July on the Front Porch

As June began to wane, my friend T (known in my world as daytime T, because we work together) gifted me with a charming homemade wreath for my door.  She made it herself and it is perfectly lovely.  I came straight home and hung it on the door.

With July on the front door, it seemed fitting to change out the tablecloth on my cast iron table.  This navy blue gingham cloth was a real find.
  

My outdoor plant and flower collection has grown since June, a summer development that seems to happen each year.

The impatiens in the polka dot pot by my rocking chair have filled out nicely.

This porch is my summer haven, the place where I start each day with a book and a cup of coffee in the early morning.  Most summer evenings, I sit out here to read and watch the last of the sunlight fade.  On busy days during the school year, when unscheduled time seems a distant memory, I open up my photo collection and these pictures feed my soul.  

That’s happy!

Summer Salad

Summer days demand quick, light, delicious suppers.  I like a salad for the summer and there is no end of creative recipes to meet that requirement.  Try these, for example.  The Cup of Jo-organized collection inspired me to make my version of a couscous and spinach salad.    It was easy and delicious, my primary requirements for a summer salad.  This bowl started with a bed of fresh spinach and Italian parsley, still-warm couscous, feta, summer tomatoes, a splash of oil and vinegar, and salt and pepper.

Fresh and delicious; like summer in a bowl.

July 1: In the Backyard Neighborhood

We’ve settled in to the fullness of summer and the backyard corner is in full bloom.

The clematis is past prime but the hostas are preparing to bloom and the peach tree is fully leafed out.  This year’s small peach crop was gobbled up by the local wildlife.  I’ve learned to be sanguine about such developments.  After all, I can't stop them without being cruel and we all must share in nature’s abundance.

We’ve had patches of dry weather in the last six weeks and are in danger of a localized drought.  I run the sprinkler on my vegetable garden but typically leave the rest of the garden and yard to fend for itself.  We had an inch of rain earlier this week; more is forecast for this afternoon and I hope that will help to ease the dry lawn.  

Whether it’s via rain or my sprinkler, I expect July will bring even more growth to the garden and the backyard, a lovely development to behold. 

June Book Report: Two! by E.M. Forster

Some of my favorite books are books about England in the early-to-mid 20th century.   I have dozens of these kinds of stories in my collection and I read and re-read them with an anglophile fervor.  Most of them are stories with happy endings (or at least just ones).  Nearly all feature a narration voice that is droll about the human condition.  This month, as I transitioned into summer vacation, I took a break from my obsessive re-reading of the Cazalet Chronicles to re-read two books by E.M. Forster.  I read the two of them because my copy has both stories in one volume.  I picked up this Signet classic copy from a used bookstore more than 15 years ago and it’s been through it; so dog-eared now that I may very well need a replacement copy.

Be assured that a replacement copy is well-worth it.  For now, this is the copy I own and this is the copy that I read in the month of June.  The book is worth holding together because the stories in the two novels are so lovely to read.    The first, Howard’s End, is a cautionary tale of the polite clash of Victorian and Edwardian values and the importance of human connections outside the strict confines of social conventions of the day.  The novel’s heart is a woman named Margaret whose wisdom is in her genuine compassion for the people in her world.   The narrator takes snide jabs at the people in the story but Margaret never does and in that way the tale unfolds in a fashion that brings a deeper understanding of the power of a kind heart.  The story has been made into a well-adapted movie and it speaks volumes that the film’s dialogue is so faithful to the original novel.

The second story in my collection, A Room With a View is set in a similar time period, the transition to the 20th century.  The novel is more light-hearted in tone as the reader follows a young woman making her final transition to adulthood.  That girl, Lucy Honeychurch, is appealing in her naiveté and passion for the world into which she’s being introduced.  Over the course of this comedy of manners and sensibilities, she discovers what she wants from the world, a gift that she has the wisdom to appreciate.  This novel has also been filmed, by the same Merchant-Ivory team that would go on to film Howard's End, and is well worth a viewing.  

I’ve read these novels before and will read them many more times in the years ahead.  To me, a familiar story doesn’t detract from the companionship and delight I take in the characters.  Books and the stories I find within them are one of my greatest pleasures and to start summer vacation with these stories was a treat.

Summer’s Blessings

So many of the things that make my summer happy are simple pleasures.  

Flower blooms on the back deck welcome me when I come downstairs each morning.

This turtle stepping stone lives in my garden and has done so for years.  It’s a reminder of happy vacations spent on Cape Cod when JT was a little boy.

The prospect of these perky lines of zinnia seedlings sending forth flowers that will make bouquets for my summer table is one of summer’s greatest joys.

There are flowers everywhere come the summer and I even enjoy my messy rose bushes.  Our school year is so busy that I sometimes have to remind myself to appreciate all the blessings in my life.  Summer’s relaxed pace finds those blessings for me and lays them right at my feet to appreciate and admire.  That’s happy!

One Tough Lady Vol

The news is filled with stories about the life (and basketball victories) of Coach Pat Summitt, who died this morning.  I’ve been a fan of Tennessee basketball since I moved to the state in 1989.  Pat Summitt could do that.  For me, the reason was quite simple: she demanded that women and their athletic prowess be recognized and respected.

The second year that I lived in Nashville, some friends and I went to a high school girl’s basketball game in Sparta, Tennessee.  The trip to Sparta was driven by the desire to eat at a renowned meat and three restaurant on the town square.  We needed something else to do on that Friday night, so we went to see the local high school girl’s basketball team.

In those days in California, girl’s high school sports happened at times convenient for the boys.  But not in Tennessee, where the Lady Spartans of White County High School played in a sold-out gym at 7 pm on cold Friday night.  I had never before paid to attend a girl’s high school sporting event.  But in Tennessee in 1992, girls’s basketball was something to behold and fans paid for the privilege.

That achievement was the result of Coach Pat Summitt, then running the show at the state’s flagship university, the University of Tennessee of Knoxville, and showing off some impressively skilled basketball teams.  Her teams earned the respect of the state and the result built a girls basketball empire in Tennessee.  Her contributions to women’s sports are legendary and will remain so.  As for me, I’ll remember a rocking gym on a Friday night in rural Tennessee where the girls knew for sure that they were something else.

Mulching the Garden: A Job Complete

I had expected that it would take at least three days to finish the mulch job but Sunday afternoon found me with enough time and energy to finish the work.  The wedding chore had been finished so I started by laying out the newspapers in the rest of the garden.

Then I began to cover the area with mulch.  It was a warm afternoon but there was plenty of shade when I was ready for some iced tea and the chance to cool off.

With the mulch job complete, the garden looks terrific and is ready to weather the hot days of summer.  In flowerbeds, I like the look of full and lush plants and shrubs.  But a vegetable and flower garden  needs some order so that I can look after the plants. walk the rows to pick my produce, and ensure all the plants will flourish and grow.  The look of this neat and tidy garden rather makes me swoon.

Golly, I love summer!

Mulching the Garden: Day One

Come mid-June, my garden is growing on pace.  So are the weeds.  To conserve water and prevent the weeds from choking out the desired plants, I use newspapers and mulch to protect the plants.  This solution is attractive and environmentally sound.  It’s also a lot of work, so I take care of the project in a few days.  Now that I am responsible for the care and feeding of a 16 year old, there is a ready labor supply for getting the bags of mulch from the car to the garden.

From there, it’s all on me.  The garden was plenty overgrown so I start with weed removal.  That was Saturday's first task.

Then I laid out newspapers and began to lay down the newspapers and the mulch.   The transition from overgrown to ordered is lovely to behold.

I love the work and enjoy the outcome.  I’ll be finished later this week so there will be more pictures.  

That’s happy!

Traveller’s Lament

I have written before about my increasing horror of the simple freedoms we feel inspired to give up in the name of elusive safety.  From metal detectors in shopping malls and schools to taking our shoes off at airport security, I am annoyed at these things that we seem to assume we must do.  I do understand the importance of safety and security.  But I worry at the steady way in which we give up liberty for the promise of a safety which seems elusive and, in a society so unwilling to regulate guns, probably imaginary.

Last week, T, JT, and I set off to Kansas City from Newark airport.  We got in the security line like willing sheep, surrounded by signs reminding us to take off our shoes, remove computers from our bags, and generally do as we were told.  Or else.

When we snaked our way through the line to the security conveyor belt, an actual person instructed us to empty our pockets, put everything (including computers) in our bags, and leave our shoes on  He spoke to us in the annoyed tone of man long accustomed to dealing with stupid people, an understandable attitude but a bit rough to take at 6:15 in the morning, especially when the place was filled with contradictory instructions.

JT, now a large 16 year old who needs to shave every day, toes the line in these situations, aware that teenaged boys look threatening to the world.  Sensing that I was about to speak my mind about the conflicting TSA messages, he shot me a warning look.  I stayed silent.  But honestly, I am a woman whose daily job involves moving 130 disorganized, loud, self-immersed middle schoolers.  I know better than to post instructions and then give conflicting orders.

Post and follow one set of instructions.  Require us to empty our pockets and walk through a metal detector; scan our carry-on bags.  Do it with an air of friendly efficiency.  

But we should still know that the promise of safety in this world is a guarantee that cannot be made.  I prefer liberty  because I fear our preoccupation with order and safety offers a false promise of security that leaves democracy deeply vulnerable.  So I endure airport security with no confidence that it actually makes us safe; such safety doesn’t exist.  And is sure as hell isn’t a function of shuffling people with shoes off, belts removed, or disordered instructions about why all of this matters.

Summer Tradition

Last summer, I took to making time each day to sit on my flower-filled front porch and enjoy time outdoors with a book or magazine.  This practice got me outdoors, which I love, and gave me space and time to relax, which is what makes summer lovely.  I made a series of Instagram pictures to mark the hours spent in this fashion, a practice I am continuing this year.  But there’s no reason Instagram should have all the fun.

Today dawned bright and lovely, a morning with sunshine and temperatures in the mid 60s.  Sitting outside with my coffee and book while surrounded by flowers and the morning bird chorus, I was reminded again of the power of nature and the time to enjoy it all.  Here’s to summer, y’all!