Beautiful May is here. Although there are no showy blooms in my yard in the woods, there are little delights sprinkled here and there.

In the front yard, tiny bluets on our mossy lawn.

In the backyard, equally tiny white violets.

All around, ferns continue to unfurl.

In the raised garden in the backyard, everything is green, but as my blogging friend Quercus has reminded me, green is a color, too. The emerging plants are so lovely and fresh, and in some ways, this is how I love them best, before the ravages of little chomping creatures.

In the shadier front yard, the plants aren’t as far along, but they are coming up, and I only have one more bed to clean.

I’m hoping to get the last bed done before Wednesday, when Clif and I are scheduled to have our second vaccine.

Spring time, busy time. But what a glorious time.

The end of July. It is 80° F first thing in the morning. Too hot and humid to go on the exercise bike for 38 minutes, the way I do most days. Even though we have Eva, our AC unit, in the living room, there’s a limit to what she can cool. The exercise bike is at the other end of the house, away from the lovely  Eva.

The heat is supposed to break on Wednesday. Until then, I’ll skip the exercise bike. The road to nowhere can wait.

Fortunately, as Judy from NewEnglandGardenAndThread noted, the flowers don’t mind the heat.

The daylilies continue to punctuate my mostly green yard with bursts of different colors.

Tootlepedal, here’s a yellow one for you.

Knowing we can depend on Eva to bring the temperature down inside, Clif and I brave the heat and humidity to have drinks and appetizers on the patio.

Little Miss Watson gets her own drink.

And Bertie, the flying pig, is surrounded by blossoms.

Readers, it surely has been the strangest summer we’ve ever had. It seems endless, as though we have been suspended in some kind of hothouse heat trap. Part of me wishes it would end, and then another part of me thinks ahead to colder weather when there will be no drinks on the patio, and Clif and I will be mostly inside.

There is a bright note to all this. Because of all the biking I’ve been doing—and the weight I’ve been losing—my knees are getting better. As soon as it’s too chilly to sit on the patio, I’ll dust off my sneakers and start going for walks at least a few days a week.

The walks won’t substitute for going out and about around town, for visiting with friends, for having family come to stay. But at least I’ll see something besides the inside of the house.

After all, there’s a limit, even for a homebody.

Early this morning when I checked my phone, I saw there was a message for a heat advisory for Kennebec County, where I live.  The temperature is supposed to climb to the 90s, with heat indices between 95 and 100. Readers, that is hot. And the air is so humid it almost feels solid, as though I have to push to get through it.

This was the temperature when I got up. Please note that the thermometer is in the shade.

On went Eva, our new AC. She’s in the living room, but she helps bring down the temperature in the whole house. Thank goodness for Eva. Without her, I wouldn’t be able to work in this heat. And deadlines are approaching…

As grateful as I am to Eva, I resent being trapped inside by the heat. Outside, the patio beckons.

Daylilies have begun to bloom and the bee balm is glorious this year.

My usual habit is to go on the patio around 4:30 with a drink—usually non-alcoholic—and a snack. Especially during the coronavirus, it is the highlight of my day.

But not when there’s a heat advisory. Fortunately, the weather is supposed to break tonight, and tomorrow’s forecast is for a perfect summer’s day. After my work is done, I’ll be back on the patio!