How is it early July already? I am not liking how quickly time can pass, especially with the chitlins growing so quickly.
But first grade is finished (again, already?!) and we got away to the Finger Lakes last month (see the bottom four pictures). The water at the lake was high and things were mossy and damp and in the 70s the whole week. We got out on the boats twice a day, Willa learned how to fish and we enjoyed the pace of life on the water. There is so much I miss about New York and I loved our time in our rustic cabin. Last week, we also got to Lynchburg for playtime at Amazement Square and a very quick visit to Anne Spencer's garden (third photo from top). I haven't been back there for four years, so it was good to walk her paths and take a little time in her green and serene space.
So, while it has been busy, it has been fun. I have the next month and a half to slow things down a bit and create more of a summer rhythm at home. More painting, coloring, friendship bracelet weaving, popsicle making, baking, working on our summer reading challenges, visiting favorite swimming spots.
I am stepping back from the garden until fall and just watching and enjoying what is happening - with some weeding on cool mornings. Right now, our gardens are in that zone of summer heat colors - daylilies, cleomes, hydrangeas, zinnias, summer phlox and cosmos (top two photos). I am realizing that we need more foliage, more evergreens and more border plants. But that can wait until the autumn.
Other things:
I am so excited about Sally Mann's biography, Hold Still coming out and I think I am 'only' #35 on the hold queue at the library. I am finishing up the companion book to Kate Atkinson's Life After Life - A God in Ruins and can tell you it is just as incredible as Life After Life. Also, The Girl You Left Behind was fantastic.
These popsicles.
Margaret Roach's post on July in the garden. Take heart! Also, Margaret's clafoutis was a hit at our family's Fourth of July party.
Becky's pickle subscription. {Watermelon rind pickles that are the stuff of dreams.}
My piece on The Kitchen Garden for R-Home Magazine.
2 comments:
Just the other night, Edie was despairing that summer was 'almost over'. Not quite, but it is flying by!
Thanks for the pickled watermelon rind shout-out. Over the fourth, someone brought a watermelon to the party - Edie was beside herself that I didn't pack up all the leftover rinds and bring them home to pickle(I was not dragging them home from the other side of the state). I told her the next watermelon we got, I would pickle, as she's down to her last jar on the shelves. That seemed to appease her. We came home to discover a baby watermelon from one of the volunteer plants in the garden, so we agreed, that shall be the one we pickle.
I cannot wait to get my hands on the new Kate Atkinson.
Sounds like the living is easy. My memories -- I used to spend time at my uncle's cottage in the Finger Lakes (Owasco Lake) when growing up.
Ray
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