Suntan lines and chigger bites

Oh how I love summertime and all of its sweltering heat, sun shining so bright it makes the bottom of my feet melt off when I step on the hot deck. Not worrying about clothing the children when we go outside, naked swimming on the secluded upstairs deck's baby pool has been just the thing to wash off chiggers before they work themselves into the most private of crevices. Apparently my youngest has the darkest skin so far, since she tans just walking to the car, as evidenced by those lines made noticeable when we strip down for garage fingerpainting followed by a run through the sprinklers, at just the perfect time, as the next door neighbors host an open house.  Or maybe she just tans because I forget to sunscreen everybody but myself when going out to pick blackberries or the garden vegetables leftover after the critters have had breakfast.

 

We have enjoyed having a string of visitors stay at our house this summer, either while passing through on the way to new cities, coming for a weekend visit, or catching up around a conference, and a surprise visit from Damie and Isla one evening was such a fun time. Family has come recently and the cousins are here now, and we are about to celebrate the first year of our sweet Josie baby! I'm thankful to have that baby help me keep things clean around here.

Summer has, for the past 20 years, been the season of training, and I'm thankful to have had that. The difficult recovery from the reattachment of my hip labrum is something nobody wants to hear about, but if you are interested in the effects of dry needling and foam rolling, talk to me.  I'm focusing all my triathlon energy on writing the schedules of athletes who get to run and race and be fast.

Ethelyn was always telling me to slow down, and now is the time to sit back, lounge by the pool, eat snowcones, and enjoy the slowness of summer.