holding on to summer

I'm a summer lover. Give me long, light-filled days, blue skies, lush trees and flowers, garden-fresh tomatoes, the scent of neighbor's grilling wafting through the air, and bare feet any day. Of course, I don't like the intense heat that we sometimes get and the humidity gets ridiculous, but like Brian says, "You don't have to shovel sunshine."

Summer, for us, is also filled with birthdays. Our firstborn son, Philip (may he RIP) was born July 21st.

Me, my mom, and Brian have summer birthdays, too.

Last year, my birthday brought a derecho. We spent the afternoon in the basement due to tornado warnings. This year, intense thunderstorms knocked down trees and power lines all over our neighborhood. We were without power for 22 hours! Next year, I'm skipping town. 

We've managed to sneak in some summer day trips; our last one being to Milwaukee, Wisconsin....

This summer has flown by. It always does. The season is too short here in Illinois. I still have a summer bucket list of places I wanted to visit. 

I've been seeing fall decor on blogs and on Instagram already and I'm just not ready. I don't like rushing seasons (except winter 😜) or holidays. Technically, we still have three weeks of summer left. I suppose that still gives me some time to fit in some of those places on my summer bucket list.

But here we are, September 1st already. The perennials are fading and drying up, it gets dark at 7:30 now, the neighborhood is quiet during the day with children being back in school, dried leaves are littering the ground; even the air smells different. This time of year always makes me a little melancholy.

"How softly summer shuts, without the creaking of a door."
(Emily Dickinson, 1880)

celebrations

Hard to believe it's August already. Brian and I were talking the other day and saying it seems like summer was just getting going. We both love the summer season and it's much too short here in Illinois. 

The end of July is popular for birthdays in our family. Our oldest son, Philip was born on July 21st. One of the happiest days of my life. He made me a mother, which is something I had dreamed about since I was 12 years old. Philip would've been 32 years old this year. His life ended tragically in 2009 when he was only 21 years old, due to the diseases of mental illness and subsequently, addiction. After 11 years, I thought his birthday wouldn't be so hard, but it was. Brian and I both were glad to see that day come to a close.

And then Brian himself turned the big six-oh recently! He sure doesn't look 60, does he? I got a huge chuckle from a comment on my Instagram that said the first time she saw a picture of Brian, she thought "You go girl with that young guy!" 🤣 We spent the day doing what Brian loves best ~ going back to his home town and relaxing by the lake (Lake Michigan..."The Michigan Ocean" as we affectionately call it) and going out to eat at a hip, new Mexican place that had a huge selection of different tacos. Of course, I made my "young birthday guy" his favorite birthday cake: a banana cake with cream cheese frosting. We purposely avoid processed sugar as much as possible, so I was excited to find a banana cake recipe that used honey. The good thing about this recipe is that you can also make it vegan by using maple syrup and flax eggs, and you can even make it gluten-free by using GF flour. You can find the recipe from Cookie + Kate here. I'm making the cake again today because I have some overly ripe bananas I need to use. I'll skip the frosting this time. We'll just eat it as a snack cake.

More birthday celebrations at the end of the month with my mom turning 80! That's my cute little red-headed mom in the middle with me (with the glasses) and my aunt; my mom's sister. Just like I said about my husband, I certainly don't think my mom looks 80! I hope that when I'm that age, I look and feel as good as she does. She takes very good care of herself, eating a very healthy diet and exercising every day. We celebrated by taking Mom out to lunch at a wonderful seafood restaurant in the Chicago suburbs. The food was amazing (Brian's caprese salad with shrimp; my wild-caught grouper; side dish of wild rice pilaf and roasted potatoes and vegges) and huge portions that gave us plenty of leftovers to take home.

For my mom's birthday gift this year, I posted on Facebook asking any who knew my mom, to please send me small notes of why they love or admire her. I collected the notes and put them in a big glass jar. My aunt made that pretty tag for the jar. I went to Mom's house on her actual birthday and presented her with the jar. She lifted the lid and pulled out one of the notes. She unfolded it and read it and burst into tears. She said, "Are all these messages for me?" I told her yes and she just sat there, softly crying for awhile. We spent hours going through each message; lots of tears shed but plenty of laughter, too. I think this was one of Mom's favorite birthday gifts ever.

 As much fun and filled with love all these "big" birthday celebrations were this year, originally we were going to have a big family party at our house. I pictured our small house bustling with all our loved ones, sitting around the kitchen, living room and patio, talk and laughter carrying through the air, plenty of good food and drinks going around. But with the coronavirus still rampant, we had to cancel the party. It broke my heart to have to do so.

Hope you're all having a good weekend. It's cloudy and cool here today ~ enough where I could turn off the AC and open windows and doors. 

Be well and safe! 💗

weekend fun

This past Saturday, me, my mom and aunt hopped in the car and went to a barn sale out in the country. It was only half an hour from my house, but that half hour further west makes a lot of difference in the landscape as far as open land goes. 

The house and grounds were so beautiful. I could definitely live in a place like this.

Check out the cute shed!

Couldn't you picture relaxing around this fire pit on a cool October evening, talking and laughing with friends or family, having a glass of wine or beer and making s'mores? (No phones!) 

Just gazing around at all the beautiful, open land makes your blood pressure drop. I sure wouldn't mind this view from my back yard instead of neighbor's houses.

We were greeted at the entrance to the barn by a pair of turkeys.

Before I went into the barn, I went to the side where the turkeys started heading and I found more turkeys and some ducks. Pee-yew, was it smelly over there! And turkeys are noisy. I had no idea.

That did it for me - I headed quickly into the barn where I had a more pleasant greeting: free coffee and make-your-own Bloody Mary's!

 

The barn was filled with antique furniture and all kinds of vintage and antique treasures for the home.

This piece already had a sold sign on it. I wasn't surprised. I would love something like this in my kitchen instead of the tall, narrow china cabinet that's currently there.

Me, my aunt and my mom.

After the barn sale, we went to a couple of nearby shops in town to peruse more treasures. Here's a few things I came home with, both from the barn sale and the shops ~ a gorgeous made-in-England pitcher, antique french lace wooden pins, and a small piece of pottery. I also bought a vintage glass deep pie dish and a vintage blue and white speckled pottery mug (RRP Pottery, Roseville, OH) ~ not pictured. I love different coffee/tea mugs in general and have far too many, but my tastes change every so often and now it's leaning towards the pottery ones.

More fun on Sunday with going to see the Linda Ronstadt documentary ("The Sound of my Voice") with a couple of girlfriends. It was excellent! If you get a chance to see this movie, I highly recommend it if you were ~ and still are ~ a Linda Ronstadt fan.

Hope your week is off to a good start. We've had sunshine and temps near 70 so far this week, but rain moving in tomorrow night (which is the last thing we need) and then cold this weekend. Not ready for that!

flea market ~ and a zippo update

 What a great time we had on Saturday! Me, Brian, my mom and aunt headed out to the flea market. We hadn't been there in several years. We didn't go with the intentions of buying anything...we just wanted to have a nice day outdoors together while the weather is still beautiful. This is probably the only picture you'll ever see of me in a hat. I am so not a hat person. Even when I was a kid, I hated hats. I don't even wear them through our brutal winters here in the Chicago area. I will put up the hood on my coat though. ;-) So, the only reason I wore a hat this day was to protect my hair color. I had just gotten my hair cut and colored the day before.

My mom and my aunt.

This is a huge flea market ~ we probably only covered half of it in a few hours. There are hundreds of vendors. I kept my phone in my purse and only took a couple of photos, so I borrowed the following ones from my aunt.

We loved these bourbon barrels. How cool would one of these be on a big patio or deck with a round glass top to make a table?

Lots of pretty bottles at this one vendor. These sure would be pretty lining a window.

I spent a whole fifty cents at the flea market. I was going through a box of vintage buttons and found one that said "Pip". Pip was my nickname for Phil. I had to have this button for his memory shelf.

On to news about my Zippo...

He saw the veterinary opthamologist last Thursday. Poor thing had all kinds of eye tests, a blood pressure test taken from his tail, and was put in a cat bag (like a little sleeping bag for cats...only his head was poking out) so that they could take blood from his jugular vein. He freaked out in the bag and peed in it...and all over the vet! She took it in stride and was laughing. She said she brings two changes of clothes to work with her every day. Of course, Zippo then had to have a bath. They didn't put him in a tub of water. They were able to wash him with a wet, soapy washcloth.

Turns out Zippo not only has secondary glaucoma, but cataracts and chronic uveitis. He's on three different medications. The pressure in his eye was 58. I believe the normal range is 10-20. 

Look how much better my fur baby's eye looks already! We went for an eye pressure re-check this morning and the news was very good. His pressure was down to 13! They also did what's called the "menace response" which tests the cat's blink reflex. The tech covered Zippo's good eye, then waved his hand in different directions in front of Zippo's right eye. He rated a weak-positive. Most of the blood tests have come back negative - but they're still waiting for a few more. The vet is trying to determine what caused Zippo's glaucoma in the first place (since it's secondary glaucoma). His urinalysis came back that he has borderline kidney disease, but the vet said for a cat his age, this wasn't bad at all. I have to follow up with Zippo's regular vet.

The vet also said with this good news today - so far - he doesn't need eye surgery. At the first visit last week, a shot in the eye or even removal of his eye was a possibility. I didn't say anything to the vet, but Brian and I discussed this and we decided if it came down to where Zippo needed his eye removed, we wouldn't do it. I know it's a very personal decision, but Zippo is 18 years old, has borderline kidney disease, and only weighs 8 lbs. To put him through the trauma of anesthesia and a major surgery would not be fair to him. He's had a long, loving, wonderful kitty life and we do not want him to suffer.

Happy Meowy Monday!

eating my words, weekend fun, and monday at home

In my Valentine's Day post, I spoke about how I don't receive flowers on Valentine's Day anymore ~ but that it didn't matter because true love was more than that. Turns out, the joke was on me. Brian came home from work with roses! I was so surprised, I blurted out, "For me?!"

The weather here in northern Illinois has been gloriously and amazingly warm the past few days, with temperatures in the 60's and lots of sunshine. Normal temps this time of year are 30 degrees - and we usually have snow, too. Walking around the yard, I spied tiger lilies already coming out of the ground. A month early. Exciting, yes - but also scary, as this warm weather won't last, of course. I'm afraid the returning cold will kill the emerging plants.

The middle of February usually finds me, my mom and aunt taking our annual winter trek to the antique mall by my house. It's a great place to spend a fun day while escaping the winter doldrums. Instead, we spent the day in another town that we love to frequent in the nice weather. We spent hours outdoors, walking up and down the main street, popping into our favorite shops and then having lunch at our choice Mexican restaurant. Of course, everyone else had the same idea and the sidewalks were crowded with young and old alike - and a lot of friendly dogs, too. 

 (me and my mom)

(my aunt and my mom ~ sisters)

I bought a couple of inexpensive things while we were shopping ~ found this cute teapot in a resale shop.

And bought this little ceramic heart in another shop (not resale, but only a few dollars). 

Today was a full day spent at home. I was going to run a few errands and then I remembered the kids were home from school today as it's President's Day. I knew the stores would be crowded. So, I decided the errands could wait until tomorrow. I don't have many days where I'm home the entire day, so this was actually a treat. I got a lot done in the house today, including washing the living room windows inside and out, and then cleaning the wooden blinds that cover the windows, too. I also vacuumed, dusted, cleaned bathrooms, did laundry, baked mostly-healthy brownies, made a veggie stir-fry, loaded and emptied the dishwasher twice, and brushed all three cats outside. I also did my yoga practice and PT exercises for my knee. (I have a torn meniscus.) Speaking of my knee, I'm finally going through with the arthroscopic surgery on March 1st. I was originally going to have the surgery in November, and decided to wait 'til the end of winter. Only nine more days - yikes! Though I'm at the point where I just want to be past it and on my way to healing. 

I had to move the spider plants that were on the ledge in the pass-thru to a safer spot. Mr. Monkey - sleeping on left - decided spider plants were fun to chew on. I replaced the spider plants with two different ones. For whatever reason, Monkey doesn't bother these. I'm probably being too brave with putting glass candle holders in the middle. Crossing my fingers that the cats will be cautious if they jump up there.

While I was rearranging stuff, I changed the decor in the nook above the microwave. Keeping it real with the pans left on the stove.

With spring weather on my mind, I've picked up flowers at Trader Joe's the past two times I've been there.. I know I've said it before, but their flowers are the best. They're inexpensive and they last a long time. This little bunch is leftover from the original bouquet that was 1-1/2 weeks old. Still going strong.

And here's another bunch that's five days old. The Wintry Blend coffee hasn't been used much lately. ;-)

These are the mostly-healthy brownies I made. I tweaked Nigella Lawson's flourless brownie recipe seen here by using 3/4 cup organic pure maple syrup instead of processed sugar. Guess that was a mistake because even though these look good, they don't taste so great. They're very grainy because of the almond meal. I bet the almond meal would've broken down more by using the granulated sugar. However, I don't eat processed sugar (as much as possible)...so I put the brownies in the fridge and will eat one here and there if I have a chocolate or sweet craving. 

Wishing you a joy-full week!