Finding the Umm in Summer

Summer is my least favorite time of year. I despise heat.

For five of the last seven years, I’ve escaped to my favorite home away from home, Ashland, Oregon. There I revel in cool mornings and evenings. I also get to hang with my friends in the Lithia Writers Collective.

What’s not to love?

Will I go this year? I don’t know yet, but I’m steeling myself for another Texas summer, just in case.

To psych myself up for that dreadful possibility and to make up for yesterday’s glum trinity, I’m determined to conjure some positive things about summer in my native state.

• Friday mornings around my friend V’s pool. She’s gracious enough to extend a standing invitation to the women of First Amendment Friday (i.e. our wine and conversation group), kids and all.

• Consumption of the year’s summer beverage with friends and family (in moderation, of course). Our standard Pinot Grigio  (from Target! In a box! Go get some! will likely, this summer be supplanted by a vodka concoction. The current contenders are sweet tea vodka, mixed with either water or lemonade; fresh squeezed grapefruit juice and plain vodka, with or without a salted rim; and blood orange Italian soda with vodka. My sister-in-law plans something that involves soaking pineapple chunks in vodka, too. Vote now for your favorite.

• Enjoying (in the morning, early afternoon, or at night) the patio furniture I finally talked The Man into purchasing at the end of last summer thanks to a ridiculous combination of discounts. If you sit without shade, you will not be enjoying anything.

That’s three….do you have any to add?

Summertime

Sure feels like summer here: the first mosquito bites of the season, the first grass burr underfoot, the car's AC breaking on the first 90 degree afternoon. 

Stream of (Un)Consciousness

Where are my posts, you might wonder (at least I hope you're all still out there, wondering).

I've been far too wrapped up in the minutiae of my Mother's (and my sister's) care to think, much less write.  So I thought I'd just throw some random thoughts out there.

• Local lore tells that it's always cold at Easter, whenever it falls. The annual "Easter Spell" came through a few days early. Yesterday, we woke up to temps in the 30s; tomorrow our high will be 83.  
• The most challenging part of all the illness around me is accepting that I have absolutely no ability to help anyone get better. A natural "fixer," I feel as if I'm treading water. All of my self-discipline (and my friends know such is not my strength) is going toward being a stabilizing, calming influence, and I certainly don't feel I'm doing a very good job. The other areas in which I need self-discipline - food, exercise, housework, homework monitoring, to name a few - are definitely suffering. So I'm lying around with hummus and pita chips watching the laundry pile up while my daughter blithely bicycles. That's me: all the sloth you want, all the time.
• Speaking of bicycles, I haven't ridden mine in almost two years. I went so far as getting it out of the garage a few weeks ago and there it sits, in the way. I need to take it to the bike shop for some minor repairs, yet that looms as an impossible task.
• I have no way of knowing if I'll be free to go to Oregon this summer. It's time to sign Young Girl up for camps and such, and I don't know if she'll be camping were she'll need a sweater or camping where she'll battle chiggers 24/7. Sigh.

And there you have it: what's on my mind in an absolutely mindless format.

A Good Way to Spend the Afternoon.....

Update From Cancerville

My sister received good bad news yesterday; her breast cancer, although it is Stage IV, has not spread to her bones or to any of the usual organs. 

My mom is weaker every day, but felt good enough yesterday to attend the "Super Seniors" event at her church, albeit in a wheelchair.

I am waiting on some new genetic test results from my mom's doc, and then I will meet with a genetic counselor at the medical school in Dallas to discuss my options.

I draw strength from all the positive messages and thoughts you send us, so keep 'em coming my friends!