Susan Says . . .

LITTLE ROCK — Summer officially arrived on Monday but summer’s oppressive heat had come a week earlier. Temperatures in the 90’s and heat indexes in the triple digits made the paint job Jim and grandson A. J. were doing in Hiwasse most disagreeable. They just had to take frequent breaks and drink lots of liquids. The Queen Anne’s lace in the nearby field is flourishing despite the heat, the creamy hydrangeas are still blooming and the rose of Sharon beside the old building has begun to blossom. Blackberries in the fencerow have started to ripen and I’ve picked a few to top my morning cereal.

We began the week with a nice rain Monday which watered the garden and helped cool the air. I’d left my car windows down Sunday, so had to take a towel to soak up moisture in the seat but that was a minor inconvenience. Tuesday was cloudy and threatening showers but Jim went to Hiwasse and trimmed trees and brush around a house he was preparing to paint.

Niece Laura and her son Austin came in Wednesday morning and visited until her dad came to pick them up. I went to pick up some jewelry I was having repaired and raindrops began to fall just as I was leaving the shop. Jim soon came in, covered with spatters of paint. He’d put in a pretty good work day despite the rain cutting it short.

I took Mama to the clinic for her checkup Thursday afternoon and on to the drugstore for a new antibiotic. Her blood pressure was a little low but otherwise she got a good report.

I picked up the mail when I came home from the office Friday and found Mama and I both had letters from Aunt Mary. She sent the welcome news that Uncle Holland was recovering nicely after his heart surgery last month. It was a hot day so I finished the vacuuming I’d started on Thursday, then poured a glass of tea and sat on the front porch reading a magazine until Jim came home. We ordered a fast food supper that evening.

It was nice to let someone else do the cooking.

I went out after breakfast Saturday morning to take our recyclables to the collection point. Then I went on to the farmers’ market to pick up some veggies for my neighbor and a head of cabbage, some new potatoes, peppers and cucumbers for us.

We took a friend with us to Southwest City Sunday and visited the kids and grandkids when we returned. It was grandson A.

J.’s 14th birthday and he’d celebrated with a special outing and dinner on Saturday. Jim spent Father’s Day afternoon watching the U. S. Open while we did laundry and I clipped coupons from the paper and answered Aunt Mary’s letter.

We had a little crisis Sunday morning when we discovered the water in our fish pond was very low. Jim added several buckets of water and we hope to find it is only a minor problem and can be easily repaired. We enjoy sitting nearby, listening to the splashing water and watching the fish who bob up to eagerly snatch the pellets of food we throw out. The sounds of nature are soothing as we hear the birds singing sweetly and a chorus of frogs at nightfall.

-Susan Holland

Susan Holland, who works for The News Herald, is a lifelong Benton County resident.