July

My July schedule is up at 5:30ish, pee, start coffee, feed cat, exercise, then turn on the Tour de France. Broadcast starts at 6:30. I watch for a couple of hours, eating breakfast while I sit, then out to work in yard until it rains, or I get too hot. 

I am finishing the bed by the boathouse from the path over to the rose by Nancy’s fence. The area had already been cleared for a squash bed last year, abandoned until the guys were finished with the deck. I had to pull weeds and all the branches we’d tossed in when we removed the Brazilian pepper from the canal’s edge. I put down new cardboard which Grant covered with the oldest compost we had. Now I’ve planted 5 dwarf Fakahatchee grass (Tripsacum floridanum) about 18” away from the boathouse fence. I hope their roots will grow deep enough to hold any dirt that would like to wash away. There was one more obvious hole at the deck edge, so Grant dug in some of the leftover tongue and groove boards to fill it. 

In front, I left the volunteer tropical milkweed and planted lots more. I’ll worry about changing it to the native species eventually. I also planted blanket flower (Gaillardia puchella), giant ironweed (Veronia giantea), and narrow-leaf sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius). I’ll add tropical sage (Salvia coccinea) and some other salvias, then call it done. 

Originally, I thought I’d have to move the rose because it’s where the sea wall would go. Since the cypress tree had grown knees all over under the deck area, we didn’t need the sea wall. I may still move the rose since 1) it’s too close to the fence, and 2) I’d like it closer to the path because it smells so lovely. Pretty far down on the work list.

Sunday, my schedule changed because we drove to Fort Lauderdale to spend time with our friend Andy whose husband Bill died last week. I had spoken to him in early June via a butt call, and he had a hard time breathing enough to complete a sentence. We had not realized he was so ill. With his heart and lung issues, they had not ventured out in three years, because he was so vulnerable to Covid. Our being in central Florida is the reason, but a poor excuse, we hadn’t pursued having our occasional dinners out together. If we had, I’d have realized he was avoiding any contact. 

We sat with Andy at her open houses on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday, we met her at the Plantation Diner for breakfast. Diane and David joined us and were available to stay for the last visitation day, so we said goodbye and went to the beach.

The water was a delightful temperature and absolutely clear. I wished I’d brought my mask. Even without it, I could see lots of bait fish, and once, a larger fish, perhaps 15”, swam through them. Not a barracuda, maybe a bluefish. Occasionally, some of the smaller fish would jump, so I assume there were more bigger fish chasing them.

We went back to Patten’s to clean up and grab our luggage, including the rest of the beautiful cake Ryann had surprised us with on Monday, our 35th wedding anniversary. I was touched. I left the baba ganoush we’d brought because she enjoyed it. Our eggplants are running; we will make more. 

On our way home, we stopped by Kristine’s to give her a bread knife we’d bought at Restaurant Depot. When I’d tried to cut a baguette when we’d visited a few weeks ago, I realized her knife was as dull as ours. Even though we’d come south for a sad reason, it gave us an opportunity to replace both ours and hers, plus 1 more I bought just in case. At $6.75 each, it seemed a small investment. And Grant was able to buy the big can of anchovies he loves. We need to find the RD here in Orange County.

Back at Windermere, Gracie was glad we were home. She cuddled with me while I got caught up on the bike race.