summer Days

I woke up around 6, with the sky getting bright and the birds singing. Neither Ray nor I have anything on the schedule today. It is not official summer, according to the calendar. In Georgia, though, it's the early days of summer, when it is pleasantly warm in the morning. I don't put on a bathrobe when I get up. All the windows are open, trying to capture as much "cool" as we can for later in the day.

Yesterday, we took Molli to the shuttle for the Atlanta airport. We debated back and forth about driving her instead. We would have had a few more hours together and she wouldn't have had to leave quite so early. It was definitely the right thing to do from an environmental standpoint, though. The clincher was the certificate I had bought from a literacy fund-raiser last August (beating out another bid at the last minute). Unfortunately, when Molli made the reservation, they told her that manager doesn't work for Groome anymore. I showed them the letter yesterday morning, but they insisted I pay in the meantime, until they could consult with the manager, Jeremy Jones. The employee did not seem to understand the letter or even the concept of a fund-raising donation...somewhat frustrating, but not worth losing my cool over.

Back at home, I made a mocha chocolate cake with the last of the coffee. Coffee is one thing we have when Molli's around, but not when it's just the two of us. We took a walk and I spent a little time in the garden. The rain the day before meant that the ground was very soft, good for pulling out weeds. It began to get pretty hot and humid by about 10:30 and I mostly just sat and watched the chickens. They run back and forth in the run, chasing each other somewhat in fun, but also to determine and enforce the pecking order. Gladys, our old hen, has been broody. When I open the nest box to look at her, she glares at me. Chickens do not have a lot of facial expression, but she certainly seems very angry. I lured her down from the nest box with some wormy hazelnuts I have. She likes them so much, she makes little purring noises (like Molli did when she was little and enjoyed what she was eating). We let her into the run with the young chickens and she stalked like a battleship, all puffed up. She looked like a turkey. They avoided her and she squawked loudly, letting them know she was in charge. She attacked one of them and drew feathers (yellow legs), so we separated them again. Eventually, she returned to the nesting box for the day.

The pleasure of having new chicks is tempered with worry. Our neighbors have had predators attack chickens, especially raccoons, and I am afraid for these little ones. I am anxious to have them move into the "new" more secure coop with Gladys, as soon as I can trust her not to hurt them. The new coop is made of hardware cloth, sturdier than chicken wire. These things can't be rushed. I think Cameron (the dog) is good protection. We often are annoyed by his barking in the night, but I try to remind myself that he may be keeping something away, like a raccoon on the prowl.

I went to lunch at Lee Anderson's house. She is over 80 and lives with her daughter. They have a lovely traditional home, with a giant screened porch on the back. It has a cathedral ceiling and the view of an extra large bird feeder. There were two tables set and plenty of room left over. Linen tablecloths and monogrammed silver harked back to an earlier time. I am very fond of Lee, but speaking to her requires a conscious effort, since she doesn't hear well. There were 6 of us from our Small Group and this was our farewell event of the year. We chatted about light subjects, for the most part, and enjoyed the food the group had brought (including my mocha cake). Linda and I had two pieces. It was delicious and light. I felt bad leaving Lee with that many dishes. I hope she didn't get exhausted. She pooh-poohed my offer of help, but we did clear them.

That was the most strenuous part of my day. I looked for chard recipes for supper and went through some old papers. Ray had a nap. When it was cool enough, I went out again after supper, waiting to close the run off after the chickens had settled in the coop. It was almost 9 before they were all calmed down.

We watched Wheel of Fortune and Leverage and Doc Martin and slept well.