Summer Days

One partial week of quietude before the next roller coaster. It's going fast.
We started off with a trip to Ocean Shores for my cousin's graduation retreat. The next week cousins from Mama's side visited. The next one we had a reunion with Daddy's family, followed by a week with cousins from that side. It has been tiring, but fun, and I'm looking forward to another family reunion this week (this one a gathering of Mama's family at my grandparent's summer property in Idaho).
I spent Saturday recovering from the last spurt of busyness (including a wonderful trip to the ice cream parlor and the park with my home family). Yesterday I rescued my garden from the onslaught of thistles, chamomile and bachelor's buttons--chamomile and bachelor's buttons are lovely flowers, but far too quick to propagate in my tiny garden, and tall enough to block the sun from my gladiolas. I also cleared out the circular paths between my flower beds (these, too, had been taken over by bachelor's buttons and a host of thistles) and made vibrant plans for next year's garden, when I will be the one to plant and keep it. I'm thinking fruit trees and blueberry plants in addition to the vegetable and flower beds.
Today has been thoroughly summer-ish, even marked by a little bit of boredom. Tomorrow will be a bit more productive because I'm going to make a few car-drive/picnic snacks to take to Idaho on Wednesday--spiced pecans and almond-coconut energy bars. I love to cook and bake, so between a garlicky green side that I'm making tonight and the snacks tomorrow, I should get my fill of kitchen creativity for a few days.

A soft orange light rested across the track--orange light to temper the rough red rubber surface and smear the treetops, and grace the fields with shimmering wonder. 5:00 AM. Running with Daddy. We warmed up in cool grey light and balmy air, did breathtaking speed work in the building glow of sunrise, and one last mile to cool down as the light grew bright and yellow. It was lovely.
Amid several days of busy fun with cousins, involving late nights and too-late wake-ups, it felt wonderful to get up so early and run (especially having gone to bed early with such a good excuse). And having done that, I was able to have a quiet hour, shower and eat, and practice piano before any other project got too far underway. This is summer break at its finest :-)