Yesterday evening after dinner, I went outside and spent a good hour and a half digging in the dirt. Seems like I’m doing a lot of that these days, and I couldn’t be happier about it. The latest project is a flower bed at the back of our house. I had a random assortment of bulbs there, but I wanted to replace those with roses. So, I dug up the bulbs and put them in pots, and I’m trying to get the ground ready for the roses I’ve bought. I have five new ones–one pink, one purplish, two reds, and a white. The dirt by the house is this stubborn clay stuff that hates shovels and tends to murder plants, so I’m having a time trying to get the bed ready. I’m determined to redeem the spot.
This is a lovely time of year here. It’s hot, but not suffocating. Many evenings, someone in the neighborhood is grilling out, and the smoky-sweet smell makes me want summer to last forever. Yesterday I walked on the beach with a friend, and we took our shoes off to walk in the chilly water, our feet sinking in wet sand. How splendid to live near the ocean; how splendid to catch up with a good friend while breathing salty air and watching dolphins swim just beyond the breakers.
