home and hearth

As it was pouring rain on the afternoon of the Fourth, plans for wandering around Volunteer Park/Conservatory/Asian Art Museum were shelved and games were pulled out.  After of course, the requisite hot dogs, potato salad and corn-on-the-cob were devoured.

Wicked game of Bookopoly; complete with shady real estate transactions.

One real estate mogul and one mini-spa session.

Mr. Money Bags of the day's game; always surprised that it was his turn as he was more occupied with regaling us with tales of people and places than rolling the dice.

Bogart's contribution was to lie upon my land deeds and monies.  As the fireworks began, he opted to climb into the closet and hide under my skirts.  

I didn't try to capture the sparkles with my teensy phone camera, but I will say that being able to see fireworks in all directions is making me lean heavily towards renewing the lease on this unit I call home.

objets de la maison

Cool crisp day--perfect for a wandertag admiring flower baskets.

And for finding gorgeous produce and yet another lucky penny.

Recently have been pondering the etymology of home.   Will continue to explore this topic through the month of July, but for now I offer random shots of stuff that makes up my home.  (Don't know why there's a preponderance of groupings of three.)  What says 'home' to you?  What scents and sights make it yours?

Fresh produce and bits from the seashore always say home to me.

Scented candles are another--as well as objects from my travels. 

A reading lamp by the bed is also something that is homey--since learning to read, I read myself to sleep each night.

Having a nice kitchen is also a plus; after two years in my slummy Princeton kitchen [one drawer, teeny sparking stove], am thrilled to have four working burners and an oven large enough to fit all my baking pans/dishes/sheets.   As I bake a lot, one of the nicest gifts I ever received was miniature baking dishes from my parents when I lived in said wee apartment.

And although I live in what many consider the coffee capitol of the world, there's nothing better than staying home and having fresh coffee in one's jammies.  Although in my uniquely garbed neighborhood, no one would blink if I did.

time for poetry

Yes, we're are few days past Summer Solstice, but I like the image of the illuminated pilgrims mentioned in the last line.  Happy summer from a cool and misty climate.

gorgeous hydrangeas on my morning walk

The Return

by Thomas R. Smith

Unto Him all things return. The Koran

Walking on the park road

early morning, summer solstice,

we came to a place in the still-

shaded cool where, looking

up a grassy hillside,

we could see, through a gap

in the trees, the rising sun.

Burning clear with all

heat and strength befitting

the day of its longest dominion,

the sun, boiling from that

high nest of foliage,

lit a silver swath

of sparkling, dew-bent

grasses all the way down

the drenched slope.

So brilliant was that carpet

of light the sun unrolled

down the hill to our feet,

we stopped where we were

and sat awhile in pure wonder.

And I remembered an old

secret promise, deemed

unwise to speak, though

who could deny it,

seeing these folk, humble

yet adorned, nodding together

on their way back to the sun?

And soon enough we got up

again and wandered on

into whatever we had to do

on that day, though not unchanged,

having accompanied a little distance

on the morning road of their return

those illuminated pilgrims.

(One of the courtyards at Timber Ridge; retirement center where I work.  And where I need to live when I'm 65.)

all's right with the world

at least in an alphabetical sense.  As there are four filing systems that were in place in my choir room, I've been itching to get at them since September.  This is my first 'free' week since I began work here, so am utilizing the down time as well as spreading out all over the room.

The view from my desk.

This actually the easy part; the tedious part will be the inventory and cataloging and creating a google.docs item that can be shared among the musicians.  Anyone who has free time--do feel free to drop by and get your fix of organising!

tiny triumphs

This may appear to be a banal shot of my refrigerator, but if you peer closely, you will see pristine shelving and sparkling glass.  This and a scrubbed kitchen floor seem like a fitting way to celebrate halfway through the year. 

green tomato giddiness

After some quality time spent with a cousin, came home to find my deck abloom and flourishing.  These are the first tomatoes that I've grown in eight years, so am swooning about my deck, awaiting the day of eating them.

My first sweet pea of the season; Grandma Dunston is one of the strongest influences on my life and she always had a patch of sweet peas.  The scent just wafts me straight back to delightful childhood summers.

My find from the small streets of Poulsbo!

sloth

I have all kinds of post its lying around with brilliant blog postings and I simply don't get to them.  So, here are photos of the past couple of days.  I'm enchanted with my view--to be able to see two gorgeous mountains from my windows is marvelous.  Not to mention, my stellar views of Lake Washington.

I love twilight and am slightly cranky that the word has been preempted by the nether worlds of vampires.

Festive toes for the upcoming 4th.

Gorgeous flowers remaining from last week's funeral.