Friday...

Not as hot here the last couple of days, but the fire situation is still dreadful. Glad I don't live in the mountains or (especially) the foothills - all power and protection to the firefighters!

No rain here, but the garden is doing well - tallest beans are waist-high on the netting, and the corn, from looking like this eleven days ago, now looks like this:



Writing's coming along pretty well, too. I have almost finished the rewrite - just a couple of pages to go - and the manuscript now stands at 61,000 words and 160 pages. Milder weather definitely helps!

-GRG

Monday...

Not a very productive weekend, as the hot weather continues. Denver has now set record highs (~102 F) for 3 (4?) days in a row, and it's not over. We also spent part of Saturday afternoon celebrating the Solstice with the local Druids in Cheeseman Park, where it was far too hot to be enjoyable.

The garden at least is doing well. I water all of it every morning, and parts get extra water in the evening as well, despite the ferocious mosquitoes. Still getting raspberries, although the pie cherries are now past their best, and the beans are climbing rapidly. Too hot to go out and take more pictures, so here's another one from last week:



Almost finished the fill-in chapter for DS - hopefully I can finish it today before it gets too hot. MS currently stands at 59,660 words and 156 pages... 2400 words in the last week isn't bad, considering the interruptions.

Onward!

-GRG

Friday...

The last few days have been hot and busy. I got no writing done yesterday due to preparations for last night's Midsummer ritual, and have spent some of today trying to make up for it. One more episode to finish that chapter, and then onward.

Due to the hot weather (record high of 102 at DIA today, although only mid-nineties here) I was up and in the garden before 6 this morning - watering, picking raspberries again, and then picking pie cherries for a friend. Naturally in the last two activities I had to sample as I went...

One more picture, taken earlier in the week:



...and good night!

-GRG

Monday...

...and already too hot. Denver set a new high temperature record yesterday, sigh. This will *not* help the firefighters trying to deal with the High Park fire.

The garden is doing great. Beans are starting to climb their trellis, raspberries and pie cherries are ripe, onions are burgeoning, and some of the peas are ready for picking. This morning's raspberry harvest:



I got more writing done over the weekend, partly because it was too hot to exercise or garden yesterday. 1,682 words so far in the last week - not great, but there were some "zero" days in there, too. Total manuscript is 150 pages so far, which puts me around the half-way mark. Once I finish this fill-in chapter, I can move on to the last two rewrite sections - then forward!

Another garden picture to finish:



...and then back to work.

-GRG

Thursday...

No post yesterday, as I spent too much of the day arguing with the computer... No writing either for the same reason. However, I got the improved bean supports up today. Just have to find the netting which will hang from the horizontal bar. Hopefully this will prevent a collapse like last year's.



Now to try and do some writing before I run out of afternoon...

-GRG

Monday...

Saturday was hot; didn't get much done. Sunday was much nicer, and we spent part of it at the Colorado Renaissance Fair, seeing some of our favorite vendors and committing shopping. (Favorites include glassblower Jon Bush, Greentree Weaving, and Catskill Moccasins.)

This morning was also nice and cool, and I got a couple of hours work done in the garden, doing initial clean up in and around the squash plot, and later planting the corn. Now if I can just get up early enough tomorrow to finish the squash digging and planting, that phase will be done... As you can see, this unfortunately hasn't left much time for writing. Better luck tomorrow...

Shot glasses from Jon Bush...



-GRG

Friday...

More gardening than writing the last couple of days, as I've been taking advantage of yesterday's cooler weather following Wednesday night's storms and heavy rain. Got about an inch of water here, judging by various containers, so I didn't need to water yesterday or this morning. Instead, I finally got the corn bed prepared. It's a bit late to be planting sweet corn, but I grow it partly for ornament and as a privacy screen, and the warm weather should help it sprout faster. That leaves one more section - the squash bed - and then it will be maintenance e.g. watering, weeding...

I also spent a lot of yesterday and this morning doing some background reading on first millennium AD agricultural practices in Britain - always something more I need to check! Now it's time to write some more - another fill-in section, but this time a whole chapter. The outline for the rest of the DS book is looking pretty solid at this point - my target is around 100,000 words, or just under 300 pages...

Last iris, from Tuesday:



-GRG

Wednesday...

Some additional writing the last couple of days, but not much achieved in the garden due to the warm weather. Last night was the first summer meetup for our Welsh language group - more information on that blog.

The Glamis Castle rose has been blooming like crazy. It's a repeater, too...



That's it for today...

-GRG

Monday...

Writing and gardening continue... Falco caught a mouse in the yard last Friday. I'm glad to say he didn't bring it into the house, though!



Saturday we went to Denver's Capitol Hill People's Fair, which was hot as usual, and bought a couple of lovely batik t-shirts from Grebe Batik. Also I bought a couple more plants at the Cherry Creek farmer's market, and finally got them planted last night:



The old sheet is to give them a little shade for part of the day until they're established.

OK, back to work...

Friday...

Didn't get much writing done yesterday because of watching the Dragon splashdown. Ah well, not something that happens every day! Reminded me of the Apollo missions... Warmer today, and about to warm up more. Have to finish digging that bed so I can plant the eggplants and peppers... then there's the corn... and the squash and pumpkins. This year I am late and the season is early, sigh. First of June and the pink monster rose is already past its peak:



WRT the DS, I'm currently writing some fill-in sections for things I skipped earlier. Not always easy, but necessary. I have by now a pretty good idea of the story arc, anyway... onward!