, so I had to put a fan in the doorway to draw in some of that cool air. No A/C in Boston and Cambridge, either. None in my first apartment in San Diego. Those were the days when the temperatures were still moderate, sort of a dream-come-true – it gets more humid there now. In the house we shared in San Diego, Don and I put in one window unit in our den. Central air? No. Only when traveling or visiting my parents and sister in Florida.

I still have a box fan, which we use in early spring/summer before we reach the point where we have to put in the A/C unit in the bedroom. That fan is in the office/studio now. And I have a little fan that I place in the doorway of the den to help bring in the cool air from the kitchen/living room.

More than you ever wanted to know about my life with and without air conditioning, I know. But the fact is I have not had A/C access most of my life. I’m so glad I have it now! This has been a very hot and humid summer.

Forgot to add: we have no A/C in our car. It stopped working early in the summer. We’re getting by and will continue to until we can afford to have it fixed.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

The hostas are blooming.

Not long after I ran outside to take this picture I was in the bathroom and saw a tick on my arm. Don came in and removed it. It had just started attaching itself to my body and I’m pretty sure it was a wood tick – too large for a deer tick. But come on! I walked outside, bent over to take these pictures and bam! A tick!

Later in the day, Don was stung by a bee.

And I mistakenly touched some poison ivy. Fingers crossed I don’t get it. I’ve already dealt with it once this summer.

What the heck???

It is absolutely gorgeous in the gardens right now. It may be the peak time for flowers. I have to drink this in. I spent a lot of time weeding the beds on the far side of the house yesterday, as I’d been ignoring them. I also cleared the beds in front of the shed. I’m late with a lot of the cleanup I’ve been doing over the past week because of  “The Crazy Summer Weather of 2026.” It’s been much nicer for the past few days, so I’ve tried to take advantage of it.

We have rain coming tonight and tomorrow and maybe the next day, so I’m trying to decide whether I should mow the front lawn or just wait until this stretch of rain passes and do it then.

I bit the bullet and removed the exterior of that fireplace on the 3rd floor of the Beacon Hill. Decision made. Now, I’ll fill it in with some foam board so I can wallpaper over it. And I’ll spackle the holes left behind from the removal of the mantel. I repainted the yellow buffet, but today I’m not so sure I like it. I’ll rethink it today.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.