Summer time, and the livin's easy

Actually things are busy, as summers always are, but good. Work is going well, though I'm having to re-do my Sea Otter program entirely- it's just too long & not focused enough. It's good to be out on the beaches and trails again, though honestly I feel like as soon as I get back in the swing of things, my time will be up. At first our program numbers seemed low, but now I don't believe any fewer people are camping than before, high gas prices be damned.

It always feels like the weekends are never long enough, I want time to relax as well as do all the necessary chores, and do things like make jam or bread or cookies. I did make some tasty banana-zucchini bread though. I dislike working from 9-5:30-- it's not enough of a sleep-in to make a difference, and if I get up with R I don't have enough time to do much that is productive, plus my evenings seem so much shorter now. R is always working on so many big projects (shed, garage wiring, etc) I feel lazy. Often I don't even want to cook, garden, or knit when I get home, sit in the sun & drink beer or do nothing.

Today we re-did our little stream, which drains our gutters into what will eventually be a water garden. It was hot & dusty work, I hope the finished product eventually looks good. The whole N side of our back yard needs so much work, it's hard to even come up with ideas. I want a fire pit though! I'd like to make a little shady nook, since the fruit trees we planted 3 years ago section that area off, but we still need to replace the ever-more tilting wooden retaining wall with stone, so it's hard to plant trees there at this point. I wish I knew more about landscaping, we have a lovely blank slate to work with.

Since I really enjoyed Emilie's recent photos, tomorrow I'll share some of my own, but here is a picture of my Brother's family: