summer’s end

Things have begun to change quickly around here, but the heat waves and ever-rising temperatures have remained the one true, dependable constant throughout this short, short summer. As August draws to a close already, Houstonians have given up their complaints of being hot and have just complied with this inevitable sweaty lifestyle. Photographs of 100+ degree temperatures still manage to pop up on INstagram, and I guess I’m just biding the time until I start hearing wishful pleas for autumn weather again. The cycle is the the same every year. Around this time, I tend to just hole myself up in the house and catch up on my TV shows before things start to move at a quicker pace. And even though I’ll admit to being one of those pesky Houstonians who whine about the temperature every year, there is one thing that I do love about summer. I don’t know what it is, but summer sunsets are the most beautiful during this time of year, and during the gloaming hours, the sunset creates these amazing skies of lilac and orange hues. The backyard has been teeming with all sorts of plants and creatures, alike. The sugar cane is growing at a towering rate, surpassing the fence and there are little guavas finally blooming. The orange and lemon trees have grown so dense that it’s become a protective haven for the little kittens who live in between the fences under the trees. The neighbor’s firecracker bush has been overflowing into our yard and has created this sweet canopy of bright reds. The stray cat and her two kittens have been thoroughly enjoying the summer, playing in the backyard grass and unfortunately, terrorizing all the pepper bushes at the same time.

It’s been so difficult to get myself out of summer mode and back into work mode the past month. Staying up late and sleeping in these past two months have not been good for me and I find it so painful to get myself into a good morning routine lately. The past two weeks, I’ve been spending more time in my classroom organizing and prepping for the oncoming school year. It’s been awesome having the room to myself for a whole week. I was able to clean and organize the cabinets and rearrange my desk area and work out a good room layout so that both myself and the students would really enjoy working in the classroom this year. Little things have made a big difference, like new posters and decorations to brighten up the space. I was able to re-use old party decorations from the baby shower to add more color to the room. (In any case, I always find it so hard to part with decor that I hand make). And even though I’m on a teacher’s budget, I like to splurge a bit here and there on good office supplies. Target has been carrying some great office supplies, like these Rifle Paper Co. notebooks and the Mara-Mi hammer and screwdriver has a great design that won’t intimidate me as much. And I like to keep a jar of these Banderole pencils around. They’re a bit expensive as far as pencils go, but they last me an entire year and create awesome light and dark tones when drawing.