Search Results for: how the light gets in

I saw this rose bud this morning – one last rose for the season. It’s a delightful surprise and a welcome one.

Well, the remnants of Hurricane Laura have passed through our neck of the woods and today is a bit cooler and a lot less humid. The rain held off until last night, allowing my neighbors to have their graduation party for their son. Yet again, someone had fireworks last night. I think it was the camping facility that is nearby – maybe celebrating the end of the season? Mercifully, they didn’t last too long. But they were loud!

I really love this particular variety of sunflower. There are three more of them, one of which should bloom this week.

Hey, it’s a significant day here at Mockingbird Hill Cottage. Today, we celebrate 15 years here. We moved in on August 30, 2005, the day after Hurricane Katrina hit. Since we had turned off cable at our old place and hadn’t been watching the news and wouldn’t have working cable for another week, we missed most of the news reports and didn’t know about the horrendous impact and damage for quite a while. The next day, which was one of the hottest and most humid days I can ever remember, we drove back to our old place to finish cleaning it out. No a/c, no fans, still embedded in my sense memory.

Happy 15th Anniversary, Mockingbird Hill Cottage! (Though you were simply a cottage in those days, your name came about 2 years later.)

Don finished Hamnet  yesterday. We talked about it for a long time. He loved it. I loved it. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. I finished A Private Cathedral  by James Lee Burke this morning. Excellent. Now we’re starting new books – Don has another one by Maggie O’Farrell, I have The Starless Sea  by Erin Morgenstern.

I’m going to do a bit of weed whacking this morning. I tend to neglect these chores as we come to the end of the summer because I’m not really motivated, but it needs to be done. Don will probably putter around up in the woods.

We had a nice little FaceTime chat with my sister and Little Z yesterday. He’s getting so big! He reported to us on his first week back in school. He told us he was scared for the first day but then he was fine. Both of Mere’s older sons have moved into their own apartments within the past week. Son number 2 has started law school, as well. Lots of changes for my sister and lots of emotions. I have no desire to live in Florida, but I do wish we lived closer to each other. It gets harder and harder to be so far apart.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

I’m late posting this morning because the phone rang and this guy was on the other end:

Everything must stop when we have a chance to talk to our Little Z, who is little but not as little as he was. Isn’t he looking grown up? The freckles! The eyebrows! The eyelashes! He gets tired of chatting on the phone more quickly than he used to because, of course, he’s nine years old and has a lot of things to do. Don was out walking our trails when the phone rang but he got back in time to hear Z’s joke about a strawberry and all is well with our little world this morning.

And of course, I got to talk to my beloved sister. What I wouldn’t give to hug her right now! I know she feels the same.

I covered up my face because the screen capture was not at all flattering and this is about Z, not me.

Yesterday was a strange day and it remained so, but this morning I feel better.

Forgot to add that on Friday, we drove to our local lookout point – just about 10 minutes or less from our house – donned our masks and got a look at the bigger picture:

I can’t tell you what a difference that made in our day. A quick trip to a place in the mountains, and an expanded view of the area rather than the limits made by the confines of our property. We’ve decided we’re going to take a least one of these little trips each week. Of course, it can’t be for too great a distance because I’m not about to use any public restrooms, so it needs to be timed for well after morning coffee, if you know what I mean.

I have only read a few pages of Hamnet  and I can’t wait to get back to it, but considering it has to do with grief and we’ve just come through a tough week, I changed over to Michael Connelly’s newest, Fair Warning.  I needed something that I could lose myself in right away. I have to say that I have read every one of Connelly’s over 30 books and I have never been disappointed. Never. He is a master storyteller. Even the great Louise Penny sometimes disappoints ever so slightly. Never Connelly. I just read the author notes and he has a podcast called Murder Book. I am subscribing today.

It’s sunny today and a bit more humid. Don is fully immersed in Caste  by Isabel Wilkerson. I’m immersed in Fair Warning. We’re on our second cup of coffee. After I publish this post, I’m going to sip on my coffee and finish waking up – my silent wake up having been delayed by conversation with my nephew and sister. But well worth it.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.