Settling in for quiet time

 "It's pretty quiet around here," or "It's going to be pretty quiet this weekend," seems to be a running theme in conversations I've had lately. With the excitement of summer starting long gone, and the Fourth of July passed, things seem to be settling down and "not much going on" is happening. 

All that to say, yeah, it's been pretty quiet around here this past week.

This past weekend we did some fishing. I'm loving this photo I took of my husband. I was trying to take a photo of him but the sun was in my eyes and I couldn't even tell what I was taking a photo of until I got home and looked at the photos. 

While fishing I tried out one of the flies I tied myself. Unfortunately the fish weren't biting. 

We went out for a bike ride to the lake both Saturday and Sunday.  Which also meant picnics. 

Our picnic lunches include simple fare and sandwiches and are easy to throw together. They are SO tasty after biking for five miles, give or take, in what ended up being the two warmest days of the summer so far. Yeah ... we got some heat! 

The breezes while biking felt good. 

This past Monday was publishing day and I've been slowly gearing up for the next issue, which will be a larger issue than usual.  Work has been quiet and I've appreciated it.  I was able to play catch up on some things that have been languishing on the to-do list. And go hang out in the archives for a while one day. 

The smoke from the wild fires has been hanging on all week. It's starting to affect me now in the way of migraines. Ugh. 

It's been making for pretty sunrises and early morning skies. 

One of the mornings when I was heading out to collect the cards from the game cams I happened to see something off in the woods. Can you see it? 

How about now? 

My distance eyesight still kicks butt! 

She spotted me and we both stared at each other before I decided the mosquitoes were too much. 

A Feffer cameo, of sorts. 

He loves corn. I've had that bucket full of corn and fruit and he noses right past the fruit and starts chomping the corn. 

Cherries were picked this week. 

While I was harvesting cherries, I heard one of the chickens in the raspberry patch.  I tried to take a photo. ... 

She can't really be seen.  She blended in to the shadows pretty good. 

And then she popped out and looked innocent, like she just hadn't been trying to nibble the low hanging raspberries. 

The rooster was hanging close by.  Apparently he needs to keep an eye on me? 

No matter, I got the cherries picked without any help from them. 

I'll be making some sort of jam with these this weekend. While I was pitting them it felt nice to be doing something "normal" that I used to do.  My energy levels are creeping back up.  

I spent some time out in the garden this week, trellising the tomatoe, admiring the cucumber plants ... enjoying the view. 

and admiring the hollyhocks that bloomed. It's pink! 

So, yeah ... quiet around here ... I suspect August will be a quiet month. Especially since I won't have the rush of harvesting and preserving produce from the garden.  I've accepted that not all years can be winners. 

Speaking of the garden ... 

Tomatoes. 😃