It's been a very good year for sunflowers. They line the roads all around here, and one of the most exuberant thickets is right outside our gate.
Sunflowers and my long shadow.
Quite a few of them have been chewed up by cucumber beetles and/or grasshoppers.
Raggedy sunflower.
But there are still lots of intact ones for my sunflowers 'n' sage.
A constant on the table this time of year.
Speaking of sun . . .
I have continued to run half an hour three or four times a week, but my running outfit has had to change with the season. No longer do I wish to wear long pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt. But I do wish to be protected from the intense sun here.
I don't wear sunscreen if I can possibly avoid it, so I do actually run in long sleeves. But now it's my gardening shirt, which is a cotton button-down. I wear this with shorts--my legs don't have nearly as much sun damage as my upper body, so I don't worry so much about that--and my incredibly dorky Floppy Mom Hat.
It is, as the kids say, a vibe*.
A really geeky vibe.
I don't usually see anyone when I'm running around our ghost village, and the dogs aren't embarrassed to be seen with me anyway, so I'm good.
This month is one of my mayordoma months, so I went to the church yesterday morning to clean. The children were involved in some very fun game and none of them wanted to come with me, which meant I had the great pleasure of sitting in the silent church by myself for awhile without the lights on.
Peace.
I also took the opportunity to change the flowers on the altar. The same ones were there that I had put there after Easter, so I thought it was time to switch it up.
The yellow-and-white befores and the blue-and-white afters.
I wish we could have fresh flowers all the time, but we live too far from stores that carry them, and my garden does not produce enough, so fake flowers it is.
Lastly, I must share with all of you my great displeasure at the new scent in Dawn dish soap.
BOOOOO.
I really dislike the smell of this. It smells like baby diapers to me. Clean diapers, yes, but still. I think it's gross. And I can still smell it on my dishes after they dry. The last store I went to only had this new and "improved" kind, so I ordered several bottles of the original scent online.
I hate fragrances so much.
There you have it! My life, snapshotted.
* I actually have no idea if the kids still say that. Probably not. But it's been well established that I am not a kid. I mean, have you seen the outfit I run in?
I can't stand most scents. I use orange Palmolive dish detergent, and once my husband bought the green version. Using it, I started sneezing incessantly- the scent of the green irritating my nose terribly. That bottle got relegated to outside use only..
ReplyDeleteDo you need coverage early in the morning when you run? I rarely wear sunscreen ( I've had some bad reactions to a few formulas so I avoid it if possible) so I just try to stay out of the sun from 10 am to 3pm. (But I can't stand heat, so it's an easy choice.)
Your church us so serene! Thank you for sharing.
Yes, our sun is strong all the time, as soon as it comes up, so I cover up no matter what time I run. I also have quite a lot of sun damage on my face and neck that I don't want to worsen, which is why I wear such a big hat and the collar.
DeleteWhy not use the sunflowers and sage in church? When we first moved here, a lady at church did the flowers. She had so many in her garden and could find something almost year round. And could she arrange! Now she has died, and I find it so delightful that several folks just bring what they have in simple glass vases. It's beautiful (and not manicured?) and a sincere offering of their best.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jody ^^ -- could you take the vases home after services and bring back sun and sage (or whatever other fresh flowers/branches/dried arrangements) to be placed before worship begins? I've attended churches where there are artificial arrangements for when the weather truly isn't conducive to creating a real arrangement (it happens), but most of the time the altar guild brings in whatever they can find. Maybe there are lilacs in the spring and zinnias midsummer and pretty grass seedhead arrangements in the fall and so on. Sure, it's not professional, but it's still very pretty. I've never yet heard anyone say "Oh, I quit going there because they didn't have REAL flower arrangements on the altar. Amateurs!!"
ReplyDeleteBut the real reason I dropped in is to heartily agree with you on both sunscreen and scents. I am absolutely allergic to sunscreen; someone can put sunscreen on across the room and it'll make my eyes begin to burn and tear up and blur. I'm long-sleeves-and-jeans-and-hat-and-sunglasses all the time. And scents, oh, scents. Some scents are OK, but most artificial scents are heavy and cloying and make me very unhappy. Scented laundry detergent, scented hand soap, scented trash sacks, scented air freshener. Whyyyy does everything need to be so heavily scented? /endrant
Yes, I could certainly use the wildflowers. However, I recognize that at this point in my life, I just don't want to spend the time making big arrangements for church every week. Fake flowers allow me to put them up there and then not have to worry about it for awhile. And right now, that's what I need to do.
DeleteAs church flower lady, I find that even my most random attempts at altar flowers are appreciated, though when our pro gets to church with her much more lavish arrangements, we are all delighted. I rarely use goldenrod, which is beautiful but is considered a roadside weed around here. MIL
ReplyDeleteAgreed MIL goldenrod is beautiful and is God's creation weed or not. :)
ReplyDeleteKristin, you do you, that is what makes everything you do special. AND you look like half of you is gone in the photo. Morning runs are working their magic for you. Take care all.