Escaping the Heat

Because it is mid August, I was very optomistic that we would have summer come and go without the dog days of summer. Wrong! Today in the shade, it was 90 here at my house in the burbs of Connecticut.

Many people go to the beach, the mall or the movies to escape the heat. What did I do? Read, clean and hang out many loads of laundry. As soon as the clothes were dry and taken in, I had more wet ones ready to go out. I have no idea how many trips I made from the second floor down to the cellar. Free exercise.

I sorted stuff that didn't go to Moscow, purged some stuff, cleaned a few rooms, opened my suitcase in my daughter's room and started packing for my trip to Moscow in December. I came up with a bright idea to have one of the large suitcases and my carry on open in her room so when I buy something or UPS drops off what my daughter has bought online, it'll go in the suitcase. This will alleviate the stress of packing as everything will be where it should go. All I'll have to do is take it all out and cleverly pack it like a jigsaw puzzle (over the long Thanksgiving weekend).

I was outside in short bursts of time hanging and getting in laundry and watering my potted plants so they could survive. I wanted to water my perennial beds but couldn't stand the heat or the invasion of mosquitoes. Where did all the mosquitoes come from? They were out for blood.

I actually cooked tonight and made up a casserole - browned hamburger and a Bermuda onion, tossed in cooked fresh summer squash, cut up olives, sour cream and cream of mushroom soup. Topped it with shredded cheddar cheese. It was really good but I'm going to make some spaghetti or rice tomorrow and have it as a topping as it was a little too wet. For those of you that are vegetarians, subsitute ground veggie meat.

The pup got her run around the block with the little neighborhood boy that I've hired to run her. I waited to call him until the sun was not as strong so they went at 7:00. It did the trick as she is content to curl up on the couch while I'm in the den on the computer or on the pillow in her crate in the kitchen. She now has a bed pillow in her crate and loves it. I bought new pillows for my daughter's bed so Liesel gets the hand-me-downs.

Looking forward to starting my new book later tonight - The Diplomat's Wife. I just finished The Kommandant's Wife and loved it. The Diplomat's Wife follows the story. Tamara read them this summer and left them for me.

Hope it's not as hot where you are.