Staying Cool Fun at Nana's

Staying cool at Nana's incorporates several strategies. These are especially important since Nana is most of the time overheated anyway, regardless of record shattering temps.

Play and rock inside the cool living room. Ceiling fan on, AC on, shades at half mast to keep out the morning sun. Check.

Play and help your younger cousin go for a ride on the tricycle. Outside time in the morning, lots of shade under the patio for the driving loop, plenty of liquid to drink. Check.

Play in the patio shade with waterproof toy foods and dishes. Water the plants, splash the water, make up some tasty foods, put up tent for more shade. Check.

Play and have fun. Driving, cooking, splashing, swinging, pushing . . .

Always revert to water table to get wet. Check.

Sunflowers as Privacy Wall

This is the year of the sunflower.

As in, since we had a beautiful border collie living in our backyard for three months, our garden has been totally rearranged and we have seeds of all sorts in brand new spaces, including but not limited to a crop of sunflowers you would not believe. Nor would you normally plant them where they are - eclipsing strawberries, tea roses, and assorted other plants residing in the kitchen garden.

But such is the exciting life in the garden when a four-legged furry canine youth conquers the great backyard.

At the beginning of spring, I mercilessly ripped sunflower seedlings from the strawberry patch/triangle herb garden. After days of this, I started wondering,

"What if I let them grow and they formed a privacy wall?"

Our backyard and sliding glass door in the family room peers directly into the backyard of the neighbor. I've had several great ideas for shielding and making a wall, all for the purpose of privacy, art, and garden decor. But nothing has come of those fabulous thoughts.

Sunflower wall blocking patio window and providing shade

Until the dog helped things along.

Now, in spite of losing several roof-height plants due to windstorms, we have a lovely, flower-ful bee-nectar-supplying private, natural, shade-providing wall. Finches and sparrows love it. Multiple varieties of bees work tirelessly from sun-up to sun-down, buzzing from flower to flower.

Sunflower wall from the inside, looking out

Shade wasn't a part of the original equation, but wow, what a perfect way to keep the sun at bay on hot summer afternoons!

Thanks, Magi, for the sowing of the seeds.

It's a...Shade Tracker?

Feelin' it...summer time hot. Not the bad hot where a person could melt from lack of shade. But close enough (especially if you are in the late 40's and hitting a certain life stage...).

So I just put on one of my super special sleeveless tank tops, and voila, I am the Shade Tracker. Super due to excellent colors and comfort. Special because they are cool and sleeveless.

Wearing a colorful tank, I survive the sun. My path around the house follows the travels of the sun.

Par example: Early morning, east facing window shades are all closed or open slightly for light. The west facing windows are wide open. If there is a cool breeze, the windows are open for fresh air. Otherwise, everything is shut up tight to lock out the heat, keep in the cool. The zip lock of cool. Keeps things fresh.

The routine flip flops in the afternoon. As the thermometer shows more red, the pavement heats up, and unwatered plants start wilting, I open blinds on the east side of the house and then close the western blinds. Ceiling fans begin spinning and the ice tea is poured.

My favorite invention to deal with the sun rays is what I've created for the back patio. This area gets blasted with the late afternoon heat and sun, which is much worse than the morning sunshine. Three bamboo gardening poles, six metal rings, six large hooks, rubber bands, four light colored curtains, and four lengths of canvas tape are my materials.

Bamboo poles slide through the rings, which hang on the hooks. Curtains attach by way of fabric loops. Rubber bands figure eight over the hooks, rings, and poles for stability.



In the shade, outdoor room dividers are neatly tied open. But once Mr. Sun heads over the top of the house, off come the ties, and shade providing curtains are spread out to block the worst of the heat from my now shady patio.

That's what I'm talking about. The Shade Tracker foils the sun. Again.