Surviving Summer

Hi, everybody! Yes, I'm still here. Granny Marigold said she's enjoying the story but misses knowing what we're up to. "Surviving Summer" about sums it up -- does that sound whiny enough? Haha! (You might want a cuppa. This could take a while.)

Books: After the John Masefield books, I read this one:

Also a beloved English children's book, I did enjoy the story. But something about Aiken's voice was too pedantic and predictable. Plus, something was lacking. Now I've moved on to this delightful English children's book:

This one is better. Ransome is perfection itself in entering that realm that Adam and I call "kid world." He understands it and has the children speak and live it. He said of the book, "I could not help writing it. It almost wrote itself." You can tell. It's a delight, a summer story about four siblings who explore a lake and its islands on their little sailboat.

Both books are adventure books, a genre that most children enjoy. I've discovered though, that in order to connect with a children's book -- to have it enter my soul and never leave -- it must be a book of magic at some level. I don't like wicked magic, nor lots of sorcery, etc. But I love reading about children who understand better than the adults around them that there's a spiritual world,  a world of supernatural realities around us that affect us and that we affect. Call it magic, or call it what you will, but that, in a book, draws me in. Next I'll be rereading this gem, and getting a good dose of adventure and magic both:

What else have we been doing? Perhaps this little ditty of a poem will express my feelings:

When, in August, I am overcome

with the sun's anxiety 

and the heat's depression,

I remind myself it is the season

of sadness for me,

of worry for me.

I remember then burrowing my hands
into soil in the greenhouse

in February,

~ my season of happiness ~

when little bubbles of joy

rise unexpectedly within,

when the cool air and rain splattering

and promise of snow

make my body sing.

I can just hear some of you shaking your heads in despair and muttering, "She's a lunatic." Haha! 

What does a heat-hater do in August? She sits on the couch with her knitting ...

Infinity scarf to sell at the market

... and watches Netflix and Amazon Prime movies and TV shows (Thank you, you-know-who!!) Here's what I've been watching recently:

Horatio Hornblower (show) ****

An Inspector Calls  (movie) ****

I Capture the Castle (movie) ***

The Treasure Seekers (movie) ****

The Durrells in Corfu  (show) ****

We'll Meet Again  (show) ***

Enemy at the Door  (show) ****

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

    (movie) *****

(Those are my "star" ratings.) That last one I watched yesterday afternoon, and I will certainly watch it again soon. It merits two viewings. Plus, we went to the cinema for our anniversary date and saw Christopher Robin, which was quite good. Adam wants to see it again sometime. Adam and I have very different preferences in screen entertainment. I can watch sadder things than he can. I can't tolerate some of the silly, goofy things he enjoys. Our go-to evening date show is reruns of Star Trek, Next Generation. It reminds us of our newlywed days.

Adam baked apple fritters this morning to take to a friend.
I nibbled a couple with a glass of milk.

If you want a farm update, click over here.

If you want to hear my exasperation about the heat and my gardens, watch this little video :)

I dashed to the thrift store. They had all their comforter sets on sale for $5.00! I nabbed this one:

 It's a full-size quilt with 2 shams.

 I love these autumn colors. I'll get rid of the oversize blue bedspread that I've disliked for months.

That's it for today, friends! Thanks for bearing with me so long. I promise I'll be perkier in October.