Each day in my garden journal, I record the times of sunrise and sunset, and I calculate the length of the day. Today the sun rose at six o’clock and will set fourteen hours and forty-two minutes later, at 8:42 in the evening. These long days were the days I dreamed of in January, when … Continue reading Slow down, summer
Rain lands heavy outside with the sound of a forest waterfall. Rainwater streams from gutters. Drops stipple the surface of our neighbor’s pool and rattle oak leaves with a patter like rain on a nylon tent. Our windows are open again after several days with the house sealed up and the air conditioning on. On … Continue reading Deck season
I remember dark blue dinner plates with with white seagulls on them. We used those plates when when I was very small, younger than five. The color was the deep blue of almost-night, somewhere between navy and navy with a hint of green. The ceramic wasn’t shiny like most dinnerware I see now. It was … Continue reading Seagulls
The garden is is peak bloom right now. Pollinators buzz busily, and the bigger butterflies are starting to find their way to the flowers I planted for them. These are mostly just the close-ups. I published more photos on Andrea’s Gardening Blog if you like photographs of gardens and flowers. Continue reading Photos from the butterfly garden
A violent storm thundered through yesterday evening while I sizzled sausages for spaghetti. Oaks whipped leaf-laden branches, and the wind slammed rain sideways into the porch. My new phlox got a deep watering-in. A cold front chased the storm and settled in after it was gone. In the dark night after the rain stopped, I … Continue reading A wind blew through
This morning was a lovely one: breezy with sun and fresh Appalachian air, cool enough to pull weeds and plant annuals without breaking a sweat. Leaves rustled, bees buzzed happily from flower to flower. When I watered in the new bright yellow zinnias, scraping dirt from beneath my fingernails while I held the hose and … Continue reading Reading under a tree
Butterfly Mind 