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Saturday, September 3, 2011

A Two Hour Summer Vacation

It's been a busy summer. And a hot summer. Which makes for a long summer. The forecast is changing for the upcoming week though (please, please, please let it rain) and going to cool off, so "pool days" are looking pretty much over. Did I enjoy my little oasis as much as I should have? Probably not.







I ended up with a little free time late yesterday afternoon so I grabbed my favorite book, the one I read every summer (usually on my birthday) and headed to the pool.







This might just look like a ratty old book that's seen better days, but there's no chance it doesn't know it's loved. Sue Hubbell's A Country Year, chronicles a year of her life as a Missouri beekeeper. Well, in 15 words or less... Actually, it's much more than that and reading/re-reading it is like a visit with a good friend you only get to see once a year.



It's been so dry. Every last thing around here is thirsty. Even I feel as brown and crispy as the grass. I needed to take that break and float around in my beloved little blue pool, reading about bees, surrounded by thirsty bees.







I used to have to patrol the pool every day playing lifeguard to careless bees. Wasps can land in the water, get a drink and fly away. Bees can't. It's important as beekeepers - and even just bee supporters in your very own backyard - to make it easy and safe as possible for bees to reach clean water. They need water to cool their hive.







There are all sorts of good methods to do this. I've found a mesh floaty in the pool works great. And some cute rubber ducks don't hurt either ;-). Water droplets on my toes seem to work exceptionally well too.







The afternoon wound down, I finished my visit with Ms. Hubbell, ate a few late summer grapes, gathered up my bestest sun hat, hung my favorite blue and white pool towel over the clothes line, put my barn grubbies back on and headed out to start the evening chores.



If you could steal a couple of hours what would you do? Do you have a favorite go-to book you'd want to take along?

8 comments:

Joy said...

Thanks for the reminder! I haven't read Sue Hubbell in years - will have to hunt ;o)

Tiggeriffic said...

I have a Oriole feeder for the Orioles that has grape jelly. The bees loves this and are swarming along with bumble bees. Every day I just keep adding more jelly for them.. I have a hummingbird feeder that they are able to get the food from that and they drink 2 cups of that per day.. I have 3 hummingbird feeders that the hummers go to and not bother with the one that the honey bees go to, of course they can't get near it because of all the bees. Have a tiggeriffic day~! ta ta for now from Iowa:)

Lori Skoog said...

Hey Sara. Glad you were able to take advantage of the pool. We still have green everything, but have had 2 extremely muggy days in a row (90). I can't wait for the cold front to blow through.

I still think we need to make a calendar of all of us in our barn clothes. Would it not be cool?

Farmlady said...

I can really identify with...
"I feel as brown and crispy as the grass." Between the burnt ground and the dry grass around us I'm feeling the dryness of late summer in my bones.
I don't have a pool(wish I did) but I do have birdbaths and we always put rocks in the water so the bees can drink without drowning.
One of the luxuries of retirement is that you have more hours to do what you want. I seem to fill every waking hour with something... sometimes too much but really it's never "Too much." because these are all the things I wanted to do when I was working and never had the time.
Now I feel like I take on too much but time is short and I want to try so many things.
A few hours can be a lot of time if you use it wisely and do what you love.

Sheepmom said...

Hmmm, two guilt-free hours of summer vacation. I think a hammock in the shade if it's 90+ degrees. Popcorn for a snack and soooo many books to choose from! The favorites I've read, or the new ones I haven't had time to. Don't know. But it sure would be a pleasure.

Alice said...

How did you squeeze two hours out of yesterday with all of the things you had to do ( including entertaining me ;-) ) How great is that to have some time for yourself!
You so deserve it!!
If I have a couple of hours free and I am not able to spin or flick wool, I will retreat to a Laura Ingalls Wilder book, Spin-Off Magazine, or a Home and Garden magazine in the cool of my house for now, or by the fireplace in the winter.

small farm girl said...

I love sitting in front of my house and reading. I like all kinds of books. I'm reading the help right now. Yep, sitting and reading is my favorite down time thingy.

cyndy said...

If I could steal a few hours I'd head down to the ocean beach, sit in the sun and listen to the breakers.

float around in my beloved little blue pool, reading about bees, surrounded by thirsty bees.

...although...your description of what you did sounds like a good idea too!