Hello Blendfriends, it's the last Monday of July. We're still in the hottest part of the year, with two short heat waves forecast for the week. So I was up early to enjoy working out in the relative cool. Today I did Erica's barre arms workout done. It felt pretty good, suprising burn from such light weights. I added some leg stretching, because legs and hips are always in need of more stretching.

I need to take a moment to go harvest in my garden plot. I watered it in the evening, but there are generally too many mosquitoes at the end of the day to pick little detail-oriented foods like snap peas and tender green beans. I love this time in the garden, and I learned a new word for it recently. "Aoûter", in French, is just the name of the month August, as a verb. It expresses ripening and maturing after July's big burst of growth. I'm looking forward to the more settled weeks ahead. I did find a thought in that vein: "A late summer garden has a tranquility found no other time of the year.” — William F. Longgood

But I had a thought for everyone who doesn't garden, but can still enjoy the late-summer tranquility all around. For example, here in town very many people are away on vacation -- it's so lovely and quiet! In the picture, I've put another quote for everyone who is on vacation, or maybe no longer on vacation. Maybe we can't always get what we want, but if we don't say it, how will the universe know we want it??

Finally, I'll just mention my project for the day. Now that the new garlic is harvested, I'm going to dehydrate last year's left over garlic. The kind of garlic I grow stores really well: I have a pound left, and only about a third of it has visibly sprouted. I think I'll do some of it minced, and the rest in slices to make garlic powder. This is a new project, so wish me luck!