Past the peak

Recently I had a conversation with a few friends, talking about the fourth of July and how it often feels like the peak of the summer to me, and that it is all down hill from there. Not really, but all the fun and holidays we are looking forward to are now done and past. 

 My husband and I had a lovely, quiet fourth of July.  It was different from past years, however. My son is now all grown up and he had to work.  When he wasn't working he was out with his buddies and they were whooping it up, when they weren't sleeping, I'm sure.  The plans I had tentatively set were rained out. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the time with my man, and the break away from the office.  It was a long weekend for us and it was appreciated and enjoyed immensely. 

 Now it's time to get serious about the garden and get ready for the harvest to start coming in. 

This year is so different from the last several gardening seasons.  I told myself that they can't all be as fabulous as last year's harvest.

I was out in the garden this morning, before work.  Cherries are starting to ripen and I did my first harvest. 

I haven't whined too much about the weather on here, though my friends have heard an earful, and I'm sure it's the same comments all over the area. We have had SO much rain. One would think that all this rain would be good, but my garden is not growing like it should.  Last year my garden was turning into a wild jungle.  This year, not so much. 

This whole summer has not gone like I thought it would. Mostly because of the rain. 

I want this summer to be ... I don't know. ... special? It feels like *my* first summer since my son graduated and I was free to do whatever.  Not really that I'm tethered, or anything.  I just wanted to go do fun things, with either of my boys. 

My son works a lot and the days that would work for me to take off he works.  When my hubby and I have time off together it's raining. 

And now the first third of July is done and I need to start focusing on my garden.

I'd love to do a "real" garden tour video, but my poor garden ... 

So it doesn't sound like I'm whining through the whole blog post, here's a video of a hummingbird at the feeder I inherited from my mother-in-law. The hummers found it right away and started fighting over it. 

There's this youtube channel ... I don't remember what it's called but the woman's starts each video with "Hi, this is Robbie from Southern California." She has hundreds of hummingbirds visiting her yard every day.  Those birds don't fight.  I wonder why mine feel the need to fight all the time. 

Anywho ... 

I'm curious, does this summer feel different for any of you?