Is is possible that summer is almost over? I will remember this summer as the summer of The Move and the hottest summer I’ve known in Arkansas. And I’ll remember how much I loved seeing the daisies begin blooming in my garden every June. Early in the month, they would start opening up, like little bursts of sunshine, along the back fence. I planted the Shasta Daisies from an inexpensive packet of seeds. I usually don’t have great success with seeds, but these sprouted right up and bloomed for several months that first summer. The next year there were even more daisies. After a few years, I started thinning the daisies out and giving them to friends to plant in their own gardens.

This particular daisy was one of the first that bloomed this summer. Little did I know when I took this picture in early June that a month later my house would be sold! I put it up for sale at the end of June, thinking that it might sell by next spring with the housing market being so slow. Much to my surprise, the house sold in a week! At first I was excited that it sold so fast, but then reality set in…I have a month to find a new place to live and move! Yikes!

The first two weeks of apartment-hunting were pretty discouraging. Nothing that I liked was available when I needed it. Rent was higher than I thought it would be. An apartment community I was interested in had an apartment available, but it was too small. Things were not looking good.

Then, the third week of my search, an apartment I could realistically fit into suddenly opened up at a place I really liked. My house was inspected and I didn’t have to repair or replace anything. Things were looking up!  The move was still pretty crazy, though. I didn’t realize how much “stuff” I had collected while living in my little house. I donated a lot of things to Goodwill. It felt good to do some “downsizing.” There’s nothing like a Move to make you want to get rid of things–especially when you’re moving in 105 degree heat! You certainly don’t want to be lugging things around that you don’t need or use.

I’m pretty settled in my apartment now, and I’m enjoying this new place that will be my home for the next year or two. Friends ask me if I miss the house. I don’t really…it wasn’t my “dream” house. It was a nice little home that I enjoyed living in for the time I was there. But it felt like the right time to sell and move. And I certainly don’t miss mowing the lawn 🙂 But I do miss the flowers sometimes. I had flowers that bloomed from early spring to late fall…it was always a delight to watch them bloom each season.

And the daisies were one of my favorites.