The Joys of Summer

Summertime, and the living is easy. I thought it would be easy to draw, paint, write and post to the blog every day during the summer since I would be off work. But it's not. We've been coping with not only hot temperatures, but soul-sucking humidity as well. Yesterday and today it's been like trying to move through honey. I checked the Weather Network and it said the humidity was 94%. I didn't even know humidity could get that high without it actually raining. It's hard to get motivated or to concentrate, even Holly the tabby cat only plays late in the evening. But I just couldn't resist doing a garden grid of what's blooming, and of the bounty from the Farmer's Market last Friday. This is the best part of summer, the fresh produce, the barbeques, and tomato sandwiches. Sarah ban Breathnach, in her divine book called Romancing the Ordinary: a Year of Simple Splendor knows how to savor a tomato sandwich. She writes "You must wait until July to partake of this bliss, because only then will you get the tomato at its most sublime. After you have thought about a tomato sandwich for a minimum of one week, on the appointed day take two slices of extremely soft white bread. Spread both slices with real mayonnaise. Slice ripe summer tomatos and pile them on the bread. Sprinkle freshly ground salt and pepper on the tomatos. Cut into quarters. And eat them as slowly as possible. Now make yourself another." This year I have eight tomato plants, and all of them have little green tomatos on them. I'm so excited about that. I love watching them get bigger and then ripen. That, to me, is the real scent of summer.

I did the veggies in the Moleskine journal, and the flowers are in the Aquabee sketchbook with watercolor pencils. I've always found roses hard to draw, and this lame one is no exception. But every bit of practice helps.