We have a busy month planned in August.

The downstairs bedroom suite is almost ready for a special guest.

Lots of concerts, projects, and guests.

In August I plan to:

1. Take a road trip.
   

   We’ll be driving almost 6 hours to attend my high school reunion.

2.  Work on rental car, plane, hotel reservations, and travel insurance for Panama Canal cruise.
   

   Looking for good weather, good fun, and unique situations.

3.  Attend a concert or 2.
4.  Work on a house project.
   

   So many projects from which to choose.

5.  Set up old VHS video player.
6. Work on Christmas gifts.
   

   Our theme this year will be Norway, London, Panama Canal.

7.  Plan something fun.
8.  Get rid of 3 boxes of clutter in the garage.
   

   It seems the more I get rid of the more I have.

9.   Pick a word to focus on for the month. My word: WELCOME.
10.   Write a goal list for September, 2026.

Jo

July was hot, hot, hot. I mean in the 100s.

Love this street planter that looks like fireworks — petunias and gaura (the tiny white explosive plant).

I was careful to plan my daily tasks to accommodate the weather — no outside painting and building in the excessive heat and humidity. Still I kept busy.

On the 4th we could see the fireworks reflected in the Choptank River.

In addition to the numbered list below I:

• attended a Business After Hours event with a ribbon cutting sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce at the yacht club.  Great to meet people from the area and to try some of the freshest seafood in the world.
  

  I tried my first raw oyster — a Choptank Sweet — harvested that very day by the man opening and serving it.

• reserved a tour through Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater for a future road trip.
  

  We’ll collect our tickets at the Fallingwater Gate House upon arrival.

• attended a Book Club to discuss Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.  For number of reasons I did not care for the book, likewise most of the other discussion attendees.
  

  Piranesi

• attended Our Country ‘Tis of Thee Concert. 
  

  A wonderful patriotic concert by local singers.

• painted some walls Sandhill Crane to match the kitchen upper cabinets.
  

  I could not stand the two-tone wall and I didn’t want to paint the panel that is finished like the upper kitchen cabinets.

  There is actually no formula for this color so the paint store had to scan a sample piece.  I needed to tweak the scanned color a bit lot to make it match.

  

  The wall is much better now that the two sides are essentially the same color.

  This was an effort to have some cohesiveness to building decisions that could not be avoided.

• donated clothing, purses, picture frames, drinking glasses, other kitchen supplies, and other household items to a local rummage sale.
  

  I like a rummage sale because once I give the items someone else takes over and sells them.

  I probably cleared out 3 or 4 boxes of stuff I didn’t want to throw away yet didn’t want to keep.

• I did a short (about an hour away) road trip to a lavender farm that was in bloom in the middle of July. I purchased small pots of 3 varieties.
  

  Multiple different varieties of lavender were growing.

• finally found some Shakespeare to enjoy:  The Life and Times of Sir John Falstaff, but it was canceled due to the bad air quality from the Canadian forest fires.  “Expectation is the root of all heartache.”-William Shakespeare
• replaced a broken outdoor floodlight with an upgraded replacement.
  

  While moving a tall ladder around this light was irreparably broken.

  

  I replaced it with a new fixture.

• saw the new movie: The Odyssey.  Three hours long — could have happened in two.

Here’s my progress on the July numbered list.

1.  Celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary.  We had a great time at the local yacht club on the Choptank River where we enjoyed a magnificent barbecue buffet.
   

   Too much of everything I like.

   The fireworks were rained out but rescheduled for the next evening.

   

   Worth the wait.

2.   Work on excursions for Panama Canal cruise. I reserved every excursion we wanted.  Especially excited to go to Belize City since the ship has to anchor offshore.  We will incur a 20-minute tender ride to get to shore which will be a new experience for us.
   

   The tender actually it looks a lot like a cross between the ferry in New Orleans and the Cape May Ferry and the whaling boat in Canada.

3.   Pay real estate taxes. Paid!
   

   Ours for another year.

4.   Sort through cassette tapes and music CDs. This was a boring, unrewarding project.
   

   I tried to tame this mess.

   

   Now there is control. (This is Charlie’s pile.)

   Some of the better discards went to the above mentioned rummage sale.

5.   Work on a paint project.  I painted the piano wall with Saffron Thread orange by Sherwin WIlliams.
   

   A little splash of color in the entry hall with a Baltimore Oriole theme.

6.   Work on window treatments in kitchen.  I decided reuse the kitchen valance from our former house until I come up with something better.
   

   With Charlie’s help I almost finished the kitchen curtain when I sliced my finger with the scissors — the curtain will have to wait.

7.  Clear the top of the bedroom dresser.  Now I want to paint it but maybe next year.
   

   This tall dresser belonged to my grandmother and it is still sturdy.

8.  Plan something fun.  We went to nearby Hoopers Island at low tide to collect sea glass. Apparently this area used to be an actual garbage dump so anything might turn up.
   

   We found shells and sea glass as well as a wading Great Egret.

9.   Pick a word to focus on for the month. My word:  ADAPTABILITY.
10.   Write a goal list for August, 2026.

Jo

Half of 2026 is DONE so I’m going to focus on finishing out the year really STRONG.

The house when we moved in.

Now the house is fully stained.

We’ll also be starting our third year in this house.  We’ve certainly put our stamp on it.

The primary bathroom needs a total makeover.

I originally decided to work on the house for our first 5 years in residence then enjoy living here.  I know issues will crop up but the liveability of the house will hopefully have been addressed.  The next big project will be the primary bedroom’s ensuite bathroom.

The entrance hall is narrow and 2 stories tall.

In addition we’ll continue to paint the interior.  The challenge of the unpainted walls is that they’re 2 stories tall.  Much of the painting we originally did was before the furniture was moved in.

In July I plan to:

1.  Celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary.
   

   We usually don’t visit a fireworks display but we’ll make an exception this year the 250th anniversary of our independence.

2.   Work on excursions for Panama Canal cruise.
   

   We’re hoping to take a jungle overhead tram in the jungle of Panama.

3.   Pay real estate taxes.
4.   Sort through cassette tapes and music CDs.
   

   One of 3 boxes full of music CDs and tapes.

5.   Work on a paint project.
   

   Maybe I’ll start easy and paint the piano wall.

6.   Work on window treatments in kitchen.  Perhaps I’ll reuse something from our other house if I can find them.
   

   I always liked this valance and the colors are right.

7.  Clear the top of the bedroom dresser.
   

   How does it accumulate?

8.  Plan something fun.
9.   Pick a word to focus on for the month. My word:  ADAPTABILITY.
10.   Write a goal list for August, 2026.

Jo

June has been a beautiful month weatherwise so I started attending weekly sailboat races.

These dingheys are rigged before being put in the water.

In addition to the numbered list below I:

• built a greenhouse for the yard.
  

  A nice little building which will have multiple uses.

  

  Just before it was fully finished a windy storm blew through and knocked it down. Now I have to start over.

• started walking on a regular basis.  Working up to a 10K in November. Forcing Dash to walk with me.
• joined the local Center for the Arts at the request of an acquaintance.  Charlie and I attended an exhibit opening.
  

  Some very unique local art was on display.

• heard the U.S. Navy Sea Chanters in an inspiring outdoor concert.
  

  Sound check.

  

  Performance

• joined in a Book Club discussion on Theo of Golden, a book I enjoyed and read very quickly.
  

  Theo of Golden

• visited the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park and Visitor Center in Church Creek, Maryland — very welcoming and beautifully presented in this month when we celebrate Juneteenth.
  

  Tubman reaches out to save people in the water.

• renewed my driver’s license in person at the Motor Vehicles Administration because I needed an eye test which I passed.  Good for another 9 years.

In June I tried to seriously participate in local establishments and non-profits.  To that end here’s how my numbered list from the beginning of the month fared.

1.  Learn more about Maryland’s natural resources and the protection and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay.
   

   Phytoplankton and tiny bits of algae suspended in water is nourishment for oysters, voracious filter feeders that help clean the Chesapeake Bay.

   I took a 90-minute tour of Horn Point Lab where the faculty, staff, and students engage in research on the biology, chemistry, physics, and ecology of organisms and ecosystems from the wetlands and estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay to the continental shelf and the world’s oceans.

   

   As one of the largest oyster hatcheries on the East Coast, the Horn Point Oyster Hatchery produces a variety of oyster larvae for use in oyster research, oyster restoration, and educational projects

2.  Take Dashie to the vet for annual shots and check-up. I have started using a vet van that comes to Tractor Supply once a month for shots, nail clippings, and diagnostics.
   

   A vet tech 10 times Dashie’s weight holds him securely while his blood is drawn.

   Dashie was a real pro: barking at big dogs who were misbehaving and cooperating with the vet techs.

3.  Pay for property insurance which includes a separate policy for flood insurance.
   

   This high tide. Hoping never to experience an actual flood.

   Glad that’s taken care of for another year.

4.  Wash the kitchen windows inside and out.  I washed the screens and windows in the newly remodeled kitchen.
   

   We have many unusual windows that connect us to outside.

5.  Rearrange items in garage including organizing tools.
   

   After a few projects the tools end up in cardboard boxes.

   

   The tools are back in the tool area in the garage.

6.  Try to remove house stain that has marked the back deck.  I tried multiple formulas and techniques and was only semi-successful.
   

   Before

   

   Improved but not much.

7.  Plan something fun.  I went to a Flower Show: Celebrating Maryland’s Eastern Shore by showcasing local horticulture.
   

   I just threw away an Old Bay tin — if I only knew.

8.   Visit some local event or museum.  I visited Richardson’s Maritime Museum in Cambridge, Maryland.  I got the full tour of boat building projects and the beautiful scale models in the museum.
   

   A vintage wooden boat being rehabbed by hand by experts.

9.   Pick a word to focus on for the month. My word: PARTICIPATE.
10.   Write a goal list for July, 2026.

Jo