Lemonade Stand

As we come to the Dog Days and St. Swithun's Day, the heat is swelling outside.  The air is drier and I am beginning my water conservation and yard preservation strategies.  The gardens must be watered, for instance, as the cucumbers begin and the tomatoes grow.  I use water from the dehumidifier on the raised beds, then pile on grass clippings to keep it from evaporating too quickly.  I mow (finally!) only the parts of the yard that are most visible or most unsightly, and that provides the grass clippings.  Round and round it goes.

Playing catch-up on Summer, we spent Tuesday afternoon with our beloved Dr. Davis.  He's a geographer, like me, and the one teacher I've ever had that has stayed in touch over the years.  The children love his lively personality and sense of humor.  We made ice cream and then shared the Snail Place with him.  

 The world is so big that sometimes I think I will burst with it all.  And yet, we keep coming back to this little rise in the ridge to work over the same little patch.  The children have, by now, made small heaps of old bottles and old cans, and they're starting to put in a shale floor in the den.  Laurel presides over all, as a queen would.

Wednesday saw some very hot weather, near record in places.  This was the perfect day for our lemonade stand.  Laurel and I made shortbread to sell along with mint and regular lemonade.  It was a hit, in the simplest way, and we lasted about an hour in the afternoon sun.  That was just enough.

Friends of ours, along with my grandmother, were the bulk of our customers.  It was nice to visit, and we offered free refills to folks who sat a spell on the porch with us.  We're planning a hot chocolate stand for the Winter months, with peppermint bark and biscotti of some kind.  I'm thinking we'll put up the tipi tent we have to keep the wind off and utilize our vast collection of thermoses.

I've got to quit the Winter dreaming, but I can't help myself.  I want to let the cold winds blow right through me and be covered in snowflakes before climate change takes it away.  I don't mean to be gloomy, but I have had a lot on my mind lately.  What a funny, changing world we live in.