July 13th, 2022 Oh my, it is hot outside!!!! The temperature on the front porch is pushing 30, and I know there are spots in the garden that are even hotter. However, I also know that there are spots outside in the shade, that are a little cooler, and where the air is fed by the haze of the sprinkle-sprinkler, - that is the one that just throws a haze of water around and makes you feel that the thermomenter is really a few degrees less than what is showing. This is the kind of weather where you do all the hot things in the early, early morning, and in the afternoon you hide in the shade with a good book, and give thanks for air conditioning in the house. I am going out for supper, and chastise myself for not picking a bouquet early in the morning, to take with me. I will check the back garden for shady spots or maybe there will be a few sweet peas along the eastern wall that will make a fragrant handful. Well, I will prepare myuself a nice tall drink of ice-cubed lemonade and go and see what I can find growing in the shade. Unfortunately the time when I could appear in public with a minimum of clothes (shorts, etc.) is long past and I will have to don the old lady's version of summerwear, - the kind that keeps the sun at bay and covers the wrinkles!!! In my memory is an afternoon when I went with Charles to a private meeting at Okanagan College in short, short pink trousers, and didn't feel at all out of place. Ah, my beloved is gone, and I don't feel at all comfortable in summer's unclothed state any more (sigh)...... Oh, life does get complicated, once the years pile on - even a pair of sandals is questionable once the feet lose their youthfulness!!! However, my new motto is to praise what comes, and what is here to stay, - so off I go. An old lady in her garden......looking for shady spots....