Susan Says . . .

We had a good rain last Monday which cooled the air nicely but temperatures soon climbed again and we were having a heat wave by the weekend. A few rose of Sharon blossoms are visible near the old building and the ends of the lilac branches are trying to bloom but it is too shaded to do well. The heat has discouraged most of the flowers but colorful poke berries in the fencerow bring back fond memories of how we used them to tint our "Kool-Aid" when playing house as kids.

Jim started a job putting on a metal roof Monday but got rained out in early afternoon. I came home for lunch and noticed dark clouds in the northwest as I returned to the office. We got a real downpour for awhile, over two inches total, and a small river was running down Main Street. I was glad to get our tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers watered but Jim didn't appreciate the timing. I wrote Jim's mother a letter that evening as she had a birthday coming up the 13th.

Our library commission meeting was canceled Thurday evening so we had supper a little later and I fried a couple of zucchini which we enjoyed with slices of cucumber, sliced tomatoes and cottage cheese.

Jim worked in Maysville on Wednesday, putting a new front door on a house and preparing a portion of floor for tile work. He liked the fried zucchini so well he had me fry two more that evening.

Jim returned to Maysville to finish his job there Thursday while I stayed home to catch up on my chores. I wrote a letter to a friend near Noel and found time to do a little reading on the front porch. I was out there in early afternoon when Jim came home to get some materials. Just after he left we had an unexpected visit from Aunt Merle and cousin Jack who had brought her over from Tulsa. I also had a short phone visit with sisterNancy before leaving for our afternoon library commission meeting.

I worked a few hours at the office Friday morning and then dropped by to see aunts Leda and Leta and visit with distant cousins of Daddy's from Arizona and Iowa who were in town. From there I went to the library to say farewell to an employee who was leaving and check on the remodeling project. I went home, fried some bacon and cooked eggs and toast for Jim and me. He was busy cleaning out his truck and putting a new cable on the TV antenna. It was our seventeenth anniversary so we went out and enjoyed a delicious buffet meal that evening.

We made a trip to Bentonville Saturday morning and I stopped by the farmers' market on the way home. I got some nice ears of corn, a half dozen tomatoes, some banana peppers, okra and 18 large eggs. I took our recyclable items to the collection trailer and took time to visit the brick park near the railroad crossing before going home to slice some tomatoes, cucumbers and some squash to cook for supper. A neighbor and I went to the funeral home for Nell Phillips' visitation that evening.

I attended Sunday services and came home to cook black-eyed peas a friend had given us. I also opened a can of mixed greens (turnip greens, mustard greens and kale), baked a few corn muffins, sliced a cucumber and warmed the leftover squash. They all made a very tasty Sunday dinner. I wrote a letter and my weekly column before picking up a neighbor and going to hear the New Revival Quartet sing that evening. When I got home and went out to water our vegetables I was disappointed to find our big fantail goldfish was dead in the pond.