Embracing August

This week I gave the sibling assignment, which, to put it simply, is What do you like, and what do you dislike about August.

Here you can read about IEG's last days of August.

Traditionally, August has never been my favorite month.  Either it is too hot, or the evenings and mornings are too cold, and it goes by too fast, because school begins, which in our house signals the end of summer.

But this year, I decided to embrace August, and consciously enjoy the eighth month this year, and be in the moment during each part of August.

As I toured my yard this week, I realized August brought with it much beauty and the beginning of harvest.  I'm going to take you on a tour of my lovely August yard and garden.

String beans growing up the teepee poles.  The beans grow overnight I swear.

Still picking pea pods.

Cilantro, lettuce and Sweet Million tomatoes.

Yellow and green zucchini.

Lots of green tomatoes.  I hope they get enough hot weather to ripen before it frosts.

Goliath grillers.

Goliath grillers and banana peppers.

Yummy carrots.

I got a blossom, but I fear no pumpkins this year.

I've enjoyed picking raspberries all summer.

Sweet peas climbing the rusty bed springs.

My absolute favorite perennial...Moonbeam Coreopsis.

My wagon wheel herb garden...that needs some grass removal!!

My house plants are thriving outside.....I wish I could keep them out all winter long!!

My favorite tree....the Tri-Color Beech Tree.

One of my new rose plants.

Another lovely rose.

I love this shade of pink.

Almost ready to bloom.

I keep

Despite the fact I have quite a few projects going this summer, I have to say it has been one of the most relaxing summers I have ever experienced since moving back to the Silver Valley.  Partly because most of the things PKR and I have been involved in take place in the late afternoon or evening.  So I have had my mornings to putter around the yard, and enjoy the beauty of the backyard.  It has been wonderful.  I wish I could have this schedule year round.

As August winds down, I am embracing the cooler evenings, and cooler mornings.  I am enjoying the harvest from my backyard garden.  I am enjoying the peaches my sister brought me from the orchard near her home.  I'm embracing the final days of vacation before I officially return to work on August 31st.  I'm enjoying the last week of all our 1910 Fire projects coming to an end, where I have dressed as Emma Pulaski and hosted the Trailing the 1910 Fire Trolley around the town of Wallace.  I also helped direct the show at the Sixth Street Melodrama this month, which PKR wrote about his grandpa's birth, called "Rustler's at the Ranch, or...How Swift Can the Taylor's Run?"  And PKR and I have also been presenting "Voices of the Big Burn" a historical presentation on the 1910 Fire where we share first hand accounts from the fire, newspaper stories, and photographs taken by the Forest Service after the fire.  We continue this presentation through the end of the month. 

Soon my schedule will change.  I will be back on the school schedule, and back at Kellogg High School working with ninth, tenth and eleventh graders in the Gear Up program.  School begins September 7th.

But until then, I will continue to enjoy and embrace the month of August, with the slower pace, and days filled with no obligations.