There's No Place Like Home (Part 1)

I never was much of a summer girl.

In theory, summer is lovely, of course...cookouts and lazy days and all the rest. Growing up in Florida, however, where summer was 8 months of the year, kind of killed (okay, brutally slaughtered) any love I ever could have harbored for this wretched season. The most I liked about it was the violent thunderstorms which would cloud up the blazing sky, and the cacophony of talkative crickets, tree frogs, and cicadas which emerged after the storms passed.

My too-brief stint in Indiana revived my love of this season...it was much easier for me to love summer when it only lasted four months, maximum, and was followed by a beautiful and distinct autumn. And then, too, summers in Indiana had...summery things, like fireflies and lazy hazy evenings and, of course, those lovely summer storms.

But now, here in the desert, summer is worse than ever. Usually well over 100 degrees, with no relief from the advent of thunderstorms. Indeed, it wouldn't be the desert otherwise! I don't do well with the heat...at all...and will, from June until the end of September (at least) closet myself in a darkened house with the air set at a reasonable 79 degrees. Since the condo becomes my haven during these brutal months, I think it only sensible to make it as lovely, welcoming, orderly, and comfortable as possible, and in the days before I must return to work, I'm concentrating on making this happen. Himself pitched in, too, and here's the first set of pictures of our hard work:

Austen surveys the domain.

Okay, so Himself was the one that did all this work. Outside, at noon. In triple digits.
But I helped pick out the plants and flowers!

I also picked out and settled the little IU garden gnome peeking out from the corner, by the rock.

He's not too thrilled to be in the desert, either!


I also picked out this succulent...representative of my (relative) adaptation to the desert.
For now.

Entrance to the condo; pictures to come!