Hot hot hot...

And it's only going to get hotter! It's a good thing that we got our AC repaired quickly and without drama. Our central air unit started leaking water through the ceiling last Friday. Luckily the company that services our oil burner also does air conditioning; they sent someone over to our house within a few hours to remove the clog in the unit that was preventing the condensation from draining properly outside the house. Thank God it was a quick fix and didn't do too much damage. Our central air unit is a good twenty years old, and I don't even want to think about how much it would cost to replace it!

I forgot to mention that on July 15, our robin fledgling left the nest for good. I know that at fourteen or fifteen days old the baby was more than ready to leave the nest, but it was still sad to wake up that morning to an empty nest. Mama and Papa are nowhere to be found either. The departure was right on schedule. They're probably hopping around somewhere in the neighborhood. I hope they all live long lives...

We made a spicy tofu stir-fry with a few of the Fairy Tale eggplants this weekend. They were really tasty, tender and without a hint of the bitterness you sometimes encounter with the larger eggplants. I just wish we had more of them right now! They're growing fast but not fast enough for me!

The "White Wonder" cucumbers are much fatter than they are long. They're starting to lose their intimidating spikiness. The tomatoes are ripening very slowly. I think everyone's excited about them but me. I have to admit that I don't really like raw tomatoes. Now, the eggplants on the other hand...

Now that we're nearing the end of July, most of our garden plants have completed their blooming. The butterfly bushes and cosmos will continue to bloom until frost, but the daylilies and poppies are pretty much done. The Solar Flash sunflowers are almost ready to bloom. I haven't seen any flower buds on the morning glories yet. I remember that they bloom close to September, so I'm not too worried about them yet.

I'm thinking I should cut Lulu's hair a little shorter. I don't like the way it flips out at the ends.