Scavenging the August Doldrums

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. 

Sam Keen

Here's how uneventful it has been this August. I got nothing to say other than it's still hot and I'm still sweating.

I've had my head buried in books. This month I've laughed my way through Europe with Bill Bryson reading Neither Here Nor There. Had a most interesting discussion with my book club regarding The Submission. Lived in NYC and the Dominican Republic with the wonderful Oscar Wao, and relished the short stories of Edith Pearlman in Honeydew.

I'm currently in Beirut with An Unnecessary Woman.

As for my television watching, Deadliest Catch has concluded their season. Jeopardy is on hiatus. American football has yet to begin (and the Green Bay Packers have lost Jordy Nelson. Sigh.) My next up Netflix disc will begin the third season of The Newsroom and I've received a recommendation for Death in Paradise, a British venture filmed in Guadeloupe that I can stream.

I'm clinging to my hammock, the AC, and the end of summer as long as I can for once Labor Day passes I must resurface and join the world.  Maybe.

This litany of my August actions has thrilled you beyond measure, I'm sure.

Forthwith is my August Scavenger Hunt brought to you by the lovely Greenthumb. Go visit her in Australia at her blog Made with Love

The August List

Walk

Horizontal

Square

Diversity

Rough

Bow

Joy

Forgotten

Crowd

Colourless

Friendly

Whatever I Want

Walk

Guess who I saw on my walk today?

Horizontal

Okay, our fence is still horizontal to the ground. It just has a challenging path.

Square

Nothing like a good old game of Scrabble.

Diversity

You got your purple flowers, your variety of green water plants and your pond scum. Diversity.

Rough

Yup, might be a little rough falling into that.

Bow

I think this magnolia blossom would make a lovely bow.

Joy

End of day and a reprieve from the heat. Time to jump in the lake and float in the moonlight.

Forgotten

Oops...

...forgotten in the fridge.

Crowd

Blues on the Green. Used to be a small affair in Austin, Texas. Few hundred people. This night? Over 30,000.

Colorless

Once upon a time, I would have considered this a colorless photo. But as I gaze at it now, the white, silver, black and varied shades of brown -- colors I used to not consider colors -- are most beautiful.

So, okay  how about this for colorless.

I'm certain some do-gooder French Impressionist or a large-hatted Dutch Master could find color in this. Not me. Although...

Friendly

My duck friend giving me a kiss.

Whatever I Want

Please, Julie? I promise I won't come back for an hour if you give me just a tad more catfood. See, I'm just very gently resting my beak on your leg.

And that is as creative as this August Scavenger can muster. Hope you are all doing well. What have you been reading and watching this summer?

Scavenging in July

The weather is holding at 100 degrees. Hiding in the cool of the house and no better time than now to post my July scavenging.  The month started out with a bang with the Fourth of July festivities. Has pretty much petered out now. Long, hot days of summer. Gotta love 'em.

As always, visit Made with Love if you'd like to join the Scavenger Hunt.

The Difficult July List

D is for...

Wide

Edge

Cylindrical

Feelings

Mysterious

Weed

Joke

Pile

Speed

Night

Whatever You Want

D is for Devotion

These two will declare their devotion next year. Yup, another wedding for us. We are most happy.

Wide

A wide shot of Lake Travis in Central Texas. This baby is now 83% full as opposed to 37% at the beginning of May. Life is returning to the Highland Lakes.

 Edge

A couple of months ago, the edge of Lake Buchannan was way out at the end of the dam on the right. This reservoir is creeping up also. Now at 71% capacity as opposed to 37%.

Cylindrical

Morning Glories on my pink flamingo whirly-bird

Feelings

Bunco Bitches, less a couple of them. Suppose after 25 years I have some feelings for them. Just a few.

Mysterious

Mysterious indeed.

When did these babies grow up? The one on the left has been hanging with us since he was four years old. Babies. Yesterday.

Weed

How does my garden grow...

Joke

If this had been hanging in that bathroom my boys used all those years, it would not have been a joke -- except for the ladies part. Funny to see while waiting for the john in a bar though.

Pile

Summer Produce. Got your rhubarb pie, your cherries, peaches, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, heirloom tomatoes, jalapenos, green peppers, and  assorted junk on the counter.

Speed

Not quite fast enough with that badminton racket.

Night

The Blue Moon

Whatever I Want

Taking a little liberty here. Fourth of July week was very fun with youngest son who lives in NYC home for a week. Lots of dear friends and family around our tables. Have added just a few extra pics. Okay, more than a few. My blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll tell you what. These photo posts kill me. Takes me much longer to figure it all out and arrange than it ever did to write an essay. Might have to rethink this monthly Scavenger Hunt. Fun when its done though. Sort of like taking nothing and making something, anyway you want.

How often does one get to do that?

May Scavenger Hunt - Late

 Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. 

Henry David Thoreau

June, and I'm now getting to my May Scavenger Hunt. So it goes sometimes. Without further adieu.

The May List:

Blue

A Matisse Cut-out

Crystal

My grandfather was a Swedish Covenant minister. He used this bowl for baptisms. 

Vintage

1950's Red Wing Pottery. Vintage -- just like me. My mother had one like the long vessel. She would use it to make her floral arrangements with gladiolus to enter in the Mower County Fair every August. The pitcher was hers. I used it to make a purple petunia arrangement for entry one year. Second place in the Junior Division as I recall.

Fluff

Baby Geese

Global

We have three large Chinese Tallow trees beside our cabin. Each spring the bees come and they are here right now. I walk up the stairs and I can hear them all in the trees, buzzing. I chose this for global as the bees are disappearing. I'm glad to have them. You can see one on the blossom.

Mask

I bought this in Venice and carried it around and home in my backpack. Whenever my friend, Kris, comes to my house, she turns it over so she can't see it. It scares her. She says she never would have babysat at my house.

Bus

I drove this beast for 11 years. 160,000 miles. Had a lighter blue one for 120,000 miles before that. Drove those three boys everywhere from baseball practice to the Field of Dreams to Lambeau Field. One time we were headed for Grand Lake, Colorado and it died 1/4 mile from the summit of Trail Ridge Road. I don't know if you've ever been on Trail Ridge Road, but not a really good place to vapor lock. Why we were up there in a bus with 150,000 miles on it -- well, why not? After a few minutes rest, my husband patted the dashboard and it started. Figured it we got to the top, we could roll all the way back to Texas. Made it back just fine and got 10,000 more miles out of it before donating it. Youngest son got to drive it to school his senior year. He loved it.

Frame

The new frame for our entrance to the cabin. My husband has put in over a 100 hours painting and setting it. Almost done.

Collection

Assorted collections -- I was originally thinking books. And then I saw the reindeer. The trinkets from around the world. The photos and the other assorted junk. Yes, I know it needs yet another reorganization, but seems like I just did it. (Why does it always look worse when I take a picture of it? Looks fine when I'm sitting at my desk.)

 Poster

There should not be an apostrophe in The Andersons. Gotta fix that one of these days.

Ribbon

My Ribbon Box. I use them as pagemarkers for the journals I make.

Whatever I Want

The Magnolia trees were blooming last month. So pretty and the blossoms only last a day.

Okay, thinking I best get started on June.