For me, that usually presses a big stress button. When my kids were young, it meant it was time to get them ready to go back to school. Then, when I was teaching, it meant re-opening my classroom from summer break and getting my teaching plans organized and in place.
Now, August 1 means I have about 8 weeks to get ready for The Feast of the Hunter's Moon, stitch up lots of haversacks for the holiday rush, and start my Christmas sewing and shopping.
Breathe, Lynn. Breathe!
Lisa held a celebration of Christmas in July on the 25th and invited us to participate with her. She is truly a Christmas girl - she was actually due to be born on Christmas Day! (She came December 30 instead.) We seriously considered naming her Noelle, but when I first saw her face, she was a Lisa. I can't tell you why; she just was.
Anyway!
We got some take out and watched her favorite movie of all, White Christmas, last Friday night as part of our Christmas in July celebration.
A text I got from Cole really got Christmas 2025 planning started for me. He and his family had reservations at the North Rim in the Grand Canyon for the week after the wildfire. Sadly, all the buildings, including the cabin they had rented, were destroyed.
Plans were rearranged and they still went west and visited several other national parks.
Julie, Kate, and Susie have been collecting the Junior Ranger badges for several years and Cole sent me this photo with a suggestion.
Well, I took that suggestion and ran! Already I have three banners ready for embroidering and Junior Park Ranger patches to add at the top! Ho! Ho! Ho!
While Indiana's nature isn't quite the Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon, we do have some natural beauty, too. Look at this Redwood leaf from my back yard.
I think it is breathtaking! We'd had a good rain, and when it finished I'd run out with the dogs to the backyard so they could do their business. As I ducked under some branches, drops showered down on me, and when I look closer, I saw that almost every leaf was cupping a raindrop.
I've started checking that tree after it rains now. There was something so beautiful about a leaf cupping a raindrop that I want to see it again and again.
It was an odd July in that we had more rain than usual for the month. No complaints from me, especially since we endured several days of a terrible heat wave at the end of the month.
Lisa lives across town and often snow and rain amounts are wildly different between our two homes. She got a deluge with flooding; we had a light rain.
Wildlife varies, too. She lives near farm fields and woods and has a lot of coyotes (and toads and skinks, too.) But she doesn't have bunnies EVERYWHERE like we do.
I like wildlife, but I'll be honest - I am not a fan of wild bunnies. They eat everything I plant and they leave bunny Cocoa Puffs everywhere. They even hop up into my planters and nibble there! It is not unusual to have several litters being raised in our yard every summer.
A few days ago, Craig was out with Tammo and needed the pooper scooper. As always, it was propped against the side of the house, but when he picked it up, it was extra heavy. Looking inside, he saw this:
A terrified baby bunny who had taken refuge inside it. Poor thing!
Ol' Softy gently carried it to some bushes at the edge of our yard where it could be released into a place of bunny-safety. He doesn't like our large wild bunny population any more than I do, but neither of us wish them harm.
Sure was a surprise to find one in the pooper scooper!
Finally, I got an email from ResearchGate, the place where researchers post and share their papers and the research they are doing. I am no longer teaching but I absolutely do still care about Educational issues and how they affect children.
Discovering that one of my papers had been read 2,000 times by other researchers and educators made my day. Some days I feel very old and tired; it's nice to know that some of my work continues on.
Speaking of work, I am working on plans for Happy Trails V/The Dan Patch Show. Yesterday, Noelle Lisa and I took a little field trip together.
