back to the pool

After over two years, I have finally got back in our swimming pool.

While undergoing treatment for cancer, my medical team didn’t want me in a pool because my immunity was so low. Besides, I had an ostomy at the time and wasn’t comfortable getting in a pool with it. After the cancer and ostomy were gone, I still had a chemo port for a time — probably not a problem, but the area was sensitive. Now I can get back to swimming (it’s really good, gentle exercise) but my legs are still weak. I wasn’t too sure I could step out of the pool by myself with no handrail.

But this past weekend, Bill and our son-in-law Michael installed a handrail. I spent some time in the pool yesterday evening and it felt wonderful!

The magnolia leaf? It floated past me in the water so I brought it inside to sketch.

pool day

Activity has really picked up at our barn conversion site, after a week of no workers showing up. That combined with the intense humidity leaves little time or energy for sketching but I still find time to swim now and then. I spent the evening in the pool listening to an eclectic mixture of music through my iPhone and this small speaker; our donkey Tater was relaxing on the other side of the fence. She appeared to be listening to the music with me — some songs her ears went up, some songs they went down!

yes, Bill, bumblebees sting!

Large bumblebees love hanging out in the chaste tree near the swimming pool. Bill keeps telling us not to worry, they won’t sting us.

After swimming on Thursday suits and towels were hung out on the clothesline. Friday morning I gathered them in my arms, bringing them inside to fold and put away. I folded my own suit, which has an attached skirt, loosely and just laid it on top of my dresser.

Friday afternoon, I pulled my swimsuit back on to go swimming again. Before I got to the front door, I heard a loud buzzing. Then screamed as I realized it was coming from my suit! Batting at it wildly, I found a bumblebee hiding between the body and skirt of the suit — and she did sting me, though through the fabric so it did not hurt much. She flew across the room as I called Bill in to “TAKE CARE OF THIS BEASTIE!” as the cats were now after her and I didn’t want them hurt.

And he did . . . He went after the angry bee with whatever he had in his hand. His pocketknife! And he dispatched the thing.

I have no doubt he would fight off dragons with the same weapon.

(Both queen and worker bumblebees can sting. Unlike honeybees, their stinger lacks barbs so it is not left in the wound and the bee is not injured; it can in fact sting repeatedly — until a dragon slayer comes after it.)

time to swim again!

Yesterday our son Matt drove out from Pflugerville to help Bill block out the locations for windows, mechanicals, and other details in the barn, while grandson Quen tested the pool. It does not have a heater yet and has been too cold to swim. But recent sunny days have warmed it up — eventually, Mikala, Kristen, and I joined Quen and the water was great! Mikala and Quen had a fierce water battle with the new noodle water shooters, Mikala from her favorite floating donut.

The carpenter and crew begin framing the interior walls of the barn tomorrow. Windows are on order but the company has closed for a few days — we aren’t sure what’s up with that, or what kind of delay it might cause.

new kind of normal workday

The current COVID-19 pandemic has many people staying close to home. This week our son-in-law Michael attended a conference meeting via his laptop computer . . . while sitting beside his swimming pool at the farm. Until it began raining.

Of course, the pool needed a good cleaning (the pool guy showed up the following day) and we saw this nasty intruder in the bottom of the small spa pool.

that forgotten sketch . . . finally

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting by the side of the pool, sketching this scene looking to the east. (That red barn in the distance to the right will someday be our new home.) Though the water was too cold to swim, the sun shone brightly and there wasn’t any wind — it was a lovely afternoon here in Hockley, Texas! But we needed to go somewhere so I put my journal away, planning to return to finish the sketch the following day.

Okay, the next day didn’t happen, nor did the day after that. It finally turned cold and we have had more than the normal amount of errands to be run, with our log cabin going temporarily off-market while we interview new realtors. I moved forward in my journal but left this sketch unfinished. Yesterday I finished it inside, out of the bitter cold wind! The pool is still lovely to look at (at least it is after scooping the leaves out!) but it is just too cold to sit out there this week.

view from the pool

Up until the last couple of weeks, I would swim in the late afternoon, sometimes into evening as the sun was setting behind the tall trees. As the sun disappeared in the west, this is the view I saw from in the water looking towards the south. The setting sun regularly painted the lower sky and clouds in pearlescent shades of pink, coral, and purple.

Then the water became too cold to get in the unheated water. The last two times I was in the pool, this froggy thermometer said it was 75°. That first plunge was quite chilling! I don’t think I’ll swim any more this year . . . unless our son-in-law goes ahead with his plans to add a pool water heater.

Bradley the not-so-brave

Our buddy Bradley, who is actually afraid of the swimming pool, saw leaves in the bottom of the pool . . . and was sure his favorite frog had returned to play. Son-in-law Michael got to drive home a very soggy dog! Bradley is part Great Pyrenees, part golden retriever, and 100% goof-ball.

our new pool-pet

I laughed when our daughter Kristen bought a Roomba to vacuum, though it does actually keep the pet hair at a minimum and doesn’t seem to bother their three cats.

Now they have bought a similar “creature” to clean the pool. Bill nicknamed it Wall-E and it is now our “pool pet”. Actually does a great job . . . we still have to scoop out the magnolia leaves that float on top of the water though. Wall-E’s work is strictly underwater.

Here he is in action, cleaning up the side of the pool — about to get temporarily stuck on those steps.

a little garden clean-up

Early in the morning when we’re at our new property, I work a bit on the very overgrown landscaping around the pool. A very short bit — the heat and humidity have been unusually horrid this summer! I’m using these leather gauntlet gloves I once purchased for trimming roses — there are many sago palms on the property and they have razor-sharp edges!

The once small and blooming lantana has grown to 3 foot long branches that intertwine with each other into a huge knot. After trimming several back last week, I found another prickly pear cactus that they had completely hidden!

This is how neatly the place looked in the springtime, just before we bought the place. Apparently lantana thrives on hot, humid days with very little rainfall or watering!

pool rocks

This is what one of the larger landscaping rocks near the swimming pool looked like a couple of weeks ago. Now we have had a long, dry period of excessive heat and the moss has all disappeared.

another pool day

We are spending a couple of days at the new property while grandson Quen visits us. I spent a bit of time outside beginning my newest purse-size sketchbook, a 4” square Field Artist watercolor journal found online. When I painted in the colors of my new Demi Palette, the sun was still so hot that the paint dried a bit streaky. Then I swam and played a bit with Quen in the pool.

By the time I came back to finish and snap some photos, the tall oaks and pines along the west property line cast everything in shade, making these photos a bit blue.

BTW, my earlier post about the Demi Palette included undersea green and green apatite as my two greens. I’ve tweaked that a bit — Mixing a bit of red into green apatite gives a color similar to undersea green, so I switched the undersea green out for the cooler perylene green. Also, instead of my mini waterbrush, I used a travel dagger brush from Rosemary & Co.

my new normal?

Is it an urban sketch if it’s in the middle of the countryside? I’ve always been confused about that.

This morning, as our realtor showed our cabin to potential buyers, we took the kitties to our new place. (They are being anti-social and choosing to stay in the laundry room mostly). Before our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter arrived for a pool party, I sat at the edge of the pool (with my feet dangling in the water) and drew the pump house and table set — the umbrella is broken but a replacement is on the way.

Later, all of us nibbled snacks and hit the pool. Kristen showed me several techniques she learned in water aerobics — both of us want to use the pool to get in better shape. But mostly we just hung out and enjoyed the peace and quiet and sunshine!

So far, we have seen purple martins, cardinals, wrens, the ever-present mockingbirds, possibly a crested cara cara (Mexican eagle),  hummingbirds, and tons of large butterflies. We are eager to get our bird feeders moved onsite to see just how many birds we can attract. I’ve heard there are plenty of deer and an occasional bobcat in the area.

Not as heavy with live oaks as we have north of Brenham, though there are some. Lots of other types of oaks and the very tall loblolly and yellow pines, plus many trees we haven’t yet identified.