Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot & Cranky, Cranky, Cranky

As you can see on the sidebar, I've declared THE AWFUL to have officially begun and am counting down the days to October 1st, the date each year when I actually begin to believe that I may make it through another Texas summer.  Strictly speaking, it's been awful since mid-May but I've been in denial.  Too much time in cooler climes spoiled me: the mountains of North Carolina and the streets of New York City were much more to my liking than my corner of Katy.  All month long, as I cut back already overgrown plants and pull rapidly proliferating weeds, my mind keeps slipping away from the tasks at hand.  I lose myself in fantasies of turning my back on the gardens and getting the hell out of Texas, at least for the summer.  At my crankiest, I start a mental list of better places to live.  

When I said this to friends last weekend, one of them laughed and told me "you could never leave your garden."  She was shocked when I answered that yes, I could. I truly believe I could say goodbye to my corner of Katy and move on without lingering regrets. It's not that I don't have these thoughts every summer but this year, for the first time, I've considered it as possibility rather than fantasy that I could someday live and garden somewhere other than Katy.

For now, just the possibility is enough to keep me trudging through these seemingly endless summer days.  Well, that AND my plans for some weekend getaways in July and August!