Summer Scenes

The Solstice came and went quietly, as we have started to feel better again. We are still moving gently, taking it easy, finding that elusive leisure that so many people talk about when it comes to Summer.  I have had, now, many hours of just sitting and watching the world from the front porch.  I've read so many books, generally back-to-the-land favorites of mine.  They are always my Summer reading, to revisit places that find themselves cut off from the world, ordering food in bulk, and buried in snow drifts.  My favorite titles are: A Place in the Woods by Helen Hoover, We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich, and One Man's Wilderness by Dick Proenneke.  Obviously, I love a good snowstorm.




As we've gone two steps forward and one step back for weeks now, I've been trying to find the good in all of it, my own developmental leaps after illness.  I've had all the emotions, really, and it has been humbling to experience something so full of unpleasant surprises and frequent setbacks.  My recovery is going to continue a bit longer, it seems, which has been really hard for my usual high energy self.

But good things--they are there!  This spider web was such a delight yesterday morning.  There are wonders at every turn, if we are looking for them, and I am trying my best.  The raspberries are at their height, there are peas to pick (I must tell Roan), and I think we will have our first very simple nature school today--our first in over a month!  We'll simple go to see the Snail Place and take in the big view.  It will do us all good.
 


It is my usual routine to scour the roadsides for butterfly weed this time of year.  I like to have a big vase of it for my birthday, or thereabouts.  It's one week away!  We have been able to take some short drives into the country to collect butterfly weed and elderflowers and it was so nice.  We've got some gentle, easy plans for a simple Midsummer meal with a couple friends tomorrow (they're bringing the food!), and I hope it works out.