Cooling Colors, Cross Country, Fruit in a Jar, Books and Cookies

1. Off in the distance, the mountains wear the waveless colors of the ocean. Three shades of deepest aquamarine, one for each peak, are set with emerald green at their base.
2. There's a package in the mailbox! (It's for Tess, but I still get excited to find any package in the mailbox.) It contains a small, stoppered, glass jar filled with sand from the Great Sand Dunes. We hold it up to the light and marvel at the salt and pepper quality of it. She's feeling the love when she finds two notes, one from her sister and another from her brother-in-law.
3. At her last visit, Claire's left us a jar of her homemade peach jam. She captured all the goodness of fresh peaches into this spreadable fruit. It's perfect on my English muffin.
4. I happily hauled a new stack of books home from the library. I spent my evening on the porch reading, The Orchardist. It's very good.
4a. Before ending the day, I baked a batch of cookies for the boy who loves oatmeal cookies. He came in and out while I was reading, eating more than I could count. I left three more for him in a bag to take home.