HIGH SUMMER

August is here.  Where we live the days are hot and mostly parched, with sometimes late night heat lightening and no rain.  Maybe where you are too.  The Midwest, though, is flooding and our family in St. Louis is glad to be on high ground.  Earlier this summer a driving trip to New Mexico was cancelled due to forests on fire, horses evacuated.  I saw the orthopedist last week for my unsturdy back. Yikes!  Definitely needing to cope.  What about you?  

So I went outside in the heat, barefoot and in shorts, and took pictures.  To me they are so lovely they belie the scraggly yard.  Some of my hanging garden, bits of colored glass to jangle over the brown forest floor.  Some of the heart-shaped leaves that remain after the wild violets fade. They measure 4 inches across this late in the year.  

Heart-shape

I'm loving the way a little walk outdoors lifts your spirits.  Over the weekend I had the same sluggish problem.  Plus--full disclosure--the day started with an argument, one I didn't know was coming.  Nothing more destabilizing.  I know, if we're feeling down there's no reason not to let ourselves be.  And often we do.  We settle in with our feelings and give them their due.  We befriend each mood and accept it as is.  That's a fine way to be.  Why ever fight with ourselves?  

But this time the outdoors called.  So I went to the local Farmer's Market.  It's a wonderful place with food trucks, crafts, fruits and veggies.  Just your normal community spot. I met a man who raises ostriches for meat.  Hard to know what to think of that.  He made a good case for a tasty ostrich meal, but I didn't buy any.  I just couldn't picture slaughtering this gangly bird. 

At the Durham Market even the crosswalks are works of art. 

Crosswalk

Then I stopped at a library where I wrote in my Journal.  The morning had been so dispiriting that I had carried it with me.  After that an an old warehouse that houses artist's studios and last a museum.  What an enjoyable day it turned out to be. 

August is actually starting out just right.  High summer has it's own charm, the last lazy days, scorching or not; once in a while a cloud burst.  Hair pulled up off the neck, swimming and bike riding and tomatoes that don't come off a truck, juicy with flavor and sunshine.  Eggplant and peppers and overhead fans.  Getting off work early and cooking for friends.  Something to savor . . . .