FIRMLY PLANTED â—½ ENCOURAGEMENT
This past Texas summer was milder than many (which translates to only a few days over 100!), but it was still hot and humid most of the time. Currently, October is hotter than normal. Any sane person would welcome fall right about now. But I’m somewhat conflicted.
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Part of me anticipates cooler weather that energizes and motivates me to do more in the garden. Bigger projects, such as a small seating area in the back left corner, have been on hold for cooler “working weather”. Jeans, flannels, and boots; the first fire in the woodstove; soups, firepit gatherings, walks in the crisp air—these are my favorite things about Fall, not to mention that for a few months between intense heat and intermittent freezes, plants are happy. It’s a good time to plant certain things, and fall blooms are prolific. All this and more are what I love about fall. And yet…I’m reluctantly saying good-bye to summer.
Summer used to be intolerable for me until I got a stock tank pool, aka Cowboy Pool (it’s Texas, y’all). The summer of 2020, on my birthday, my friend John installed it for me. (I wrote an article about it right after, FYI). This one thing changed my previously dreadful summer experience. In fact, the hotter it gets, the more I enjoy the pool. The water is easier to keep comfortable because night time temperatures are so warm. It feels absolutely wonderful—and I’m aware there are very few days left to enjoy it.
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What else do I love about summer? Not much.
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As I write this, sorting it out in my head, I’m a little surprised to realize it’s all about the pool. Is it really that important to me? I could write quite a lot about it, enough to bore you completely, I’m sure. I could detail my “pool chores”, how I manage the leaves, how my friend Mike gave me some of his homemade colloidal silver to use instead of chlorine (who knew? and yes, it works), my heater challenges and remedies…but I won’t; instead, I will tell you why I love it so much, why it gives me joy.
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In the summer, I get in the pool around 9 am with my coffee, books, and music. The birds come to eat around that time, descending out of nowhere to the feeders. I am quiet and still in the water, watching them fuss and fly to and fro. The sun hits the leaves just right and they shimmer like diamonds. The fountains gurgle and the chimes sing glorious praise. The water that holds me is indescribable…a miraculous substance that only God could conceive and use so spectacularly in so many ways. I’m captivated by the wonder around me. Though I don’t do it as often, nights in the pool reveal different astonishments, but we’ll leave it at that for now.
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Pool time for me is often worship time, praying time, reading time. Other times I watch a movie or listen to a podcast. An hour or two in the pool cools me off for hours, especially if I put my clothes on over my damp bathing suit, which I often do. I then go about my business, refreshed and renewed, able to putter in the garden longer. Long summer days mean I can get in the pool twice if I have the time. The water, the peace, the resplendence of nature, the most perfect opportunity to be still and know He is God. This is what I reluctantly leave behind when I say good-bye to summer.