it fades

 Well, it's the Labor Day weekend, and there was just now a lot of noise outside. I had no idea of Labor Day warranting a firework display, but we had it. Well, I was ironing and too busy to look out the window. I have no doubt poor Annie was hopeful it wouldn't last very long. 

a different day, watching a bug on the ceiling

My little knitting project is coming along now; I had switched to a larger needle size, but switched back, and now I'm ready to decrease and bind off the bear's body. I can hear the katydids out the window, with the tree frogs singing in the background. It's strange to think there are actually frogs in the trees, since I don't anybody who's ever seen them. But they provide background music at nights in late summer.

It fades - this green, this lavish interval,
This time of flowers and fruits,
Of melon ripe along the orchard wall,
Of sun and sails and wrinkled linen suits;
Time when the world seems rather plus than minus
And pollen tickles the allergic sinus.

- Phyllis McGinley

a bit of charm on the front step

 The warmth has returned, and it feels summery again; today a "severe thunderstorm" threatened. The threat passed, but the rumbles remained for a while, with dark sky hovering in the distance. It rained some, and then strong winds blew in cool, cool air! Perfect.

Way back in May I gave in to temptation and purchased a planter at the supermarket, instead of a hanging plant. It was early in the month, before such flowers are blooming, but I couldn't resist it. There was phlox in it, dianthus, some little flowers and other things I'm unfamiliar with. It did very well, but eventually things were getting cramped and shaggy; I removed the phlox, and put most of the dianthus in my backyard garden, along with some of the tiny flowers. And I added a pretty sweet potato vine to the pot. I had seen one at Debra's years ago and never forgot it. Agway had a variegated type, and it really is pretty. Now, it's curving all around the front steps. 

It has gone down the side, too.

I also have a bright yellow pansy, which still blooms cheerily. I give these a bit of chicken manure fertilizer once a week, and they have responded to it. 

There are also two or three very small pots out there with what used to be seedlings in them - I had started things to put out in my garden, but when the butternut squash started covering the whole place, I gave up the idea. So they stay in their cramped quarters in contentment, I guess, and add to the grouping, and except for the borage, I don't remember what else they might be. Except charming.

in the stillness

 "I pray to God night and day. It is like a passion in me; all my desire is that people should know him, because once they know him, they will never let him go.

And you find him in a very simple way....stillness of body, stillness of heart, stillness of mind, and one thought: Lord, come! And you wait.... Your heart is wide open. And suddenly, when you least expect it, he is there! Now you met, because he met you...  Let us remember that Christ has come, Christ love us, Christ saved us."

                                                               -  Catherine de Hueck Doherty

like the Little Red Hen

 Oh, my goodness, what an August we've been having! So unnaturally cool - it actually did not reach seventy on Tuesday!! August, the hardest month to bear (to my mind), so warm and humid, with nights in the eighties sometimes. Not this year! It's been into the fifties at night! 

I really can't believe it; I actually could not stand to wear my summery clothes another day; I dug out some more in-between things. If this sounds like complaining, I'm really not; it's very comfortable. We did have several humid days last week, but it wasn't hot. 

I am reading Miss Read's first Fairacre novel, Village School. The descriptions of the town, the school and church, the neighborhood and children are all so real, even though things have changed so much. I also cast on a few stitches today, to try and make a little knitted bear - isn't it cute? I have a beige yarn, and we'll see how it goes.

Since I heard the owl last week, they've been on my mind. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the library was having an owl program! Yesterday! Yes, there was a Great Horned there.

a relative of the one I heard last week

The woman said that great horned owls are so fierce, even eagles won't mess with them! 

If they settle in our area, the rabbit population will decrease.

Lately, I've had a desire to bake things for the freezer. I've made einkorn pancakes, Irish soda bread muffins and today, blueberry scones - all in the freezer now. It's very nice to have things like this on hand. In case somebody drops by, or we're still hungry after a meal, or need a snack when we'll be out, etc.. Kind of like the Little Red Hen.

not orphans

 Alleluia, not as orphans

Are we left in sorrow now

Alleluia, he is near us

Faith believes, nor questions how

Though the cloud from sight received him

When the forty days were o'er

Shall our hearts forget his promise

"I am with you evermore"?

- Wm. C. Dix

nature calling

I awoke sometime in the dark, and realized an owl was hooting. An owl isn't unusual, but I can't remember when I last heard one, so I guess they are unusual. I listened for a while, and had to get to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Dianne's husband went down the road in his snazzy car and the owl stopped. 

I wanted to identify the call while I still remembered it. I got my tablet; it was four thirty. It was a great horned. So exciting! Not sure why, since they are common. I guess I am just glad I heard it, and glad I was able to find out what type. It seemed funny to me that Daisy wasn't interested when I was in my window, figuring out where he might be - she paid no attention. 

Speaking of paying no attention, my brother was astonished when he went out to the shed, and the rabbit nearby just ignored him. Well, he said he watched my brother, but never moved. Could it be the word has gotten out among them - we are friendly to rabbits? 

It was a very cool, refreshing night, and perfect day - in the seventies! Later we had at least three brief showers with cloudy spells, where I'd put up the shade, then bright and sunny and warm, where I'd pull it down. Up and down, up and down. I think the back-and-forthing is a precursor to more humidity - well, it is August. And today was very un-August like. That's all right; July was rough.

You can't see it from the house, so we didn't notice right away, but a large branch broke off a tree across the brook and fell halfway across the grassy area back there; my brother won't be able to mow past it until he gets rid of it.

Just snapped off. It probably wasn't like that on Saturday. We had the remains of Hurricane Debby here on Friday night, but it wasn't as bad as it was originally predicted. Still, it was very gusty for the whole day and night. 

Does this mean it was weak? That tree is tall, and I know my brother has mentioned taking it down. I always resist, because it glows so beautifully in autumn. But it could fall on our house, or on one of our neighbors'. Oh, brother. We have had loads of rain this season, not to mention last year. Basically, more rain than normal over the past year. This can loosen the tree roots, and the big winds will topple them. He said he's glad he just got new blades for his chainsaw. 

oh, if only

 "The right old age means strength and beauty and mirth and courage and clear eyes and strong painless limbs."

                                              -  The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald

solutions

 I've been wondering if my butternut squashes out in the garden will rot from laying on the often-wet earth. I went out today and realized there are four squash there!! That plant, which I grew from a seed, by the way, has spread over the whole place out there. It's leaves are shading everything else, so I don't think the red onions are going to do anything. But I do love butternut squash! I think if I just go out and lift up each one every day, they should get enough air all the way around. 

I finished reading The Yearling this morning. Before, when I looked ahead, it was quickly done and I didn't get the peripheral descriptions and details surrounding the - well, I'll call it the tragic event. Reading it carefully gave a context and a "good" ending to the story. I mean, not happy, but right. And it was so well written, everything and everyone lifelike. 

And now, when I see Daisy and observe her liveliness, her antics, I remember Jody's fawn, Flag. These creatures are what they are. They live in our world but they're outside of society, they can't always understand how to operate within it. (well, Dolly could, but we won't go there). Daisy has her fun, she looks for something new to do, she gets into things, she causes problems we have to solve by altering this and that in the house. Anyway, I feel that now I'm looking at her in a different way, and when I'm tempted to get impatient, that fawn in the story comes to mind. Daisy is just happy to be alive, and when she looks into my eyes at length the way she sometimes does, is she wondering why we're buddies some of the time and why I yell, at others? 

our little "yearling" - it's important to be Earnest, and she is

It was a beautiful story. I wonder why she wrote it.

I machine-stitched my blue skirt hem today. I'm not sure I like the way it looks, and I think I'll chop off the whole hem and just have it a little shorter. Since it's practically a maxi, it will still be plenty long, but it won't be catching in my sandal buckles. The never ending skirt.

summer things

 We had a humdinger of a storm yesterday, while having dessert and trying to do the wordle. It wasn't dark and threatening, but very loud and bangy. It was dangerous enough - there was a "severe thunderstorm warning", as they call it. 

And the humidity: it's been a rough summer in that way. A week or so ago, I was recalling how I used to bring Dolly out and we'd sit outside on a quilt for a while - often. I realized I wasn't doing anything of that sort, and determined to start. But - well, frankly, when it's ninety out and very humid, it isn't conducive to any kind of enjoyment. So, I'm in the house, keeping busy. This week is going to be very much cooler but still humid. We'll have to see how that feels.

I wore my blue skirt to work the other day and found that the buckles on my sandals - both feet - were catching on the hand-stitched hem. This skirt is down near my ankles. So I'm going to have to machine-sew it. Most modern store-bought clothing has a machine sewn hem, but it's nice when you make your own things to hand sew it. Not this time, though.

I was unprepared for dinner today, so I whipped together another cassoulet with lots of fresh vegetables and some leftover meat. It worked, even though I'd hardly plan such a meal at this time of year. But of course the air was on all day. We had to eat something. The ingredients I used wouldn't have half so nice if served up separately. 

My beloved bedroom chair is a painted rattan, and the cats - well, mostly Daisy - have been picking at it on the lower legs. She has taken off parts of the wicker that goes around the leg, peeling it off, so to speak. I got some tape of the same dark green color and covered those areas. Now it looks so much better. 

You can see they also pick at the rug. And everything else in the house. 

I have almost finished The Yearling, but I know what happens. I looked ahead the other day - why, I can't say what caused me to. And I was sorry, so sorry that I thought I couldn't finish the book. But after a while I remembered how I'd been liking it, the writing, the well-drawn characters, and I'd known to expect a difficult ending. But I didn't guess how painful it would be. But I decided to keep reading, and I'm just about at the hard point now. That's all I'm going to say.

May the Lord, our God, bless us in all our works and undertakings. Amen.
                                                            -  Deuteronomy 15:10

the ocean and truth

 What are heavy? sea-sand and sorrow:
What are brief? today and tomorrow:
What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth:
What are deep? the ocean and truth.

- What are Heavy?  by Christina Rossetti

their subjection would last forever

 O that my people would heed me,
that Israel* would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes,
turn my hand against their enemies.

The Lord's enemies would cringe at their feet
and their subjection would last forever.

-  from Psalm 81

*Israel here does not refer to the modern state of Israel, but to the Lord's (supposedly) faithful people. Christians, or at least Catholics, take it to mean themselves.

summer day

 It rained, heavily, a while ago. I think it's going to be drier after this - the air, I mean. This week we've had a reprieve from the high heat, but it was more humid that before, so the air conditioning was still in use. What would we do without the weather to complain about? But I won't have to water the plants outside.

The Yearling is so enjoyable and I'm surprised at it. Well, these people had a hard life, so "enjoyable" is not the best word, but the writing just brings you along smoothly and willingly. I've noticed it basically consists of lots of short, almost abrupt sentences, which doesn't sound good, does it? But it doesn't seem to matter, it's just her style and it works well. 

"Jody went around the side of the house and took down the milk-gourd from the wall. He felt as light as the gourd. It seemed to him in his liberation that he might spread his arms and float over the gate like a feather. The dawn was still nebulous. A mocking-bird made a thin metallic sound in the chinaberry. The Dominick rooster crowed uncertainly. This was the hour at which Penny arose, allowing Jody to sleep a little later. The morning was still, with a faint fluttering of breeze through the tops of the tall pine trees. The sunrise reached long fingers into the clearing. As he clicked the lotgate, doves flew from the pines with a whistling of wings."

                                               -  Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

I'm thinking of making a plain summer top, something simple that takes a yard or slightly more of fabric, like the One Yard Minimalist Top on Etsy; I have to look around to see if I've got something here. 

This morning I looked down and Daisy was playing with her reddish ball in the kitchen. Honestly, it did try to get through my subconscious that there isn't a red ball, but not quite - anyway, I picked it up to toss into the living room, but - it was a little tomato! That one in the photo above. Yeah, trying to get things off the counter, but it doesn't always work out. Which reminds me: the last time I cleaned the counter, I put some stuff on the table - she was sleeping somewhere. After a while, I turned and she was sitting on the wooden cutting board! I almost tossed it immediately, but I actually Never use it for cutting, we have something else. So, I sprayed with vinegar, etc., and scrubbed. It's mainly useful for resting a large, hot pan on it. So, it's still with us, but if I ever think it may be used for cutting by anyone, it will go into the trash. 

Yeah, she's cute. She was looking into my eyes earlier, and so earnestly, that you can't be angry for long. She tries to belong, she tries to understand, she tries to be good, I'm sure. But for some reason she can't figure it out. Annie does not look deeply into the eyes, she is a simpler being. But she's also a lovely cat. They're good companions for each other and for us.

I am very slowly going through The Distant Mirror, about the 14th century in Europe. I picked it up today, and was surprised:

"Long before Columbus, they knew the world was a globe, a knowledge proceeding from familiarity with the movement of the stars, which could be made comprehensible only in terms of a spherical earth. It was said by the cleric Gautier de Metz in his Image du Monde, the most widely read encyclopedia of the time, that a man could go around the world as a fly makes the tour of an apple... Visually, people pictured the universe held in God's arms with man at its center. It was understood that the moon was the nearest planet, with no light of its own, that an eclipse was the passage of the moon between the earth and the sun; that rain was moisture drawn by the sun from the earth which condensed into clouds and fell back as rain; that the shorter the time between thunder and lightning, the nearer the source."

                                                     -   Barbara Tuchman

eating, and being eaten

 I mean, my plants being eaten.

It's humid again, but the heat isn't so high. 

Whoever started to eat my parsley finished it off. I pulled up the plants and the bean plants, too. I ordered some garden netting from Amazon.

My mother used to make stuffed peppers, which was very tasty but was in the oven for over an hour. This I want to avoid in the summer. So, I copied something I saw on youtube the other day. I roasted five halved peppers (our own!), and meanwhile, sauteed some onion with seasonings, and then some ground beef. I added in a quinoa/brown rice mix and stuffed the pepper halves. Topped them with shredded Parmesan and back in the over for a short time, and that was dinner. Very nice.

the heartbeat of love

 "To those who respond to the beauty of [the Church's liturgical prayers], saying them is like singing a favorite love song, the repetition of which only adds to its depth, its rhythm becoming like a heartbeat of love itself. Each time the believer says, "Lord, have mercy" with real ardor, it is like one more wave in the ocean of his relationship to Christ, just as in human love each "I love you" is richer in meaning because it includes more moments of misunderstanding which have been overcome by love."

                                                    -   Ronda Chervin

a civilization of death

 Last Sunday at mass, probably during what we call the general intercessions, Fr. T. mentioned the attempt on Donald Trump's life the day before. He wasn't getting political, but he had something to say. 

He spoke of a "civilization of death". He said an assassination attempt was a kind of blasphemy, to try to take the life of another, as if the sacrifice of Christ was not enough - that the death of someone would be necessary to make another person feel better. It was strong language - between his thoughts on this and the peaceful chanting of the visiting priest, it was a lot to digest.

Mother, now that the need is
at its greatest and the powers
of darkness seem to have free
rein, we come to you with
childlike trust and implore
your powerful aid. We
consecrate ourselves to you.
Preserve us in the love of
your Son, protect us from the 
evil of this world and lead us
safe to the heart of God.
Amen.

- from Aid to the Church in Need

big hopes

 Every rabbit we see outside get scrutinized for any sign of scarring on the right side, or fur that looks wonky, looking for our little patient. Today I saw a full-grown rabbit with a bit of fur sticking out on his right side. He was with a little one and I got lots of closeups. 

His fur has different shadings than the little guy, who has a more uniform color. And the big guy has a dark spot on his back. The fur had peeled off the back and we'd put it back in place. It was off completely on an area on the right side. 

His coloring is much more even on the left side. So, is this our friend? Who knows. But we would sure like to know he come through it all right. They can die from fright or stress.

In other news, I had put in the elastic waist on my skirt, but it was too poofy. Lawn is soft and does have a sort of drape, but not much weight. So, I removed the elastic and trimmed a bit off the upper edge, thinking I'd just make a waistband. Until it dawned on me that I'd also have to put in a zipper; I didn't want to do that; I didn't want to unpick a French seam on a lightweight fabric. So I decided to put in a few small pleats to take away some of the fullness. So far, so good. But then I had to cut a piece to make a casing to take the place of the part I'd cut off - anyway, I think it'll be all right now. But I have to try it on.

Huw Richards - love his youtube channel!

I'm reading The Yearling and liking it very much, although I hear it's a tear jerker. The library copy is well worn.

And I am also making my slow way through Esther de Waal's Seeking God: the Way of St. Benedict.

"Your way of acting should be different from the 

world's way: the love of Christ must come before all else. 

You are not to act in anger

or nurse a grudge.

Rid your heart of all deceit.

Never give a hollow greeting of peace

or turn away when someone needs your love."

- from the Rule of St. Benedict

A man who, while remembering God, respects every man,

 by a hidden movement of God's hand himself receives

 help from every man.

A man who protects the injured has God as his helper; 

a man who stretches his hand to aid his brother 

has God's arm to support him.

-  Isaac of Syria

"Continue to keep a warm love for me....I cannot be with you

physically but my heart is always with you. 

Like me make efforts to win friends everywhere....Do not think

you will ever have enough. Be bound to all, whether rich or poor,

in brotherly sympathy. This letter is a document of the heart."

-   St, Anselm of Canterbury, 1093 

in orderly fashion

 Yesterday was the feast of St. Bonaventure. 

[God] created man in orderly fashion, so must he also restore him in orderly fashion.
First, the work of restoration must respect freedom of the will. Christ, therefore,
restored man through his all-efficacious example. 

An example is all-efficacious when it both invites to the summit of virtue 
and shows the way there.

the poor gardener

I just went out the water my little garden - the air is hot. Our Julys are not usually like this. Anyway, I went out there and saw that somebody ate the tops of my two bean plants and much of my curly parsley. The rabbits, I suppose; there are many of them. 

I am a poor gardener, but I'll keep going, because I like the experience of gardening, and learning how to grow things. I hope they don't eat all my plants!

something that stayed with us all day

 We had a visiting missionary priest at Mass yesterday; he was of the Redemptorist order. Polish, but the accent didn't sound like it to me; he had served in Denmark and other places; when they come, it's always to raise money for their poorer locations. After speaking a little while he suddenly began to sing a very simple melody - a chant, really - calling on the Holy Spirit. It was unexpected, beautiful and very moving - everybody felt it. After getting used to the melody we joined in for a while, and then it was done. 

O Wisdom of God, you are the light by which we see:
- shine on the paths we are to walk this day.

-    from Magnificat, July 2024

finishing

 "Something about a robin makes me feel he/she would be very good on committees."

                                                  -  Gladys Taber

I am almost finished with my blue lawn skirt; the elastic is pulled through the channel and the hem is basted and pressed. I'm not sure I like the elastic waist, though. So, I may switch to a waistband - I'll think about it.

I harvested a small cabbage from my garden for dinner today! A customer of my brother's gave us five of the plants and I took one. My garden is a mess, but the one bed where I actually have things planted is growing like crazy! I'm thrilled.

I finished To Kill a Mockingbird with Close Reads - it just so happens it was published on this date in 1960. The conversation on the podcast was enjoyable, and we all agree that every page was beautifully written, and frankly, couldn't be improved upon. Another of the modern American classics, like The Great Gatsby, which I read last summer. I wouldn't read Gatsby again, but this one I would.

surprise climbers

 My brother bought a packet of Italian bean seeds to plant - we liked them so much last year. It wasn't long before he noticed the tendrils and had to put up poles for beans that were supposed to be the bush variety. 

At least they are Italian beans; the packet wasn't entirely mis-labelled. 

finding Alice Waters

 

Of course I've heard of Alice Waters. But I haven't been curious about her cookbooks. And then I saw this one on the sale table at the library. It's got recipes, but also lots of advice on technique and method. Maybe it's just that the cover appeals to me, but I took it, and then out of curiosity looked up her famous restaurant, Chez Panisse. There was something on the Cafe menu: mezzi rigatoni with roasted eggplant, tomato, basil, mint and feta. It was the holiday weekend; my brother is having a vacation of sorts and he always liked pasta. I decided to try and make it. 

No recipe, but it seems a rather basic idea. She gives directions on the roasting of eggplant, so I loaded it up with mint and basil and roasted it. Out of the oven I stirred in some feta, and diced tomato from a can, and put it back in the oven to mix the flavors together a bit more.

We had to have protein; I browned a few chicken drumsticks, then braised them in stock, red wine and the tomato juice from the aforementioned can. I cooked half a pound of the rigatoni, mixed it up with the eggplant, made a basic salad, and - so good! I think I was in a rut when I found that book. Thank you, Alice!

the key to all existence

 "We have the bad habit of thinking that faith is nothing else but believing that God exists. But such faith in no way distinguishes the nonbeliever from the Christian. How many men fully admit a force that surpasses them, without being for that reason Christians? Faith is not the simple intellectual certitude about the existence of God nor even the assurance of the existence of Christ. Faith is that force which comes from on high in an always contemporary Pentecost and opens our mind to God's way of looking at things.

If one truly searches for him, he searches for him as the key to all existence, as the One without whom nothing makes sense."

                                                                     -  Fr. Bernard Bro, from Magnificat, July 2024

July Fourth holiday supplanted by rabbits

 A couple of weeks ago I notice one of the tomato plants on the side of the house was wilting, so I watered it. Meanwhile, my brother came home and said he saw some grass clippings scattered around that plant and he surmised it might be a rabbit's nest, so he was just going to call that plant a loss. There are more rabbits around.

I just was coming up from the basement and heard him call to me, hurry up, but carefully! There's a mother rabbit nursing her baby right out here at the foot of the back steps. Oh, my word, there was.
It was a haphazard affair, I have to say: she was sitting upright and the babe was just sort of hanging underneath, doing its best. It's a wonder that rabbits survive. It looked kind of like this.

She must have seen my brother's movements as he tried to take a photo, and ran off. The baby wandered around the driveway. 

On the same subject, he was mowing yesterday evening and complained afterward that three times a young rabbit suddenly appeared in the grass and ran off - he is very dismayed to think he might run one over some day, as they're impossible to spot. 

everything on the table was blue, so I had to find a red something

Anyway, this subject has almost trumped the fact that it's July 4th, and we had a nice time. I tried to make a red, white and blue dessert.

Raspberry crisp with blueberry coconut "ice cream".

rosy evening clouds

last night - it didn't last long

 

like creatures out of an ancient fairy tale

 "It is a comfortable thought that we have so much wildlife around us. For as houses go up along the country roads more and more, the wild ones tend to fall back into the forest.

 ...a pair of young rabbits playing on the lawn on a dewy morning is a charming sight. They spring so lightly in the air, their long ears quiver, they look like creatures out of an ancient fairy tale."

                                                                   -   Gladys Taber

twinklings

 When I'm not too tired, I go out after dark (a little after nine), and look for the fireflies. This is their time, the peak of firefly season. I stand on the bridge and look to the left; I see flashes of light here, there, near, a way off; I turn right and they are flashing among the tall weeds along the brook's edge. I look up and see some in the tree-top and sometimes they come along the grass near my feet. I wonder why I don't get a chair and just sit there for a length of time? But it's hard to burn the candle at both ends at my age.

Like children we stand and stare, watching the field
that twinkles where gold wisps fare to the end
of dusk, as the sudden sphere, ivory shield
aloft, of moon stands clear of the world's far bend.

- from Fireflies, by Fred Chappell

June projects

 We're in a drier spell right now, except for when there's a thunderstorm, and in hot, humid weather, thunderstorms will occur. What I'm getting at is water in the basement. We have had a couple of instances of it, and it's not from a crack in the foundation but is seeping up from a saturated soil around the house. It wasn't much, but my brother decided to dig a hole outside, let it dry out and then paint it with tar. 

When the tar dries, he can fill up the hole and things should be all right. Here he has plywood over the hole, in anticipation of some rain. Last night there was a storm we didn't expect, and while it was thundering and pouring, he realized the hole was uncovered. The other day he scooped out eighteen gallons of water - it's ongoing. 

So, the ground is saturated, but the brook is sluggish - figure that out! It's been very hot, but considering the wet weather we've had in past months, is it possible the brook can dry up so easily? It has dried up in late summer many times, in a drought, but not in rainy seasons. 

So I put away my green linen dress and am working on a blue lawn skirt. It's a pretty blue - what would I call it? - I don't know, a cool medium/dark shade. I'm usually drawn to prints, and it's strange working with a solid - almost boring, but that's ridiculous.

"When he gave us our air-rifles Atticus wouldn't teach us to shoot. Uncle Jack instructed us in the rudiments thereof; he said Atticus wasn't interested in guns. Atticus said to Jem one day, ' I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

                                       -  To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

feast of St. John the Baptist

 Midsummer Day. We had an early supper: baked salmon, with a topping made of wholegrain mustard, lemon juice and zest, bread crumbs, feta and pepper. Stovetop mac and cheese, and a green salad. A summery meal. After a week of hot and humid days, today was not so hot, and drier. Very welcome. 

Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me;

And suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek,

And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.

Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

-  Malachi 3:1

summer glories

 There's not a plant or flower below,
but makes thy glories known,
And clouds arise, and tempests blow,
by order from thy throne;
While all that borrows life from thee 
is ever in thy care,
And everywhere that we can be,
thou, God, art present there.

-  Isaac Watts

sloshing around

 When you have a garden, you always notice how much more the plants respond to a rainfall, as opposed to the water they get from the hose. After a couple of thunderstorms, I won't have to water for a couple of days, at least.

And I never put on my little wellies without feeling around inside them first - you never know.