cleaning, organizing, and the summer yard

I cleaned the back bedroom where I sleep this week. Took me two days top to bottom. Well, two half days. I didn't sweep the ceiling or mop the floor (though that's still on the agenda, the floor, not the ceiling) but I did vacuum the walls, cleaned the chair rail and baseboards, wiped down and oiled the furniture, wiped down the floor lamp, wiped down the fan blades and washed the glass shades, washed the windows, wiped the tops of the picture frames and dusted the few things sitting out, vacuumed the floor. I managed to knock one of the supports for the curtain rod on which hangs the lace curtain I got in Portugal out of the sheetrock and now I need anchor screws to hold it back in place.

Pam shows up every morning at the new house, bringing another load, cleaning, organizing, starting to find permanent places. Monday we rearranged the bedroom furniture...again but now we both agree, it's in the best arrangement. Yesterday we moved the grandfather clock...again and again we think it's now in its best place. She has two chairs with matching footstools that have been in the family for a couple of generations and I may be getting one set after she gets the new loveseat she wants for the living room. It will go in my back bedroom where I had been wanting to get a recliner for there so two problems solved. She's supposed to get her internet connection on Friday and then she will be in residence, bringing the Demon Duo with her.

We finally got some rain last night, a little over an inch. Unfortunately it won't have cooled things down as we are supposed to get up in the high 90˚s again today but at least things don't look so sere, at least this morning anyway. The sky has turned that pale blue as if it's been bleached by the summer sun but the days are getting noticeably shorter, the nights longer, the sun is moving to the south as it sets casting shadows on the street earlier which Minnie and I are grateful for when we take our walk in the evening.

The yellow butterfly ginger is starting to bloom,

the altheas aka rose of sharon have been blooming but not as profusely as other years.

The zinnias are looking tired, their foliage getting spotty and brown.

The Texas star hibiscus, our native hibiscus is still giving me the occasional flower to my surprise,

the flowering senna is still blooming,

and the yellow bells as well, they actually like this heat, and I spied this bumblebee pushing its way into the delicate flowers.

This is the time of year when all we can do is wait patiently or impatiently for the weather to break.