Sum, Sum, Summertime

Wow is it Summer. Today is just shy of uncomfortably warm, those balmy breezes blow but don't refresh. It's unapologetically sunny. I'd be out swimming in this weather. The roses in the front garden are about to burst, birds comb the lawn for bugs, the bleeding hearts are wilting and the hostas keep pushing forth more blossoms. The geri crew stroll by, their stark white legs lost in voluminous shorts. It smelled of cut grass in here until I made the tuna salad for the party. I hope that dissipates by Monday!

Today is the ninety-day mark of living here. Now, with my paintings and drawings up, drapes hanging in the bedroom, things more or less close to where they'll live, it's starting to feel like my home. The bookcases are almost full, knickknacks and little framed photos on the shelves too, looking as if they've been there all along. There are still lots of things to unpack and find places for but the majority is done. It's that point where "the bedroom" becomes "my bedroom". And finally, I'm beginning to relax. Just in time for the heat.

What a huge adjustment it is to move. In both space and time. Here in Vermont the seasons are dramatically different, may change on a whim, and time conspires with Mother Nature to do bizarre tricks on the senses. The day of the move we were worried about snow- all the forecasters called for it. Now just 12 weeks later it's nearly dog days. And in another 12 weeks it could be snowing again, then the temps may soar to the 70s. Being out of downtown and back among trees and grounds, the weather is much more pronounced. Perhaps it's just that seasons seem to speed up as I age. Or that I have time now to notice these things.

The summer will zoom past as it always does with its glories and discomforts. Watching plants grow to their full height is a time stamp, too. Like people, they come into full maturity, then slowly start to shrink. It seemed the summer was much longer when I was young.