Dog Days of Summer

Here I sit, enjoying an afternoon coffee, testing a candle, and watching the ever changing waterscape that is my back yard. By now everyone has heard the dire thunderstorm warning, so Jamie went out to batten down the hatches and is now having a snooze in front of the TV.

When my brothers and I were kids, I guess we were too stunned to be afraid of a little thunder storm, while at the first sound of a crack Momma was sprinkling down the place with holy water and Hail Marys.

If we could sneak away, sometimes out the upstairs window onto the roof, we were outside waiting for the next big crash. And is it just me, or did we have more thunder back in those days? I remember a lot of power outages, holy water and lots of lightening.

Today, my own boys get the same energy off storms that my brothers and I got when we were kids. Just a few years ago, Chance parked a deck chair right at the edge of the cliff in a big storm, and with every crash of thunder, two fists came up in the air, as if he was watching a big league soccer game. He was filling his bucket. B.J. is the same.

We may get nothing of course.

Jamie and I headed east on our walk this morning, and man oh man, it was hot. But we gathered a cloth bag of roadside trash as we always do; I could walk by some of it, but not Jamie, so we do it together. It is also beneficial for his Parkinson's to keep active, so we make a good team.

I love the community I live in. We are very fortunate indeed. When we got home, we took our water outside under the veranda where it's cool, and checked the phone. I never take one with me. A lovely message and subsequent delivery from a good neighbor who had a FRESH feed of Bass for us! Color me happy! I just happened to have a bag of new potatoes on hand, plus the most delicious yellow beans and crisp cabbage from Toby's, so sides are looked after. Barbeque, here it comes! Coleslaw, my favorite, almost every day food!! Thank you, Martin.

Also, on our walk we got to talking about the grandkids and what a great bunch they are. Three of them are finished High School now, and Ransom is 15 already, how does that happen? If we need one of them for something, one call/text and they're right there.

All of them are working for the summer, and we are so proud of them. There is an insatiable need for money while attending post-secondary, so those summer jobs are quite necessary. Two of the kids are in food service with great tips, one is in a car parts store and one is in a Co-op. These jobs will likely all turn into steady part time when school is back in, and I know from experience how earning your own paycheck while a teen is extremely motivating. I hope they learn to save a little too.........

What are you all up to today? What was your first summer job?

Oh jeepers, was that the first crack?

......No it was just Wilfie, barreling by..........