June 18 column

Is it just me, or is summer getting away from me? I know it’s only June 18, not even to the official start of summer. That comes on Friday (unless you live in Europe, then it’s Saturday). Since I started working full-time in the summer in 2002, it doesn’t really seem like I have one. “Summer” just doesn’t have the same ring to it when nothing changes except clothing.

I started spring with a rather long list of things that needed to get done before the snow melted. Unfortunately, my summer to-do list is not getting any shorter. For every item that gets checked off, two more are added. There is progress on the home front, though. I hauled in enough stones to create borders around two new flowerbeds. One became my vegetable garden and has a nice looking crop of radishes, tomatoes, peppers and sunflowers coming up in it. One thing is missing: I specifically remember buying a large packet of green beans a few weeks back. I wanted to plant them and make an attempt at dilly beans this year. Try as I might to find them, the seeds have disappeared off the face of the earth.

The other flowerbed now has pansies and a few petunias in it, along with two new bleeding hearts and two Virginia bluebell plants. Seedling columbines from my mom are also looking good. There’s more room in that bed, but I think it’s a good start.I’m not finished though. I have gladiola bulbs that needed to go in the ground last week, and six new hostas are waiting to be planted on the north side of the house.

Regardless of what needs to get done, my world comes to a halt when it’s community festival weekend. This weekend it was Dorchester Days. As far as summer festivals go, I would venture to guess Dorchester Days is only second to Athens Fair on Nate’s list of favorites. I can’t really rank my favorites, but if I had to pick a top five, Dorchester Days would be in there. This event is also interesting because of the balancing act Nate and I do. Nate traditionally plays in the softball games and likes to go to the tractor pulls. I have to get pictures from different activities for the newspaper. Somewhere in there, Jacob also needs to be supervised. After doing this for the fourth year in a row, I think we’re starting to get the routine down. While Nate played softball, I went with Jacob to get photos at pulls and the carnival. When Nate wanted to watch tractor pulls Jacob was happy to camp out with him so I could get more pictures.

Between events, I did manage to make a little progress at home. A few loads of laundry got done, and I bought a weed trimmer Saturday to combat the areas outside the realm of the lawn mower. Speaking of which, the lawn got a trim Saturday too. Still, there’s no way I would willingly let company into the house right now without some major cleaning and organization. It’s one of the hazards of summer: no free time at home. But I’ll take that hazard and even enjoy it while I can. As long as I’m sitting in the sunshine with my family at a tractor pull, a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade in one hand and a cardboard dish of deep fried cheese curds in the other, the laundry can wait.