Another Lazy Day

I have said it before and I will undoubtedly say it again, but I am really enjoying my summer of doing nothing. No classes, no traveling — just sitting on the deck reading!

Yesterday and today were quite warm. I think it got into the nineties today. It really got a bit too hot to sit out even in the shade and it was so nice to feel the coolness of the air conditioning. When we lived upstairs, we had air conditioning in the bedroom only. Here we have a big air conditioner in the dining room and a smaller one in the bedroom.

The flower boxes are looking quite nice now and I will take pictures probably tomorrow. The two indoor plants moved out a couple of days ago. They are the  huge Christmas cactus  named Frederika and the kalanchoe which doesn’t have a name. {There was a smaller Christmas cactus named Margaret but I accidentally left her outside over a Vermont winter and she didn’t survive.} The kalanchoe hasn’t bloomed for a couple of years and I don’t know what she needs. Actually, a bigger pot might help; she is probably potbound. Talking about surviving a Vermont winter, there is a big clump of chives  in the half barrel planter by the steps which is now blooming and looking very pretty. I have planted purple dianthus in the barrel along with the chives. I am reluctant to uproot anything that has survived two Vermont winters.

What I am reading:

• I am still loving my Kindle. One thing that I am really appreciating is the ease with which I can look up the meaning of a word almost immediately as I am reading.
• The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. This is a follow up to Old Man’s War by the same author. These book can be read separately but they are more interesting when read one after the other. They are both science fiction.
• I am still reading The Emancipator’s Wife by Barbara Hambly.
• Since the book club meeting is next Tuesday, I need to skim over Travels with a Donkey by Robert Louis Stevenson so I have something to say about it. My thoughts? I liked the bits with the donkey Modestine and was utterly bored when he kept going on and on and on about the catholicism {in France where he was traveling} and the protestantism in Scotland {where he was from.}

QUOTATIONS:

"Step by step. I can’t think of any other way of accomplishing anything."

Michael Jordan

None will improve your lot If you yourself do not.

Bertolt Brecht, 1933