This Perfectly Imperfect Life

New Jersey summers are infamous for many reasons like the shore and tomatoes, but unless you live here, you may not know the biggest one. To say that it is stifling outside is the understatement of the summer so far. The humidity is shocking and suffocating. Disgusting. Stunning. Oppressive. Sickening. Breath taking. And not in a good way.  I gasped loudly when I walked out into it this morning and got assaulted by air thick enough to bite it's so dense with moisture. Thank goodness for small favors and it's not hot too.  Here on the bayshore at the Portable Homestead, and up at the lake, everything is damp to the touch or sticky. Bed linens and curtains have to be washed more frequently now or they'll smell sour, like sweat. Powdery mildew (mold) will soon be sprouting up on anything that's made of real wood or leather, an unwelcome annual ritual we've learned to live with because we can't keep it from happening, no matter what we've trie...

As you can see, I'm not the only resident here at The Portable Homestead who is enjoying having the windows open today! Miss Boo spent the entire morning perched in this spot watching birds and butterflies. The temperatures began to fall, albeit it slightly on Sunday, ending heat wave number 4 of the year, and now the humidity is finally following suit. Though still a bit muggy now, I for one am so thankful for a break from the oppressive humidity & heat! I thought what was left of my sanity would break first. Having bronchitis and a sinus infection (day 11 & counting) as well as hibernating indoors (because of the weather, infections & my body's extreme dislike of hot/humid weather) hasn't helped my spirits (or cabin fever) any. I think the reason why Summer cooties (colds, sinus infections, bronchitis & the like) seem to go on and on is that, despite air conditioning, it's just too hot for soups, hot teas with honey - many of the nourishing ...

It's a (not so) Wordless Wednesday here at The Portable Homestead and that is because Ms. Jekyll, a David Austin rose, has begun her second bloom! I'm pleased since I only just bought her as a birthday present to myself the third week of May and she finished that bloom before mid June. She's already more than doubled her height! I was afraid the slight touch of black spot & powdery mildew she's come down with would hold her back. Perhaps she's competing with Queen Elizabeth (grandiflora) who is now seven and a half feet tall! From the lovely, delicate pink color, to the ruffled petals once a bud opens fully, to the utterly enchanting scent (heavily traditional yet not overwhelming), I adore this rose! For more photos of Gertrude, click here . Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

(Said in a whisper (since this is Wordless Wednesday & all): Decorating for any season/holiday now begins with using what I already have at home in new ways). Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Taken Sat. on our front porch while enjoying the warmth of the sun on a chilly Autumn day! At least I hope it does! Hello dear friends! Apologies for my absence here. I caught Hubby's awful cold & bronchitis and while I've had it since 9/30 when I awoke with the dreaded scratchy throat, it's been especially rough since 10/4. (That night I went to the doctor as I'd gotten progressively worse throughout the day). I've been here at home for the most part, (talk about 'cabin fever' - ugh) trying to get some purging & organizing done when I'm able, resting when I'm not. My writing, what I have from my high school & college days, to the present is now condensed, past writings & journals in my closet, present projects in a bin which now sits on our pc desk. Speaking of my closet! The world must be coming to an end as it too is now neat & organized after purging! The entire shower is also clean enough to lick. Not that anyone w...

Something wicked this way comes. Rain & hail. All hell breaking lose. Back yard flooding, filling the patio but didn't get into the kitchen thankfully. Here we go again folks! So today was not only Wordless Wednesday but Garden Blogger's Bloom Day and Julia Child's 100th Birthday! I had a lovely slideshow of garden photos planned, all taken early this morning, for a "When Wordless Wednesday & Garden Bloggers Bloom Day Collide!" post and I was going to do a little something in honor of Julia today as well. Suddenly, the arthritis flared in my hands & arms and it was all I could do not to let my hands cramp up into fists & cry. That's when I noticed the clouds gathering, the sky turning darker. By late morning I could hear thunder off in the distance & see that odd dark gray out towards the direction of NY (Long Island). And so the computer stayed off. I did get to watch The Chew's tribute to Julia on ABC7 withou...

Every morning before Hubbs leaves for work, he comes back into our room to give me a kiss. (Every body altogether now, "Awww!")  Usually I go back to sleep after he leaves (since it's around 6am) and get up about 7:45am. But after a fitful & uncomfy nights sleep last night, I was wide awake. Oh, I tried to go back to sleep, but decided to get up instead of laying there frustrated that I couldn't sleep. Then I remembered the pink Morning Glories blooming on the arbor around the tall gate in the yard that I shared with you here .  (We have two yard gates, one tall, the other short).  I dressed quickly (quickly for me that is!) grabbed my camera's and went into our spare room to peak through the blinds at the top of the arbor. Sure enough I spied two small clusters of pink! So out into the beautiful, foggy, albeit it more than sticky, morning I went. Thankfully the rising sun was having a hard time burning through the dense fog, keeping the heat at bay, allow...

I wanted to do this as a Monday Musings post, a follow-up to last weeks, (click here for that post) but weather (3 rounds of nasty storms), time and my iv session were against me on Monday and yesterday I wasn't up to anything more than dozing off, reading & watching The Shipping News while camped out on the couch, snuggled under a blanket on a rare Autumn-like day in June. On Friday, during lunch with Mom after her speech therapy appointment, the topic of my father came up and she clarified (corrected) some history for me which I am very glad for because it gave me clarity & closure to some of what I mentioned in last week's Monday Musings post.  Sure, it also peeved me off and left me reeling but at the same time I really wasn't surprised - He was a cruel, sadistic, evil man who abused her in ways you cannot imagine for 17 years, so it's not like I expected anything good from him. They weren't divorced when I was 6 months old and she didn't ...

On Saturday, January 7th, in our neck of the world, we got to 64* here in NJ, warm enough for tank tops & flip-flops. No need for a jacket, scarf, gloves or faus fur-lined anything. Even as the sun set and the nearly full Moon rose, the air was balmy and smelled faintly of Spring & grapes. Things in my garden want to bloom, and as a matter of fact, the Autumn Joy Sedum, normally at rest now, is re-blooming on the front porch! (Pictured above). Rain, even thunderstorms are on their way and will arrive tonight. Crazy! Epiphany passed and Christmas is packed away & back in the basement once again. Always makes me a little sad, but for some reason even more so with these warm temps, probably because it was on the warm side when it all went up! But, I'm thoroughly content now that the house is fairly clutter-free and cozied up for the rest of Winter & Valentines. Winter is supposed to return about mid January but I'm skeptical as of now. I can't wait for...

I used to be a teller of tales, didn't I tell many a tale? Happy adventures, sad & frustrating ones too, in the garden and out & about, of kitties & feathered friends, of things in the fog, whispers of our past, holiday & seasonal fun and so much more! I got derailed last Summer (surely y'all remember!) and a year later I'm still not 'back on track.' Huh! Funny how that happens. Odd. There's lots of talk lately of "getting back to normal" and I realized for me, that's not the case, it's more like finding a new normal. Again! Which isn't a bad thing at all, it's something I'm used to actually given my health obstacles. So perhaps the same applies to my blog here. Not that I won't keep sharing (oodles of) photos - y'all know how much I love taking & sharing them. But this has become more of a photo blog since last Summer and that wasn't my intention. It served its purpose though as I wasn't a...

Hello friends & a happy August to you! Hope it's as lovely of a day in your neighborhood as it is in mine. Started The Day Off ...with an early morning power outage from a transformer fire a few blocks down. I didn't mind because thankfully it's not hot & humid today and because I rather enjoy the quiet! While the kitties excitedly ran from window to window bird watching, I camped out on the shady front porch with my journal, water and box of tissues. (Summer cooties - strep strikes again!) While sitting there, dried (to a crisp) leaves tumbled across the sidewalk and took me strait to Autumns' past: That quiet part of middle afternoon when all you hear is the breezes blowing dried leaves along paved surfaces, tumbling scraping, crickets chirping... Since the power came back on, a little over two hours after it went off, all I've turned on are the fans. (And the kettle to make a cuppa tea). A hazy/hot/humid free day in August, like July, is a blessing a...