A Breath of Fresh Air

What a difference a day makes.  Windows open and in the low 70s.  Gary went out for coffee and my assistant and I went out to mow the lawn.

I actually had to wear a sweatshirt as it was in the 60s.

First I mowed a wide path for LW so he can get to the back 40.

Did the back pasture....

and finally the front paddock.  Unbelievable grass...where are the horses?

Gary did the hand mowing and blew all the pine needles off the driveway.

LW likes to supervise the entire time and today it was 2 hour and 45 minutes.

Shortly after that I decided to take advantage of the air quality and took a short trike ride.  Last night I had a burning stomach and did not feel that great so I did not do my usual 4 miles.

Jenny stopped up for a minute and at 3 I started watching the FIFA Final with my buddy.

Very happy that Spain won and also very happy that someone we know got booed by 80,000 fans.

I always put a pillow on my lap for LW and he takes very long snoozes,

We did not eat until 7:30.  Just had French toast as I don't want to have a messed up stomach again.

Night all.

 

Tornado Warnings

What a bizarre day.

Last night we tried to leave the windows open as it was cooler, but by midnight they were closed again because of the air quality.  This morning Little Wonder and I took it easy while Gary went for coffee and delivered some onions.   (A serious storm was predicted for this afternoon).

When he got back I left for Wegmans.  It was grey outside but dry.

Half an hour later, I was ready to leave and yikes!  

None of us wanted to venture out and were waiting for it to settle down.  Well it didn't, so I grabbed a Wegmans umbrella and headed for my car.

Just when I got there the water was over my shoes.

Gary was kind enough to grab the groceries when I got home. 

We had another new hibiscus blossom today and the other three had faded.

Eventually I got outside to grab a better shot.

LW was on high alert with all the thunder and lighting.  By 2:30 there had been many warnings on my phone and we turned on the tv to see what they were saying.  The word was.....get to your basement or the lowest part of your house....tornado warning!  For over half an hour we were waiting for it to get by us and it did.  They removed the alert notice but announced that there was severe flooding all over the place.  We had gotten 4 1/2 inches of rain in a little over two hours.

By 5 o'clock it was pretty quiet and Gary grilled some corn and chicken.

This morning he picked the rest of his onions so they would not get soaked.

Dinner was simple and delicious,

By the time we finished eating the sun started to come out.  Now it is cooler, but muggy again.

Hopefully we will catch a break tomorrow.

Night all.

 

Teaching Again

Finally.  The air quality has improved (currently 41) and I can open some windows tonight.

Little Wonder and I went out to the Studio around 7:30am so I could turn on the air conditioner.  My watercolor class was starting this morning at 9:30 and I wanted it to be cool in there.

Six retired teachers arrived right on time.  I told them LW was very wary of new people and not to touch him.  Immediately one of them sat down on the floor and he went right over to her....

giving kisses.  This is very rare for him.  My band rehearsed there for over 5 years and he would not go near one of them.

Started off with some basics that I've used with all of my students.  We did a couple of drawing exercises and my goal was to show them how important it is to see.  This lesson always works when I get to contour line drawing as they can't take their pens off the paper.  After that we talked about color mixing and then got started on a very loose landscape painting.

They were not finished by the time class was over and I look forward to seeing how they turn out.

I used these flowers for the drawing part but we did not have enough time to get into painting them.  Next time.

Took it easy this afternoon and had a nice long chat with my friend Sandra, who lives in Minnesota.  There are fires in her state and they also have an outrageous amount of smoke coming across the boarder from Canada.  We are supposed to have a good amount of rain tomorrow....could be a pretty big storm in the afternoon.  After that, we anticipate more hot weather and more smoke.  I can't imagine what it is like in Canada.

We were into another replay for dinner.  It seems that when I cook, it ends up being enough for two meals.

My little Buddy can't get enough of the overhead fan in the living room while he waits for me to finish my posts.

Night all.

 

Smells Like Smoke....

As soon as Little Wonder went outside this morning I could smell the smoke.  The sky was not orange like yesterday, but you could hardly see the woods out back.

The good part....3 new hibiscus blossoms.

I stripped the bed, washed everything and remade it...

so my buddy could try it out.

Summer Serenades was supposed to start at the Welcome Center tonight,  but the air quality was too poor and it was cancelled.

I had already started on dinner since I would be gone all afternoon playing bridge.  Italian sausage, peppers and onions.

Not too much excitement in the cards department.  Enjoyed the air conditioning and just sitting down.

We really need some rain.

Home around 4 and eventually finished dinner.  Gary picked a big basket of fresh lettuce and I made a simple salad.

Had two small zucchini so I sautéed them with onions.  Made a little pasta and when everything was finished I put it all in one bowl topped with some Romano cheese,

So good.

After we finished eating, LW found some good light

Night all,