keeping up with things

Yesterday, our friend Rhett finished brush hogging our meadow and lower area. We hire Rhett to come once a year, to clear the land. Because we are part-time Vermonters, and don't have the equipment (yet) to keep up with this task, we appreciate his help. If we just let the open space grow wild, within a few years we'd have small trees taking hold out there. Since we're not sure yet what we'll do with those beautiful, open acres (terraced garden beds? goat pasture?) we'll keep Rhett's phone number handy. 

Last night, I went out onto the three season porch to watch some approaching thunderstorms (amazing!). The lupine seed pods caught me by surprise...they had opened and popped their tiny seeds all over the porch. 

(taken in early June)

 I spent quite a bit of time, picking them up one by one and stashing them in a jar. These are the things we do for dreams of a lupine meadow...

Later this afternoon, I'm off to town to buy vinegar and canning salt, then I'll head to the Green Mountain Girls Farm for dill (and other good stuff). Can you guess what I'm up to?

a lifting fog

This morning we woke up in the clouds. The house was nestled in a thick fog cover. Just a few minutes ago I looked up and found that the fog has shifted, as it often does, and rearranged itself around our place. And then I noticed that our friend Rhett had been over to do the brush hogging while we were away. You can see the top of the freshly mowed meadow just past the green lawn here.

And do you see all those tracks in the lawn? We've had a parade of wild turkeys wander through our yard most mornings at breakfast time. They congregate under the crab apple trees for a bit, checking on the supply of windfall apples before they parade across the road and up into our neighbor's meadow.

We've driven to Ohio and back since I last posted here. We were swept up into the flood of friends and family who had gathered for Batman's Dad's memorial service. What a celebration it was! Tim's sense of adventure, zest for life, passion for music and huge heart were just the beginning of his life's story!

Tim had an extensive CD collection of jazz and blues music which was dispersed among the kids and grand kids. We drove east yesterday to the fabulous rhythm of some fine '60's Chicago blues, and it felt like Tim's spirit might have been riding in the backseat. 

Sometimes these epic occasions come and go...pulling generations together, reminding us of what is important in life, and then scattering us all back to daily life.

Our summer has been bookended by a wedding and a memorial service. Such richness of spirit.

The fog is lifting in our yard and in my heart. By paying attention to what is essential in life and taking time to celebrate it, we are able to hold on tight to love and then release it into the world. I am feeling lighter this morning, with a clearer focus for what comes next. And the hashtag to all of it is #love.

From the order of service for Tim's Celebration of Life...

When you are alive, you have a heart, and that's where you live. But when you die, your heart stops. That means you get to live in the hearts of everybody who was ever your friend and everybody who ever loved you. -from A Child's Understanding of Death

xo

giveaway winner and a visit to vermont

hello friends.

this is the road we live on...

it's been overcast for days,

but yesterday the sun came out for a bit,

so i thought i'd snap a few pictures for you.

this is the top of our neighbor's driveway.

i often stop here to see the panoramic view.

 heavy traffic while on my walk.

 one of vermont's  iconic sugar maples,

just on the other side of the stone wall.

 these two golden beauties sit at the bottom of our property.

(the meadow has had its annual "brush-hogging")

 we have a new batch of houseguests arriving soon.

the picnic table benches will probably be pulled over 

to the fire pit one evening.

batman may pull out the telescope to check out the

autumn constellations. 

 on my way to the gym this morning

i paused in the driveway to soak in the early 

morning light, glowing on the hills to the west of us.

these days are fleeting.

i really try to be fully present for their wonder.

i thought you might like to pause with me.

(3 folks left comments.

2 folks sent e-mails.)

i pulled a name out of a wooden bowl.

the giveaway winner is BEVERLY.

please e-mail me your snail mail address,
and I'll get the bunting into the mail on friday.

do not dismay if you missed out.

i'll be doing more giveaways in october.

xo

(sometime next week i'll post a collection of 

fun resources and distractions that you 

have shared with me this week.

thank you so much for sending them along).