July, July

We're in the middle of a heat wave up here and it's taxing my creativity to think of things to do inside since most of our favorite outdoor activities are downright uncomfortable right now. I suppose it's a good opportunity to broaden my repertoire of indoor kid friendly activities in advance of winter, but I can't help being fixated on all the outdoor chores that are stacking up.

For example, Charlie left some kind of food item stashed somewhere on our front porch. We know this because the heat is making it pungent, but that same heat is making it difficult to be out on the porch long enough to search for the offending item. Cleaning the porch goes on the list of things to do when the heat breaks. Also on the list is finishing putting together our new gas grill, a project I started this weekend and went as far as I could until my heat-addled brain lost the ability to decipher the instruction manual for connecting the side burner. Since, we've already had one awesome grill fire this year, I feel it best to wait until cooler heads can prevail.

To focus on the positive, this high summer weather combined with the soaking rains of last weekend is making my plant friends go nuts. The basil, tomatoes, and peppers are really coming into their own. I'm trying to be happy for them without worrying about the immense weeding job that awaits me when the heat wave ends. I'm also ignoring how desperately the lawn needs to be mowed in favor of enjoying the prairie flowers that are blooming in my garden right now - echinacea, early sunflower, bee balm, and hoary vervain - giving them a nod as we move quickly from air conditioned house to air conditioned car.

The weather, especially in a place like Minnesota with all its extremes, can be a good spiritual teacher. Perhaps that's why we talk about it so much up here. It shapes our lives and makes us examine what we can control within the context of all the things we can't control.