It's hard to believe it's time for a July roundup already, because it just seems like it was right before the 4th and I was wondering how bad COVID cases would get in the state following long weekend celebrations people were sure to have. And celebrate they did. South Carolina began to see 2000+ new positive COVID cases per day, and deaths continue to trend upwards.
But since COVID is soaking every area of all of our lives, and it seems inescapable lets discuss the less depressing parts instead. We can all read the news elsewhere. So. Food! It's the season of all of my favorite summer fruits, including peaches, watermelon, cherries, and figs. The fridge has been packed with more fruit than I can eat at once, and I am trying to freeze what I can of the peaches and figs. Too bad watermelon can't be frozen and thawed out in January.
Recipes
In fact, I went down a fig rabbit hole and made three fig recipes to share for Fig Week here, including:
and I rounded up ways to use figs from other bloggers
Other non-figgy recipes include:
House Updates
The big news for July is that our backyard patio, retaining wall, and drainage project is complete!!
This is just a sneak peek for now, with a full post upcoming soon, when we get our furniture in. I did check in on our midyear house goals and not to go back to pandemic talk but uh, yeah, it's been helpful for getting more done around here faster than I ever imagined. It's nice to cool off in the inflatable hot tub (that we turned the heat off for the summer!).
I've been fixing up the rest of the yard surrounding the patio, including growing things and removing old junk. We're growing fresh new grass to keep the backyard grading from eroding when it rains, and I've gotten really into landscaping the backyard into a total oasis. This one bed behind the garage was my July focus — an easy area that I could use to prove to myself that I can really do this if I put some sweat and research into it instead of trying to rush and procrastinate at the same time.
I also lightly refreshed the half bathroom with a new coat of very light pink paint and a new vanity light fixture, plus switching up some of the art and plants to make it more cohesive and less of a mishmash of things. This was my first time replacing a light fixture by myself and wow, it's actually easy! Next up, but I might call in help on this — I want to make the light dimmable because it's very bright. But we'll see what happens in August. A fresh new month awaits.
