Hello Summer!

Summer finally arrived in Iowa. If you are from the Midwest, you are well acquainted with the feeling in mid spring when the weather waivers between cold and wet to almost warm. Your rational mind knows summer will return but part of you starts to wonder if you will ever shake the chill in your bones. Then one day you wake up to 65 degrees at 6 am and the temps soar to 90 degrees with around 70% humidity and summer is upon Iowa with its usual vengeance and unrelenting humidity for the next three months.  I welcome the hot sticky air, many run indoors to hide in the conditioned air. It’s almost like Mother Nature says “oh crap I forgot about Iowa”, and flips a switch to turn on summer. Even though we are all begging for it, our bodies aren’t quite prepared for the initial assault and we wilt a bit the first few days.

[caption id="attachment_295" align="alignnone" width="300"] Old and sturdy[/caption]

Right after we got back I bought a bike from a Craig’s List ad. I love the old thing. It’s a Raleigh 10 speed probably nearly as old as me. The guy I bought it from was younger than my kids I’m sure, and apologized throughout our interaction for its age and the fact that it was made of steel and heavy by modern standards. I looked at and said' it’s perfect.' The color, which happens to be Drake University Blue / White and Silver (another perk) appealed to me and it has been impeccably maintained. I gave him the $40 he was asking he gave me a bunch of extras and let me know it had new wheels and he had just had the brakes and gearing tuned at Kyle's Bike Shop in Ankeny.  Even better! We loaded it up.  Saylorville boasts 13 miles of one of the nicest bike trails in Iowa so I have plenty of safe pleasant trail to ride along the lake and through the timber.

[caption id="attachment_297" align="alignright" width="300"] Morning me time[/caption]

Our RV pad is large and backs up to woods. My new morning routine, now that the weather has turned the corner, is to go for a ride in the early morning, then do my yoga practice outside on the patio, with the sun coming over the tree tops and the birds singing.  A very Zen routine for this old hippie. I couldn’t be happier.

The container garden is underway and doing well. I bought a book years ago for my mother, called “The Bountiful Container". At some point she gave it back to me and it sat on my bookshelf for years collecting dust. It was one of the few books I kept when I unloaded a car load of books at a donation site last fall. It was a good choice!  The authors, Maggie Stuckey and Rose Marie Nichols McGee, did a great job and I highly recommend the book for anyone who is planning to try their hand at growing vegetables in containers. I won’t have the large harvest I’m used to in late summer but there will be plenty of fresh, organic goodies for me to eat. I have been eating spinach and lettuce since March and will get a few more weeks before it is too hot for it to thrive.

I’m getting as much time as I want with the kids. The grandkids have visited regularly and we’re seeing friends and socializing as normal. Like every other summer, plans are starting to take shape and dates on the calendar are filling up. Before we know it, we’ll be hooking up and heading back south to a 2 month break from ‘work’ and then on to another Volunteer gig further south in Texas where the  winter days and the people are warm.

Until next time…