Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones
It’s nice to have a weekend that creates enough of a diversion to push all thoughts of work out of the way. That’s how my weekend was. My plan of heading to Atlantic City to splash in the waves was trumped by dangerously oppressive heat. In my travels on Saturday, I noticed the thermometer in the car hitting 109 a few times. Obviously from parking-lot heat, but it “cooled” to 101 and stayed there as I was driving.
Despite the heat, I was outside much of the weekend. It was my errand weekend — farmer’s market, Home Depot, Sherwin Williams, the local nursery, even Walmart, which I rarely visit. The bonus was as we were out, we stopped at the local smoothie cafe. It’s become my new favorite haunt.
Even our First Friday outing was too hot to enjoy. Since it was a vacation week for many, we had lots of parking options and town wasn’t as packed as usual. There were still bands on every street — I counted five — and there were stands and vendors setting up shop on the sidewalks. The outside cafes, however, were pretty much abandoned for A/C inside the restaurants.
Saturday we went off to a lighting store, where I found a much-needed lampshade for a lamp I’d picked up at a flea market. We also decided on lighting for the study and he was able to find a lampshade that would work with his Svenskt Tenn floor lamp. Not an easy find at all, so we were thrilled to happen upon exactly what we needed.
The rains came and lasted a whopping fifteen minutes. The garden is still dry and cracked. The lawn is still “crispy” under foot, and everything is gasping for water. I’m not one to waste water on lawns, but I found myself trying to revive the worst part of the yard. It was also a great opportunity to drag a lawn chair under the sprinkler where I could….keep an eye on things. It was gloriously cold.
What the rain did do was knock the temps down a few notches. Yesterday was a more manageable 95, and today is expected to stay in the 80s. It was overcast yesterday, which helped, and so far today the sun isn’t blazing. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Today I have to sprint to get it all done. I have a 60-second script to get done, four email blasts, then another interview (I hope) for an impromptu article due next Monday. Also, I have another article to start and finish by August 3rd. I just wish I could get some responses from my Profnet query. I may have to dig deeper for sources.
I feel relaxed. It was a nice weekend. I’m hoping for a productive week.
How was your weekend?
Your smoothie cafe reminds me of a vegan Jamaican restaurant we frequented in Atlanta. They served some incredible smoothies too and I'm really missing their mango/ginger concoction right now.
Sounds like you got quite a lot accomplished this weekend, and have a busy work week ahead.
Gets busier too, Kim. I now owe a potential client a project assessment. I have no time left today! Ack!
BTW, left you a note in your in box.
Worked flat out all weekend, in spite of company, but it put me on top of a good lot of stuff so I could hit the ground running. This week has waaaay too much packed into it, but it'll be worth it.
Thanks a lot Kim. Mango and ginger are two of my favorite things, and no smoothie shops around here.
Brace yourself, Lori: I did no work all weekend. Well, I wrote two sentences for a column and decided I wasn't in writing mode. Saturday our temp his 105 (I don't want to know what the heat index was), so I just talked to friends and made more watermelon slush.
Of course, I hadn't dusted or vacuumed during the long heatwave, so yesterday I marked the end of the heatwave by cleaning – not thoroughly, but enough so you can see the dragons on the living room rug again – it was covered with dog hair. You know it's been hot when people are excited about a "refreshing" 91-degree day.
Devon, I should have done what you did. A weekend lost would have meant fewer concerns today and this week.
You mean it takes extreme heat to slow you down, Paula? You're going to be prolific come December! LOL
I did almost no work this weekend… slopped around reading and in the garden.
Best kind of weekend, Anne. Love that you could indulge. 🙂