Summer Concentrated

From yesterday's farmer's market, we gathered fresh edamame, lady peas, peaches, figs, and golden and green zucchini. My son bought an already treasured cactus, and my daughter bought a sedum for our butterfly garden.

We made progress on summer reading. My daughter and I are reading Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli together. This book surprised me with its sophistication and treatment of some serious issues. It surprised my daughter, too, because she didn't even want to read it at the beginning of the summer. Now, it has both of us laughing and crying and thinking and talking. It is a transformative book and deserves a post of its own for my Tiger Tales library blog.

My son and I read another chapter from Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins. He loves the relationship between Gregor and his two year old sister Boots. It is a page-turner that makes me want to keep reading to the end, but I'll wait to share it with my son.

Friends came over in the afternoon for a skirt sew-along. The girls sewed while the boys ran through the sewing room in various warrior costumes of power and might. We took a break from sewing and saving the universe to eat popsicles and to look at a frightened bat hiding beneath the deck umbrella.

From our own garden, we harvested basil for a double batch of pesto making. Nothing tastes more like summer to me than fresh pesto and tomatoes.

Everyone finished the day with some reading in bed. The first thing my son said to me when we got up this morning was, "I stayed up until 8:33 pm reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid!" I love that.

Growing, Growing, Gone

There will be no more Kindergartners in this family. Growing, growing, gone.

We are saying goodbye to a little girl's beloved school tomorrow. Growing, growing, gone.

Another year of teaching-- growing, growing, gone.

But we have seedlings growing in the red wagon-- growing until they are ready to be planted and can withstand the dog.

We have books to read together. . . continuing the adventures of the 6th Harry Potter with a new first grader, wandering through Narnia with the young lady in the family and introducing her to the magical world of Hobbits.

We have sewing, knitting, book-making, gardening, and art projects waiting for our attention.

Happy summer! Until it is gone, too, and a new school year begins.

All the love

Handmade and store-bought valentines. . .

Nellie curling up and sleeping all the time, Bailey peeking around the corner to see if there are crumbs that need eating, and Finn swimming with sapphire scales and crimson, feathery tail

Checking on my son after he has already been put to bed once, and reading in bed with my daughter

Watching Charlie playing, sleeping, and bathing

Showering each other with love

Drawings by my children

Little feet and hands and music

Making progress on new squares, chasing light and shadows, and then writing about it.

Tea

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

-- C. S. Lewis

My daughter and I are in the middle of reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis. Lucy has agreed to be the ambassador between the invisible ugly people (or thumping things-- what are they, really?) and the Magician. Since we still have several more books to read together in the Narnia series, I don't yet feel like we have to ration the words each night. We read until we are too sleepy to continue-- or until "Mom knows best."

I had five cups of hot tea today. It takes me two cups of Assam Breakfast to be ready for the day each morning. Then, it was cold in the St. Therese basement library during work (3 more-- one herbal and two Darjeeling).

Now, before bed, I'll have my sixth cup of something herbal with the sweet, summery taste of Tilia (a holdover from my days in Portugal).

“May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain,
tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you,
those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.”

-- Irish Blessing