The weather around these parts has been downright summery the last few days, and we've wasted no time soaking up the heat, wishing we could store it away for the next dreary 50 degree Indiana day. My garden is in its prime with peonies nodding heavy on slender stems and purple irises shooting up like exclamation points in the soft waves of color.
We have splashed in the sprinkler,
enjoyed some silly time in the hammock
, enjoyed some more silly time in the hammock with good friends
feasted at a picnic in the shade of the front lawn, picked herbs fresh from the garden for dinner
, and played all kinds of pretend. Nora has taken to naming just about every inanimate object around the house.
This little wagon has been donned "little red," and when she found my great-great grandmother's dust cap in my linen drawer in the kitchen, she decided it was the perfect accessory for Little Red Riding Hood to wear while pulling "Little Red" and slurping a ice pop--red of course.
After three hot humid days, a lightening storm popped up and knocked out the electricity on my way home from work. For three hours we lived like Laura and Mary. While Nora quietly looked through a new stack of library books in the "parlor", I cooked up a simple dinner on the hearth (gas stove), and Pa went to work digging out the new patio in the lingering heat. While we waited for the power to come back, I enjoyed a long quiet walk to the end of the road. . . and came back to find Nora helping with the digging.
The treasure hunting uncovered some marvelous rocks and a bit of electrical wire.
After a bath and some good books, Little Red Riding Hood is sleeping soundly as the frogs peep loudly from the open windows and fans whir in the corners of the bedrooms. My neck is achy from work, my wheels are turning with some business ideas and projects I want to share, and I'm anxious about leaving my own Little Red with a babysitter tomorrow, but my bedtime prayer is full of more thanks than petition tonight as I lay myself down to sleep. Good night from our little house near the small woods!
