hung in the light of the moon

The chain clanged on the gate and behind me I could hear the car’s tires crunching on the gravel laneway. I turned around, every sense tuned to the wonders around me. The sweet smell of freshly cut grass hung in the still, moonlit air; the moon was bright enough for me to see the embryos of apples nestled in the leaves of the trees. My eyes scanned for the bright fairy lights of fireflies, but I didn’t see any until I got close to the house. A lone light blinked like a solitary lighthouse. They are late this year.

The next morning I repeated my walk, this time in a blazing sun. The smells were different - the grass had dried out, filling the air with the summer scent of hay. Oh, the memories that brings back. At the front of the house a few locust trees tower with crowns of white scented flowers. The hum of bees dazzled. Birds sang; a goldfinch flashed across to the spruce tree (does it have a nest in there?). Different shades of green with a pop of purple iris painted the scene. It is hard to tell which of my senses is most pleased. I try to memorize the moments to be recalled on a bleak winter day.

Okay, enough of that drivel! But seriously - I try to be mindful and to drink in every precious moment.

We’ve been busy enough: Sunday we had a visit with Trudie & Leo; yesterday Carm played golf and then we went shopping for bedding plants for the big tubs on the back deck. I think in a few weeks they will look lovely! Since we are staying home for the summer again it is worth sprucing up the deck.

I had to shear Spike’s ears as I was a bad dog mom and let them get matted. Now he looks like a dork with a big puffy head and skinny little ears like a Bedlington terrier. I hope they grow back quickly!

I’ve started emptying the room that we call the dining room, but really it is a den or a third bedroom. There’s a hide-a-bed in there underneath a mountain of junk that has no where else to live - things like the extra quilts for the camper, other extra bedding that doesn’t fit in our miniscule linen closet. Spare pool towels are in another pile. Suitcases crowd in a corner. You get the idea - a big mess. But I’ll need the bed for when Kirsten, Shawn, and the girls are here.

I might just go and read on the swing - only the second day this year to do so…

“I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other.”

~Rainer Maria Rilke