The Great Outdoors

Hello, Viewers!

It is finally here – the much-awaited, all-too-short, glorious, wondrous sliver of time of the year when it is neither too cold, nor – just as important! – too hot, to take one’s meals out of doors.

Coming from a country where summers are brief and often wet and chilly, I grew up among people who would venture out on picnics as soon as the actual frost was off the ground; and a drizzle was considered a mere inconvenience. The need to sit outdoors and absorb the sunlight was so pressing after all those months of overcast darkness that we would obsessively insist on having our coffee on the porch at the slightest provocation, even if it meant shivering with cold. “Isn’t this lovely!” we would exclaim to each other, teeth chattering so badly we could barely make ourselves understood.

Here in America I have become spoiled and now insist that the temperature must officially reach 65° before al fresco meals can take place. In this country the humid summer heat is the problem – it is easy enough to arrange yourself with blankets and mittens and hot drinks in thermoses, but what do you do in a sweltering 98°, with 90% humidity (or is that unladylike sweat?) in rivulets down your face? Sadly, you stay indoors, on a stool in front of the air conditioner.

But yesterday was my Official Inauguration of the Season and I was in heaven, spending hours and hours with tea, champagne and ice cream on my little lopsided balcony.

Part of the view from my balcony

Because of it being the Sabbath day I was not able to take any photographs, so even though today’s weather is a sad travesty of yesterday’s, I will recreate the look here for the benefit of my readership...

Well, that is to say, I meant to do so, but the wind is so ludicrously strong that it is impossible to create anything except havoc. However, I shall not be vanquished – I shall return. Don’t go away!

In the meantime, let me just whet your appetite with a couple of pictures that are actually wind-proof:

This is the basis for many of my outdoor arrangements: the metal structure of my Sukkah (will explain more about that when the fall comes, but it is used yearly for the celebration of the Feast of Booths), which I leave up/out year round. It is about 7 feet tall, and as you can see, I have attached a number of S-hooks, on which I hang curtains, lanterns, and anything else that catches my fancy. Very useful!

I love my outdoor rug! I found it last year on amazon.com for a pretty reasonable price, and it improved my quality of life with many instant degrees! It is also reversible, so you can have pink curlicues against an off-white background, if you want. (Here you can also see the bottom of the Sukkah structure, about 6 x 9.5 feet.)

Finally, another view of what can be seen in front of my house (no, the one you glimpse here belongs to a neighbor.)

See you again, as soon as the weather permits!

Regards from Rosebud!