August Love

Last week  I was surprised by the joy of August.  I was standing by the sink eating a peach.   The peach had been picked the day before ripe from the tree.    The juice was running down my chin and arm.    It tasted fabulous.    All of a sudden it felt like August was embodied in that peach; summer so packed full of simple pleasures that it was running over.

This August I’ve loved going for a run and grabbing blackberries off the bushes outside our house while I stretch.    The kettle corn at the fair tasted sweeter this year.   I thoroughly enjoyed that darkness doesn’t come until its time for bed.    I loved Portland to Coast; bonding with girlfriends in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere.    I loved swimming with my family.   My husband made an incredible saffron shrimp and rice dinner.    We had lettuce wraps again.    A friend made fried green tomatoes.     My daughter went to the dentist and didn’t have any cavities.    Little pleasures.  Running over.

My daughter and I read Black Beauty together.   It took us most of the month to finish.   We both cried at the end.   She said “poor little guy.   I’m so glad he ended up happy”.    I feel a little bit like the horse.  I think partly it’s been such a great month because all the depressant effects of INH medicine have worn off.    I feel like I shook off some lead weights and ended up happy.    Woo Hoo.   Yea for August.

 

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August blooms

There are three things that I love about August.

#1 I love fresh blackberries.  My sister makes a great blackberry pie with berries that grow wild at my parents.  My husband learned how to make jam from his fantastic mother and we are currently working our way through a jar of fresh blackberry jam.   We had it on pancakes yesterday.  This is way better than syrup.  Less sticky too.

#2  I love Walla Walla Onions.   I enjoy them at the fair every year on Onionaire burgers.   They are even better as onion rings at Burgerville.  I’m actually thankful that these are only available in August.  My jeans would not fit if they were available year round.

#3.  I love Lynda’s Dahlias.    Lynda is a woman who lives down river from us.  Every year she plants a huge field of dahlias.    She puts up a canopy and sells 13 cut stems for $5.  If you want a vase  $3.  She has a little Tupperware box for the money.  It has a rock in it so it doesn’t blow away..  Whole thing works on the honor system.   She has a large sign that says “don’t cut the closed buds, they won’t blossom if you cut them too early.”  There is a sermon in there somewhere but I’ll let you sort that one out yourself.     I decided on the way home today that we could use a batch of Lynda’s Dahlias.  They are brightly colored and they smell nice.    You can’t spend five dollars better.   I think fresh flowers bring a little joy inside.

Today I brought the flowers in and set them on the counter next to our other little growing bouquet…of realty cards.   They are also brightly colored and speak of hope and promise.   Flowers are a little sad when you have to take them out after they die.   Realty cards are sad too when someone comes to see your house and then does not call.    There was a new card on the batch today.  It is sitting right next to my new dahlias.   Driving home, I said aloud, “I am really tired of this whole selling the house thing. I want to sell it now”.   My daughter said “Mom, It’s really up to God”.    I really do love August.