Well, we may have severe storms for the next couple of days, but we're expecting a break in the heat/humidity so I say "storm away!" We live here on the North Coast to avoid triple-digit heat! Geeze!

Today is "project" day with the DDS's closets being on the top of the list. Also on the "must-do" list are: finish DD15.99's party invities and get stamps, at least one trip to Goodwill (after finishing the closets), and remember to pick-up the dry cleaning, as the top I need for tomorrow is there!

My good friend and I have tickets to Cirque du Soleil~Delirium tomorrow night. We're going up to the big city early for dinner, too. I can't wait! We've had our tickets since, oh, about March! At some point I need to paint my nails...probably late tonight as I have a bit of outdoor work to do later. It's been so-darn-hot that anything more strenuous than walking from chair to water at the pool must wait until late evening...last night I almost asked DH to put up a flood light at 10:00 pm so I could do a bit more but I was sweating so much even then that I figured it was time to quit!

I'm getting an arbor for the front flower bed...well, we got the arbor and DH stained it last night. I'm working on a perennial bed, but the space is 37 feet long and 7 and 10 feet deep and since it is between the sidewalk and the house (from driveway to front door) I can't make it smaller! Complicating things even more...there are really only a couple of inches of good soil and the rest is clay. It was full of subruban-development-regulation shrubs (overgrown) and I really should have pulled everything out and amended the soil but didn't have to $$$ at the time. SO, over the past several years I've yanked most of the shrubs, starting with the THORNY ones (What dufus landscaper would put thorny bushes in a family-home border....you're just asking for a frisbee/soccer/kick-the-can induced trip to the emergency room! )

Anyway, the new arbor will stand right between the two windows in the garage with enough space in front for a small flagstone area where I intend to put my little bistro set (small table and two dainty chairs).

I've been working on making the space level and scraping the old mulch into the top several inches of dirt. I'm working with a list of long(er)-blooming perennials that thrive in full-sun and clay soil because the GOAL is low-maintenence, with plants blooming from April to October! There are two more evergreen shrubs that I am planning to pull (and replant in the back) this fall. I'm hoping to replace them with shrubs that bloom in the spring...azaleas and rhodedendron don't really like the amount of sun the front gets, so I'm looking for something else!

My instant gratification self doesn't really love my multi-year plan to the perfect perennial border but my budget-conscious hubby does, so I'm going slow.

YIKES! Look at the time!
Love to all! Have a great day!

Blessings,
Lenora
"...if woman's work is never done, why bother about how much of it [isn't] getting done at any given moment?"
~ Claire Fraser in The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon