The Days of High Summer

 

It has been a very hot summer here in Virginia. One big, long, stretch of heat with no nighttime dips in temperatures to give us a break. We perform the bare minimum outdoor tasks like harvesting from the garden, mowing the grass, watering flower pots, and minimal weeding. Any other yard related work we say we will do when the weather cools down...in another month or so. The one, happy, outside activity I do enjoy is the aquatics class. It begins at 9:00am in the outdoor pool at the gym and the water is always refreshing. It is a happy place where everyone is in good spirits and the exercise feels good.

Fresh vegetables abound and our meals revolve around the seasonal produce. Local corn is in season and we have been finding ways to enjoy that. We  did enjoy some corn fritters for dinner one night. They aren't the healthiest of foods but they are a treat on occasion. Another absolute favorite summer meal of ours is tomato pie. We have eaten them twice for dinner so far. Our tomato plants are scraggly and ugly this summer but they still produce tomatoes. Steve always adds some of his hot peppers to his side of the pie. : )

It turns out that summers in the south are a good time for indoor projects. I started piecing another quilt. It's an older pattern by Jo Morton called "Cut the Mustard". Getting the points to line up is a challenge for me as I am not an expert quilter. But I am going slow and ripping seams and re-piecing when need be. Four squares down, thirty-one more to go. I cannot seem to get inspired to work on my rug hooking. I know the mood will come back around at some point so I will just have to wait for that.

Other highlights of this month have been Tuesdays with Violet. She is so much fun to play with and the day always goes by quickly. She prefers movement play over quiet play so we hit the softball, target shoot with Nerf guns, swing and climb, play "Bear Hunt", a throw foam balls into the basketball net. All this occurs in the basement because it is too hot outside. She hasn't even wanted to go to the pool this summer, even though I suggest it. I will be sad when school starts and our Tuesdays together come to an end.

We went to one Salem baseball game with Tess and Blake, which ended up being rained out by a thunderstorm. It was still fun anyway. We also went to a trivia night at Big Lick Brewery with them and that was a lot of fun.We have dinners with friends and others with family. We dog sat Bok Choy,  had Claire and her family here for a weekend, gone to a couple of movies at the little Buchanan theater (two movie tickets, two bags of popcorn and a can of beverage cost $17.), played Scrabble, and sat on the porch in the evening a little bit. 

Summer is passing nicely in its simplicity. 

 

 

Summer Fresh

 

With no specific intentions in mind, I puttered around the house, cleaning and freshening odds and ends as needed. I washed the bathroom floors with a scented Spic N Span product and laundered the quilts from the upstairs twin beds. I hung the quilts on the porch to finish drying in the outdoor air. 

I went away from the house (to do something that I can no longer remember) and when I returned home and walked inside, the happiest, freshest scent greeted me. I was immediately brought back to childhood summers and the clean scent of my mother's cleaning and laundry hanging on the clothesline. What a good and happy reward for a small bit of morning cleaning. 

When I went back into the hall bathroom to put things back in place, I looked out the window and saw a sky with clouds that looked unreal. I imagined Teletubbies would come romping over the hill under that sky. The blue sky and cotton ball clouds were peeking out above the window curtain I replaced a couple of weeks ago. I like to use vintage tablecloths for our bathroom curtains. They are so pretty and it seems a shame to keep them tucked away in drawers where they never get used. Anyway, the fresh, white curtain and the Teletubby sky in the happy-scented bathroom had me feeling pretty good.  

 

Sticks and Stones Quilt

 

Time finally fell into a calm, summer pace this week. I was happy to have time to putter at home. Since it is too hot and muggy to be outside more than necessary, I decided to begin piecing a quilt. 

My friend Pat gave me a jellyroll of Jo Morton's "Timeless" fabric collection that she did not want anymore. I used a Missouri Star Tutorial to stitch it up in the Sticks and Stones pattern. I pieced it randomly but there are many ways this could be pieced using lights and darks to form patterns. I did purchase an additional charm pack of the Timeless fabrics so that I would have enough for a complete piano key border without having to leave part of the border plain as they did in the tutorial. The pattern sews up easily and quickly and caused me no piecing panic. I will drop it off at the quilt shop in Rocky Mount to be quilted.

In summary, I am not a fan of this color palette. But, it matches our old oriental rug in the living room and  it was free. I have another jellyroll and charm pack of "Collections for a Cause: Etchings" which is what was used in the tutorial and which I much prefer. So, I will stitch this again at some point. At sixty by seventy inches, it will be a perfect lap quilt when those cold winter nights are back and we want to cozy up with a movie. 

 

Preparing For a Pilgrimmage, A Jubilee Year of Hope

 

 

The Catholic church has declared 2025 to be a twenty-five year Jubilee. Specifically, this Jubilee is designated as a year of "Hope".

In short, a Jubilee Year is a time for renewal; a pivotal, transitional moment when something begins anew. It is also an opportunity for a "coming together", to bring our joy, our hearts, and our hope to the church. 

This year, Rome expects thirty-five million pilgrims to visit for the Jubilee year. Here in our little Fincastle church, we are preparing a pilgrimage of our own. When Father Xavier suggested  we have a pilgrimage for the Jubilee Year, my heart leapt at the chance. I have never participated in an intentional pilgrimage but I knew this was a special moment in time to further my faith and to participate in what my friend and collaborator calls a "soul altering" experience. 

In order to have a pilgrimage, there needs to be a destination. Saint Andrew's Basilica in Roanoke was listed by the Richmond Diocese as one such destination for a pilgrimage. Lucky for us it is located only thirty minutes away! Father Xavier, Kathy, and I visited the basilica this morning in order to plan our pilgrimage with their coordinator. This was the first time I stepped foot into St. Andrews. The architecture and beauty took my breath away and my eyes filled with tears. The experience was multiplied by the sound of the organist practicing in the choir loft. As we entered the Narthex (entrance vestibule) I could smell the soft, woodsy scent of incense. Further entering into the Nave, the cathedral ceiling soared upward and reminders of the heavenly realm and the history of the church were everywhere. The paintings, statues, and stained glass depicted images and reminders of where we have been and where we are going. 

I felt very lucky to have this chance to roam the church at will, to sit and reflect, and to plan for our pilgrimage. My heart is expectant and ready and my soul yearns to listen and see. My flesh only asks that I do not trip and stumble when I walk up to the Lectern to read. That would be my earthly style. 

I wanted to record this moment of peace and to remember this feeling of expectancy and hope.  

Garden Eats! Beans and Greens

 I ended up having to go to the doctor for the poison ivy rash. He prescribed a twelve day taper of Predisone along with Bactroban ointment for the worse area on my forearm. Relief and healing began immediately. The steroids gave me an enormous amount of energy and I have been channeling that for good.

 The garden is producing good things to eat! We have had our first two large tomatoes and a few cherry tomatoes. The lettuce is finished and the Swiss Chard is coming big time. I harvest the Swiss Chard on the spot, right before I want to cook it. It cooks down to nothing, like spinach, so I gather a big armful for the two of us. I plunge the stack of leaves into a cold water bath in the kitchen sink. It amazes me that there are never any bugs or dirt on the leaves. 

 Once the leaves are trimmed of stalks and sliced into ribbons, it goes into the pot. This night we are having Greens and Beans. This is an Italian dish that my mom cooked every summer from my dad's garden. It uses lots of garlic and chard, chicken broth, cannelloni beans, and olive oil. That's it! It is so healthy and delicious and satisfying to eat. I served some roasted Italian sausage on the side. A good sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan is a must. The best way to eat it is with crusty Italian bread but Steve and I are foregoing bread most of the time these days.