Return with the Sun

If you hadn't noticed, it has been raining in Texas. A lot of rain. Daily. For the last three weeks. The other night, we got 6 inches of rain in 3 hours. Luckily, we haven't had to deal with flooding here at the Casa, but it is pretty soggy. As I like to say, we live in a swamp.Much has happened since I last chronicled life... the bee balm and the gentian and the firewheel are toast. The Brown-eyed Susans are hanging in there, but most are just black fuzzy balls atop withered, hairy stems. I did find a blooming vine of morning-glory like flowers, and the False Nightshade is blooming. The kudzu and the Mystery green plant that took over are about the only thing going right now, but some wildlife has perked up. We've seen lots of turtles and frogs and toads, and way too many mosquitoes. There is a whole village of walking sticks living right around our house. We've seen at least two different females (that we call walking branches because of their size!) and at least two different males, several itty bitty baby walking sticks, and even a couple in the throws of making more itty bitty baby walking sticks. There have been lots of spiders, and the gekos are really happy with the screened in kitchen, which was finished last month, because they can perch up higher and eat better bugs. We've planted a rosemary bush, a fig tree, and a mandevilla vine. Charley and I have each eaten one fig from the tree already - we bought it at the farmer's market already fruiting. We're accidental gardeners, too. Our compost heap is growing a huge patch of those weird, flat, wiggly-edged squashes that look like UFOs and also has a newly discovered and already flowering pumpkin vine emerging from it. The accidental garden makes me really happy. We're going to have a boatload of squash in a few weeks. The usual butterfly suspects are still flitting around - painted ladies, commas, and questionmarks.I've been to NYC and back, was a mermaid for a day. I got to see my friends Timothy and Erica and Alex and Susie and meet new friends - Alex's wife, Christine, and Ian. We ran all over New York, having ourselves a blast. HIghlights included the Carosel in Central Park and gorging ourselves on gormet chocolates all over Manhattan. We also went to the Natural HIstory Museum, which was pretty cool, but dissapointingly poorly lit. I got to touch a 23 ton chunk of ferrous rock that flew through space. The mermaid parade was crowded, chaotic, and beautiful. It was fun to see freaks in a different part of the country, and take park in the merrymaking. And hanging out with my friend Erica always feels so right.Charley and I are building a bed frame for our mattress and box spring. It's pretty cool, with 6 foot posts. It's pine, and we're going to finish it with a headboard and fancy finials on the posts when he returns from Greece in August. I've never built furniture before. We've completely furnished our once empty home. After staying up late, hot and tired, trying to arrange it all, we even decided that maybe we had recently aquired too much furniture. But with a good nights sleep and fresh perspective, we realized it all fit just perfectly. Our house is beautiful and comfortable, and everything I've ever dreamed that MY house would be. My favorite furniture purchase is an antique twin sleigh bed that we've decided to use as a window seat. I found a funky jeweltoned quilt and piled it with soft throw pillows, and it is a favorite spot to recline for everyone.Make sure to check the links at the left and look at my pictures on Flickr, too. The sun has finally come out, and the clouds that have hung over us for weeks have broken. Maybe we'll get a little more rain until tuesday, but then it is supposed to clear up and be the regular old hot stiffling Texas summer we're used to. Charley's headed out for a spell, so I should be able to be more regular here at the blogging. I am continuing to enjoy my yoga class, when I can get away from work for all the meetings and extra effort we've all been giving it lately. I've several successful dinners out of my crock pot, now, so I can cross that off the list! I just picked up two books for some summer reading - The Mermaid Chair, by Sue Monk Kidd and She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. My goal for this summer is just to enjoy my happy groove. I'll keep up with notes on the Palace, and let you know when the standing water finally all sinks in, and what other critters we find. You'll have to stay tuned for the Tiger swollowtail chrysalis report - she hasn't hatched yet. Happy summer!