We had two big rains yesterday. The first was a big old thunderstorm that tested the strength of our gutters with torrents of water falling everywhere, claps of thunder, streaks of lightning, Scout barking. I love a summer thunderstorm. And boy, we needed it.  A few hours later, more rain came, this time without all the fireworks but heavy and steady.

We still need a lot more, but this was a great start. I ventured outside early this morning to check out the garden. The hydrangea blossoms are heavy with water.  My David phlox leaves are suddenly buoyant after drooping for the last two weeks. The birdbath is almost overflowing.

This time of year – the July garden – is tricky. At least in my garden. There’s not a whole lot blooming. The coneflowers are everywhere, the hydrangea is constant, my rose bush is sort of blooming (though I saw some dreaded spots on the leaves this morning,) and the hostas have flowers. But there are big chunks of the garden that are green without anything flowering. I have yet to master the art of planting a garden that always has something blooming. I tend to plant what I want to plant and I don’t necessarily think about the overall design of the space. Things just happen here, for better or worse.

Yesterday, Riley happily barked along with Scout during one of her extended ‘songs.’ Two different times. When he does that, he looks and sounds like the Riley of old. There’s life in him yet. I whispered in his ear the other night; telling him that we love him and if he needs to go, we will be okay. But he’s still here. So it’s not time.

The radio is quietly playing as I write this – Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring, one of my favorites. I discovered this piece of music when I was in college and fell in love with it. So I bought the album and then I bought everything by Copland. I miss albums, don’t you? None of this small CD stuff – with albums you could hold the record album cover in your hands, easily read all the liner notes and actually see and admire the artwork on the cover. I had so many albums. Tons of them. But I digress, back to Appalachian Spring. During my senior year of college I lived in a house with 5 other women, all of us drama majors. I often had rehearsals at night. I would come home from classes every day and take a nap before I had to go to rehearsal. My ritual was to pull the shades down in my room, turn on the stereo, take my copy of Appalachian Spring out of its sleeve, put it on the turntable and let that beautiful music lull me to sleep. That’s such a vivid sense memory for me. Whenever I hear it, I am instantly back in my darkened attic bedroom, young and relatively carefree, surrounded by Copland’s glorious music. Music, more than anything, can immediately take me back to a certain place and time. Does it do that for you? What memories does it evoke for you?

Happy Monday.