A Warm July Morning in May

Weeding the brick path

5:30 A.M.

6:05

Evie' Garden at 6:15 A.M

Up too early, at 5:30, to  a light pink sky off to the east, the kind I remember from mid summer when it's very warm.  A slight haze mars what is usually a crystal clear May morning sky.  As I say, May is the new June.  Scary.  It's 59 degrees, high in the 80's the next couple of days, time to keep the windows closed, get out the fans, turn on the air conditioning...o, that's right, we don't have air conditioning.  In fact, I remember August in the old days, the 1980's when a sweat shirt was de riguer for the cool days, highs usually in the 60's.

I am having a hard time remembering what I did yesterday as the days blend into each other unless something different pops up.  O, yea, now I remember.  I began my routine of driving to the Tri James gravel pit, where I picked up a load of stones, then another load of sand and top soil.  I made a mixture of sand and top soil to level low spots in our yard, a result of last year's septic installing.  I used the stones to fill in low spots in our driveway and road.  I get four buckets, more likely five for two dollars.  For some reason, I enjoy doing it, perhaps because it gives me a blip in my otherwise routine day.  Around 3:00, we dropped my car off to get new brakes at an auto shop about two miles away, recommended by a couple of friends.  Then, Evie dropped me off at Snug Harbor to pick up my boat, after getting a new impeller and bilge, at a hefty cost, of course.  A nice way to start the summer.  As we got there, our boat was in the water, going backwards.  Strange.  When we inquired what's up, they said they couldn't get it in forward, just reverse.  They took it out of the water again, opened the lower drive, adjusted a few shafts, tightened a bolt, and viola, I was off on the lake, for the first time this summer.  Let's hope that's it for the boat.  Just putting gas and oil in the boat is enough without adding the cost of upkeep and storage. If you worry about the cost of a boat, you shouldn't have one.

Evie has the backyard and garden looking spectacular; though we still have little color.  The garden is immaculate, the green of the plants and lawn rich and fertile, the color only found in late spring before the heat of summer.  Leonard's invited us over for a drink before dinner; they seemed to have settled in quickly and easily.  For dinner, we had breaded pork chops, an old favorite of Evie's from her childhood, with apple sauce, baked potatoes and salad.  We watched a French movie called Summer Hours on Netflix, about a French family who must decide what to do with their mother's house, valuable paintings, and furniture after she dies.  The oldest son wants to keep the house, the accoutrement's, the memories for his children; the two youngest, who no longer live in France, want to sell the house and the priceless paintings.  They win out and we watch the way they manage to not let their differences get in the way of their feelings for each other despite the sadness of getting rid of a home filled with memories.  A bit slow but worth watching.  The house, of course, was typically French, surrounded by a wonderful garden, somewhat unkempt, but straight out of a Monet or Renoir.