August Sails By

 “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”

 F. Scott Fitzgerald

I can't let August go without writing at least one post. I cannot believe where the summer has flown to. But life is just a wee bit hectic with family things going on. 

I'm looking out on my garden of flowers. The hydrangea shrub thought it was a grand bush this season. It has to have been all the rain we had. All summer it hung loaded with bubblegum pink blossoms. I  realize now how much it had suffered during our drought years to see the exuberant contrast in this year's growth. 

The sun shines and the evenings are pleasant. One evening we went out for pizza to our favourite pizza place for our favourite #10 medium (onions, mushrooms, fresh tomato) with a starter Caesar salad to share. As we sat at the restaurant, we got to thinking about how many years we've been going to this particular place ordering the very same thing. We started going there shortly after we married. And that's coming up 28 years. At first we'd try different menu items, but soon we discovered we both loved the medium #10. And as the astute young waiter said, after I commented how we always order the same thing when we come, "Don't fix what's not broken."

A happy book moment. A memoir I ordered earlier in the month arrived. It's titled Howards End is on the Landing, A year of reading from home by Susan Hill. She's a British author (born in 1942 so she's closer to my mom's age than to me, she was born during WWII).

"Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted to read a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year-long voyage through her books, in order to get to know her own collection again." - from the back cover

Already I love it. Reading it is making all sorts of memories surface of my own book collection through the years. And now her stories make me want to revisit those books And I'm even toying with the idea of embarking on a 'year-long' voyage of reading only my own books (but don't hold me to that, I am too beguiled by all the great new books coming out this fall). Plus, I have a couple hundred books on my shelves I've never read yet. They do beckon. Still, I don't know if I could not buy new books for a whole year - haha.

My niece's outdoor wedding in July was beautiful. The weather was nearly perfect. A lot of thought and planning had gone into the details. The bride was glorious in her beautiful wedding dress. She looked soooo happy as she came down the hill to meet her dad who walked her down the grassy aisle.

I felt a welling up inside at the perfectness of it. Like in a fairy tale. And then when the first dance with the bride and groom—they played "At Last" by Etta James—oh my, that was another poignant moment. Both 29 they had each been 'waiting' for what felt to them like a long while, so the song was perfect. I loved watching as they danced in their own little world for those few moments. Here is the link should you want to listen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qJU8G7gR_g

Our summer has been good. We've enjoyed the warm sunny days. Had chances to take little day trips to towns and places we haven't seen in a while (or maybe never). Doing more caregiving for loved ones. And we've been busy now getting Mom ready to move into her new suite (next week) where she won't have to cook for herself ever again—which makes my almost-91 mom very happy.

I can't promise what the weeks ahead will include... and whether I can get back to my regular posting on Fridays. But please know I think of you beautiful readers often and hope that you are all well. But I will try to stay in touch as much as I can. Thank you for your comments on previous posts—I do read each one even though I don't reply these days.

I am looking forward to September. In my books it's a hopeful month with new beginnings, like the beginning of a new school term. Where wanting to buy fresh notebooks and sharpen pencils and dig out the crayons still beckons with creative energy even after all these years.

I wish you a beautiful season ahead... whatever you are up to.

❦

Heart hugs,

Brenda

Photo credits:

Brenda Leyland @ It's A Beautiful Life