Coping and Counting the Days

If you sneak into my cubicle right now I am playing Christmas music.

I was hoping perhaps this year it would be different, that being in a new house would make the difference in the way I felt in the summer, since James wouldn't have to climb on the roof to clear off the pine straw and clean the gutters and I wouldn't be standing there below with my heart in my mouth, and with a brand new air conditioner and airy-er rooms, hopefully no ant invasions to contend with.

But I can't help it, summer gets harder and harder to bear every year; if I could get the years back at the end of my life I'd consider hibernating May through September (and what would I do about work?). The hot flashes make it more difficult to bear the heat and when I get the least bit warm I feel "funny"—I can't even describe the sensation, but it makes me worry about my heart. Plus when I do get too overheated, like last Friday, my heart does start tripping a bit (not over 100), which is unsettling.

Add that in combination with end-of-fiscal year work—and the huge wasp that managed to get in last night; it disappeared after we saw it near the lamp and have no idea where it's lurking—and we're talking good old fashioned depression here. Hence the Christmas music.

I'm enjoying the fact that the crafts stores have their fall items and even some Christmas items out; I buy one or two small things to fit into the "Autumn Hollow" theme every weekend, which may sound like I'm going berserk, but it signifies that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not a train.

The foyer of the house is pretty much decorated up to peak, except that I would like to put a wreath on the wall that you face when you walk into the house. But because this wall is over the stairwell that goes downstairs, it is difficult to get to the area. James and I were discussing the possibility of, since it's a half wall, an overlook from the living room, that we could suspend the wreath on a ribbon from the top.

There are several fall angels, both wooden and ceramic, with leaves for wings, dotted about. I need to rummage around in the photo box and find a pic of my mom to put there; I have the frame already. Then there will be a real angel continuing to look after us all.

I finally finished what I wanted to do on the brickwork on the small porch on the front of the house. There is sort of an arch shape which almost looks as if a window could have been placed there but wasn't (there are sidelights on the door, so you really don't need one) and it looked bare. I put up a primitive-painted Americana type plaque there that I purchased at JoAnn, having gimmicked up the trees in the picture to look as if they have fall leaves on them and put a brown wash over the grass to make it look more autumn-y. But it looked dreadfully alone in that brick opening, so Friday with my Michael's coupon I bought a leaf garland, eschewing the more colorful ones for one with muted color and green leaves among the turning ones, to surround the plaque with. I removed the pumpkins and raffia it came with and used them in something else to mute it even more. It fills up the area a bit and adds to the house theme without being overt.

All the ceramics were on sale this weekend at Hobby Lobby, so I bought a dark leaf-orange "cake stand." I wanted something tall for the Expedit divider between the living room and kitchen and bought an apple topiary (because kitchen and dining room are themed in apples and cows). But it wasn't quite tall enough to "pull it up" the way I wanted, so I have the topiary on top of the cake stand, and around the topiary pot a large candle ring of autumn leaves to meld the two themes.

I'll have to keep up with the fall distractions until the real thing arrives, just to keep upbeat.

Three weeks from this coming weekend: the Yellow Daisy Festival, a wonderful precursor to fall. Yay!