My Summer Favorite Eight

Eight. As in the number of things I've chosen to be grateful for as we've moved full-force into record-breaking temperatures and once again looking for indoor activities when we can't just lounge around like sea creatures along-side a nice cool body of water. I have pretty great coping skills. And why I choose to torment myself and the rest of the family and keep the thermostat at juuuuuuust shy of feeling almost cool, I like to remember my days as a young mom in the Valley of the Sun aka Hell on earth in August aka Arizona and remember surviving a 125 degree day. I think I recall splashing water onto mine and the kid's clothes and just trying to not move too much. It's a method. So when we barely hit triple digits here in Utah, remind myself "Hey! It always cools off at night!" Which it truly does. And also, "Don't rush this time, because in a few weeks we'll be right back to complaining about the cold."

So now to my list! First up, is the best part of Summer and that is the glorious sunrises and sunsets. Mostly sunsets if you're like me and don't relish early mornings. Crossing our fingers for no out of control forest fires like last year. They do make for a stunning sunset, but it's surely beauty mixed with ambivalence for such incredible colors.

The glow from the sunset reflecting in our neighbors upstairs window gives me all the heart eyes.

The number two item is another of Summer's best. Old fashioned roses. I believe these are David Austin floribunda. I don't remember the name of them, I only remember that my mother wanted us to get this particular rose since the color reminded her of the color of butter. If you know my mother, you know that her love for butter is up there with her love of family, God, and country. And I am not exaggerating. Well butter and bacon. But there isn't a rose the color of bacon that I've seen so far.

I mean come on. Almost looks like a peony right?! The petals though!

Number three. Rhubarb. If you haven't ever tried rhubarb you must! It is a beautiful plant and so very tasty when baked with copious amounts of sugar. Just be sure to bake it early in the morning instead of late afternoon like I did thus heating up the house ever more.

I forgot to add enough cornstarch and it turned out so runny, but Bronson said he loved how the crust absorbed all the juice from the berries. So there's that. And also it made the most delicious syrup to pour over the a la mode vanilla. YUM!

I didn't use my usual crust recipe and so I got irritated and bailed on making this more fancy than this. Crust snob here. It got too dark to take a photo of the finished baked pie but it was purty.

Number four is the fire-pit area. After years of indecision "Should we build a deck, or lay concrete, or how about a patio of pavers?", one day in my weekly run to a home improvement store for my plant purchases, I bought a few bags of pea-gravel and just decided to go for it. Bronson caught the vision and spent the next several days arranging and re-arranging the few remaining stones from a wannabe patio we had attempted over a decade ago. I got some little grasses and box-wood shrubs and solar lights and Voila! We had a lovely fire-pit conversation area for the yard for not a whole lotta dinero. More money for plants! Don't tell Dave I said that.

Number five is for a mock Frappuccino I sort of made up. Not a coffee drinker, but man those look mighty deelish! I saved my cup from my occasional splurge of the Starbucks "pink drink" and for some reason drinking from this cup makes me feel like I'm pretty fancy. By the way, the little dehydrated strawberries Starbucks uses in the pink drink are divine when mixed into rice krispy treats. My neighbor made some for me several months ago, which is the reason I know. I don't dare make a pan of them because I know for a fact I will eat the entire thing within thirty min. Some things are just better left for the neighbors to do.

Number six. Well let's just say this photo here I came across the other day, and it reminded me that I am so so happy I had PRK done on my eyes. I got mono-vision so that my dominant (right) eye is corrected for distance, and my left eye is corrected for a reading distance. Life. Changing. I no longer panic at the thought of not knowing where I set my glasses down, or scratching them. I can lie down next to Dave on the couch and watch T.V. without glasses smashing my nose and face. I just have to remember to put eye-drops next to my bed at night because opening my eyes first thing in the morning is...well....it feels a bit like the sand-man is real and real mean, and like you have little grains of sand in your eyes. But other than that which eye-drops easily fix, I'd recommend it if you hate glasses.

I have no picture for number seven, because it has to do with number two. As in a coloscopy. For five years my doctor has been nagging me to get one done just as a regular screening. Like a mammogram. I did the mammogram thing. No biggie. The technician takes one breast, puts it between a couple cold plates of glass and then takes it for a field trip into the next room for a few seconds. Then the next side. And then BAM! You're done! But I've heard tales of the colonoscopy. The prep. Dave had one done a few years ago because I nagged him so much about it I'm sure he figured the procedure would probably be much easier than having to endure my unrelenting carping. He said the prep wasn't so bad and that he slept through the whole procedure. "I can do this." I dialed the number and scheduled the date so I'd be committed. The day arrived. I had "prepped" all. night. long. I never felt so clean in my life. I'd also never felt so hungry; except maybe after having a baby. Maybe this was sort of the same. Well no. No it wasn't. The staff at the hospital were fabulous. The were kind and efficient and got me back to the surgical room quickly. The doctor looked approximately twenty-five years old, and she was wearing a t-shirt that said, "What's up your butt?" I gave a weak little laugh and then drifted off to sleep. When I woke up, Dave was in the room to help me get dressed. We drove straight to Chik-fil-a and I ordered my favorite. A kid's nugget meal with fruit instead of fries and ice-cream instead of the kid's book, and lemonade. I made it! My tests came back squeaky clean pun intended, and I won't have to do it again for ten years! I will on the other hand get to start nagging Dave again in just a couple of years. He loves me.

Eight. Giime aaaaaaallllll the babies! Is there anything better in the whole wide world than the scent of baby's breath, a baby's neck, a baby's head??!! We've added two little grand-daughters to our ever-growing clan this past Summer. Their parents are wonderful and it is an incredible thing to witness them raising such lovely little families. They say raising babies is for the young. And it's true I suppose. My joints ache with arthritis. I can't imagine waking up in the night and having to quickly move across the room to check on a little one. I have to have a serious conversation with all my body parts before we can slowly rise out of bed each day. While we have that conversation, I'll start thinking of my next eight things.

#coloncancerawareness #prk #correctiveeyesurgery #peagravelpatio