The Dog Days of Summer

The heat took a bit longer to reach us this year, but boy is it here now - - over 100 degrees these past two days. We've officially moved down into the basement for the next couple of months, as of tonight. Steve , smart man that he is, slept in his office last night (in the basement), but silly me thought our bedroom would be just fine. It was about 90 degrees in there, and needless to say I tossed and turned until after midnight, and then smartened up and moved out to the couch where it was a little cooler. All in all I didn't get much sleep. So, the basement it is. All I can say is, I am so thankful that we have a basement to move to!

In a nutshell, here's what we've been up to:

Swimming lessons!

Playing in the mud

Swinging

Playing with the garden hose

Building with Lego's

Tackling more wood paneling. I'm starting to wonder if there are any surfaces in this house that aren't covered in paneling. This just so happens to be my "secret hiding place" - - for the past two years it has been storage space. It use to be a root cellar when this house was built over 50 years ago. Mr. Haney (the previous owner) put in a floor (and some wood paneling) and used it for storage. He use to call it "the fruit room". I'm convinced that I am going to turn it into a beautiful, peaceful, secret hideaway. Stay tuned.

Making simple, cold summer salads. This one was made with quinoa, one of my favorite things right now. Yum!

A trip (Griffin's first) to the Naughty Chair, which, it just so happens, was hand-crafted with love by an inmate from the Maine State Prison in Warren. Griffin seemed to think the Naughty Chair was a fun game - - he probably would have sat there and giggled all day if I'd let him.