Attitude Adjustment

I haven't been sleeping well. I know what the problem is. Each day I push on "time sensitive" projects long into the evening, and don't give myself any wind-down time before bed. I wake around 2:30 or 3:30 a.m. for a potty stop. (I drink too much . . . water, fortunately.) Then when I get back into bed, I cannot fall asleep again. Because I'm a "morning" person and do my best work, mental or physical, during the first half of the day, sleeping-in always guarantees a bad day for me. After being awake for a good share of the night (well, it feels that way), dragging myself out of bed at a decent time these mornings, does not make for a happy, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Mama Pea.

So 'bout half an hour ago, I knew I had to make an attitude adjustment. "Get thyself out into thy garden," a voice in my head said. Ah, such a wise voice. It worked.

This is the clematis that won't die. Roy's very fond of clematis so for Father's Day two years ago, I bought this one for him. Dummy me. It was very much overgrown and terribly root bound in its little pot and wound a million times around a small, inadequate trellis. (Have I mentioned I don't know a lot about flowers?) But I did the best I could planting it along the seven foot high deer fence that separates our yard/garden from the woods beyond. Sad to say, the Chief in Charge of Weed Whipping (we will not name names here . . . but I'm sure glad it wasn't me) accidentally cut it down two years in a row. When it happened this spring, I was sure that was the end of this poor clematis.

Who says plants don't have feelings and know what's going on? After being whacked off at ground level, it sent out one spindly stem that headed straight up the fence, hit the top and tried to run for the safety of the woods beyond. All the bloom is on the other side of the fence where it's hoping it will be safe from the dreaded weed whip.

My double row of sunflowers has finally headed out. Who can't feel good when you look at these smiling faces? They probably won't mature enough for us to gather seeds from them but we're enjoying the sunny display they're giving every day now.

I'm so pleased with the way my morning glory trellis grew. Remember I said I had started seeds inside, much too early this spring, and couldn't transplant them? So I started over from scratch with seeds in the dirt around the trellis and, viola, scads of beautiful purple morning glories on lush vines. The ugly brownish pipe you see to the right of the trellis is the tower for our solar panels. We keep saying we have to paint it a natural green color. That would help a lot. Plus, I could plant a vining perennial to help camouflage it at least part of the year.

When on my attitude adjustment walk, I also started a list of changes to make so my days aren't so overly stuffed full of must-do tasks next summer. More hammock time (I've been in it once this year) really sounds like a good modification. I've even heard of some people who actually get in some quilting time in the summer months. Wow. What a goal to work toward. I think I'll sleep better tonight.