Winter's End

These are busy days, as we bid goodbye to our delightful winter and buckle in for another long summer. It's already hot, folks. Today I got a little sunburn on my cheeks, just walking around the market and visiting my ladies. It's time to start taking two showers a day, I think. :)

In preparation for the summer, my brother came up with the brilliant idea of sewing some screens to fit in our windows. We have a bit of a unique window situation, as all the windows here have hardware (locks and latches and stands) directly on the window, and you must first reach through the bars to access the window. Putting a screen in over this means you can't open, lock, or adjust your window, so the screens must be removeable, or at least easily moved and put back, without compromising and leaving even an inch of open space. You can be assured that if there is an inch open, the mosquitoes will find that inch, at least if it is me they are trying to get to on the other side of the window. So he thought, "What if we made our screens like on a tent? They can be a 'frame' of canvas which we will tack up to the wall, then a light mesh screen which zips all the way around." Brilliant idea, no?

And wouldn't you know but it worked! Well, we bought the supplies, measured for my window, sewed everything up, and all that is left to do is to tack it up and glue around the edges, sealing all the gaps. I can't wait... it will be so nice to have a screen in the window this year, even if it is a little 'campy' looking. And all this for about $17 a window and a couple hours of sewing. Not too shabby.

All our guests are gone, or at least, by tomorrow morning they will be. It will just be back to the four of us, the four Hammetts with their three dogs. What a motley crew they are. It's odd being back to just us. I find myself having to pare down when I am cooking, but I usually still end up with way too much food. We're back to laundry once a week, having more than enough towels, and bathrooms staying cleaner longer (with those three aforementioned dogs, we still have to sweep at least once a day). But it's sad to have the house so quiet, to have no extras to play games with in the evenings, to have no movie-watching buddies. :(

And it is definitely sad to have this lovely winter come to an end. I'm really not quite ready for summer yet, so I wouldn't complain if it fluctuated some over the coming days to give us a few more cool ones.