Thirsty Season

     These beautiful summer mornings require water.  I’m up early tending to our garden, walking across the sprinkler-pummeled wet grass in my rubber boots.

I haul the hose around to the vegetable garden and let it soak in the beets.  Next is the perennial bed; I think I’ll set the hose by these peonies for a bit–Everything is thirsty.

My cel phone rings when I come inside.  It’s my far away New Orleans friend; she asks me how my summer is going.

(Summer, as in lazy days in the sun, maybe by the water. Walks by the lake.  Sitting in the shade with a book.  BBQ’s with friends out on the deck. You know, summer.)
“Well, I say…….it’s been a little intense.”
I tell her about my visit the day before with my 92-year-old mother in law, taking her in for outpatient surgery.  Something that was planned over four weeks ago, for which there were several complications. Now that it’s over and done with she’ll need more attention. 

“I spent 2 hours with her this morning tending to the wound, but she’s okay now. I just have to check in on her for the next couple of days,” I tell her.  And since she lives downstairs in our home I’m able to care for her easily. Needless to say, I’m staying busy.

(And just to be clear: we’re grateful Mom’s with us, as are my grandchildren. She’s family–it’s what we would expect.  Plus, she tells great stories–she’s 92–she has a lot of stories.)

Then–well, my husband’s retiring.  Woo hoo!  Tomorrow is his Last Day at Work. We have been planning for this since January. Month-long preparations have been underway at home; fanfare at work and hoopla have abounded. Cards and calls and emails. Transitions of the Highest Order will ensue (so people have told me).
So–It’s also been a summer of planning and sorting, organizing files and finances, adjusting schedules, and so on. In all this busy-ness, I have God’s great peace and a promise for which I’m thankful.

So–my summer? Back to the water….

I’ve also been tending to my brother and sister-in-law’s house and home and cats and birds for two weeks now while they are out of the country attending my niece’s wedding.  Another woohoo!

So, every day, twice a day’ I’m serving…..

Kitty food and hummingbird food and bird seed

and finding lots of water….

• for the houseplants inside
• the potted plants outside
• and the gardens at the edge of the yard

My instructions were to keep the potted plants–inside and out–w e t….why?
My sister in law reminded me they hold water better when they don’t dry out in between.
If you wait to long too give them a drink, the water just pours right through. Hmmmm…….

And although we had a glorious, soaking rain last week (in which I greatly rejoiced) it’s not like I can stop with all the hose-hauling.  No—
The raspberries, the blueberries, the grapes, the potted plants, the plants on the deck. 
All this beauty needs tending.

So, I water.  I make the time, take the time, to bless them by caring for their place. It is fun work, it’s a delight to chat with the cats everyday and the blueberries are a delicious bonus!

As I move, I think about my word for the year–Dwell.
God’s been speaking to me through Psalm 84 over and over again:

                                                            The Message