the bittersweet

"Turn around and you're two

Turn around and you're four

Turn around and you're a young girl going out of my door"

 As I type this, Ella is experiencing her first day of Pre K. Violet, not sure how to be without her partner in crime is looking every where for her...."where Ella go??". 

Saying goodbye this morning was bittersweet. Violet had stayed home with her Dad so it was just me and Ella. The look on her face when we hugged and said goodbye- it was meaningful- I wish I could describe it better than to say...her face was brave and excited. 

I feel so good about the school we have chosen; a place where peacocks and chickens run free and each child has access to a garden plot. A place where children can be children.

peacocks paying under the volleyball net

perched on the roof of Ella's classroom

my favorite and my best

It's hot as hell here in Florida. And yet...Fall will be here soon. My favorite time of year.


a cool breeze through my open windows
hot coffee
iced lemon zinger tea
baking
the Wednesday Farmers Market- actually staying to enjoy some music
planting a winter garden
more time outside in general
several drop offs to the thrift store as I try to keep our belongings to a minimum (forever, my losing battle)
and oh, the colors....oranges and browns, green, grey and yellow...
my heart warms just thinking about it.

joystclaire

shannspishak

Sylvia C Photography

sewjenaissance

 If You Were Coming in the Fall 

by Emily Dickinson

If you were coming in the Fall,
I'd brush the Summer by
With half a smile, and half a spurn,
As Housewives do, a Fly.

If I could see you in a year,
I'd wind the months in balls --
And put them each in separate Drawers,
For fear the numbers fuse --

If only Centuries, delayed,
I'd count them on my Hand,
Subtracting, till my fingers dropped
Into Van Dieman's Land.

If certain, when this life was out --
That yours and mine, should be
I'd toss it yonder, like a Rind,
And take Eternity --

But, now, uncertain of the length
Of this, that is between,
It goads me, like the Goblin Bee --
That will not state -- its sting.

this post is brought to you by red wine, good friends and Lucinda Williams (NOT Bruce Springsteen)

Have you ever had a place
that you could go
and as you are driving up,
your heart slows
your breathing deepens, becoming more intentional
and your body just relaxes?

I am lucky enough to have a few spots like this scattered across Florida, North Carolina and Mississippi; they fill a part of me that is frequently emptied by the repetition of every day.

The one I am thinking of tonight is Lake Serene in Mississippi.

The girls and I usually visit Mississippi for a month every summer and this is the first time I had been back to Lake Serene since college in 1998. It was a much needed drive and I was so happy to be able to share it with my daughters and 12 year old niece.

Everyone should have a place like this, if only to catch your breath a couple times a year.