Summer is here

Hello Folks ~ here it is late Thurs. morning EST in the USA. I worked outside mowing, trimming, raking and bagging for 1 hr and 45 min. My body started telling me it was time to quit. I was starting to stumble along, always a sign I've done enough, and I was thirsty, hot and tired. 

I checked the weather when I came in and it was 85F with humidity at 65% and real feel 96, real feel in the shade 89. Yesterday morning I worked about 2 hours. It's all I can handle in this kind of weather. I had my pedometer this morning, and that time of gardening only clocked 1471 steps. How on earth do people walk 10,000 steps?? 'They' say that number of steps is what we 'should' be walking. I'm 70, gardening has been my exercise for years and years. I haven't been concerned about how many steps I should be taking, I worked til my body said stop. In my younger years, I could work longer, but not any more. 

This number of steps that 'they' say we 'should' be walking daily is a burden, it makes me feel 'guilty'. Guilty for what? For 'not' doing what 'they' say I 'should' be doing. A verse from the Bible popped into my mind, 

 KJV I Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. 

NIV: "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." 

Hmmmm. Words to ponder for sure. ~ Do what I can, enjoying my time in my gardens and keep my focus on God and what he has done, what He is doing and what He will do.  Sounds like a plan to me.

I've still a pile of trimmings to bag up, and to put curbside, where it is picked up then taken to a facility that turns it all into mulch. I hope to do that later when the sun is not blazing overhead. 

Here are some photos of the little rose 'International Herald Tribune'. Such a pretty rose. First few photos were taken in the morning, the later ones were taken after the sun had crisped the roses. 

 

 

Ok, that's it for now. I'm ready for lunch, then a nap. 

I read a good thought the other morning from Ann Voskamp's book 'The Broken Way',

"To-do lists can become to-love lists". That is certainly a different and better way of looking at things.

Keep cool or warm wherever you are, keep calm and be thankful.

Pray for those going through the nasty weather of tornadoes and flooding, and those going through early sweltering heat.

FlowerLady