And Just Like That…..

… it’s August.

We welcomed our third grandchild last Friday!  Much to his parent’s surprise,  he has a shock of beautiful red hair. We are all over the moon, full of joy for this little guy, who joins his sister M  and cousin J, all of whom are being raised on this family farm.

My daughter and her son… my son and his daughter in our vegetable garden on the hill behind our house..   This picture captures the dream my husband and I have been building for 37 years and not a day goes by that I am not grateful for this blessing.

Speaking of blessings… the fruits of our labor were on the dinner table last night…

Not pictured is my most favorite summer food… a simple garden tomato sandwich with mayo, salt & pepper. Sometimes some greens.

More garden shots…. I think planting things in your surroundings and nurturing them is one of the best gifts you can give yourself.

If you’ve been visiting this blog for years, you’ll remember our cottage at the shoreline.. Stella.   That was a wonderful renovation project and we enjoyed Stella for six years.  What we discovered along that journey is having two places to manage/maintain when our main homestead takes up so much of our time and energy isn’t ideal.  I found that most of my time spent at the cottage was doing the upkeep chores instead of the rest and relaxation it was intended for.   So ultimately we decided to sell it.   Mom had been renting a summer cottage down on the island for five years previously, and this year the opportunity to rent that previous cottage came available…. and so we headed down to the island again, moved mom in for a little over a week… and enjoyed what initially drew us to the area –  rest, relaxation, sea air, shore birds, and a few refreshing gin & tonics.

 

Who knew cormorants had such beautiful greenBlue eyes!  They are the color of jadeite –

Have you ever seen an American Oyster Catcher?  They, too, have beautiful eyes.  All of these shots I was able to get while out in the kayak in the cove.

Back on the farm… smoke from the Canadian wildfires has made our sunrises and sunsets eerily red lately.  Sometimes we can smell the smoke of it….

One of my favorite quotes –  “We’re all just walking each other home”….. I keep reminding myself to keep this mentality when I allow myself to peek at the news headlines or glance at the TV screen as the noise blares.  And there is SO… MUCH… NOISE.     I’ve not ever enjoyed politics, largely just keeping it out of my life other than to exercise my right to vote and cast my pebble into the ocean of what feels like the right trajectory for us and our fellow countrymen.   I knew there were many things our governing bodies were not getting right, many things that needed change and action that wasn’t coming – and that blame lies across the entire political spectrum.

That being said… I would not ever have believed an administration and a leader who is so thoroughly  corrupt  right in front of our very eyes in every facet of the human existence could muster the kind of cultlike support he has managed to create.  It’s mindblowing.  Ignoring it feels like a cop out, so I can’t.

 

   If your entire political identity is built on hating “the other” – immigrants, queer kids, people of color, women who speak up – then maybe it’s time to ask who really broke this country. Because it certainly wasn’t progressive ideas… and let’s be honest about what that actually means, those progressives… the idea of progress. Specifically, it refers to social progress, the process of a society lifting itself out of ignorance, injustice, and inequality, toward a future that promises enlightenment, prosperity, equality, and environmental sustainability. Why does that notion offend anyone at all? The answer to that isn’t comfortable.
   No… what broke this country was the normalization of cruelty, the elevation of fear over fact, and the celebration of power over principle. We didn’t drain the swamp, we added pollution to it.
    Loving your country doesn’t require hating its people. If your politics demand cruelty and hate, you’re not patriotic. That’s parasitic.
And I don’t regret losing a few “friends” because I choose to speak up about what we are all seeing and being honest about it. Because I know… where I come from is a place of fairness, justice, truth, equality, safety…the desire for economic and environmental soundness…. FOR ALL.
 If you’re still with me, this blurb below is true too….  ” we are all saving each other every single day in tiny, seemingly insignificant ways”…… that.   Keep doing it wherever you are.  Let’s grow where we are planted, and water others along the way. That is where our power lies, in the every day interactions.
 

 

till soon –

6 thoughts on “And Just Like That…..”

  1. Thank you for this wonderful post, and many congratulations on the birth of your third grandchild! I have a red-headed grandson too. We share a birthday – he just turned 16 and is one of the greatest joys of my life. Your family’s life on your farm is a treasure. I always loved Stella and your posts related to her. To me, it is tragic that our fellow citizens elected – and continue to support – a president who has created such a corrupt, unprofessional, cruel administration. It is frightening that he does not respect the law in the slightest.

  2. Love to see photos of your beautiful farm, and love to see those little ones, growing up so fast! As far as the politics, I’m with you…..I can’t be quiet, I can’t ignore it, or “be good”. the hell with that.

  3. Wonderful pics of rural life well-lived. Couldn’t agree more with your sentiments. As an urban dweller—I live in NYC—I witness the cruelty of the current “administration” on the daily. I’m guilty of eschewing the news media—it’s simply too heartbreaking. But I live in hope, however, that the “arc of the moral universe is long, but bends toward justice,” to quote a real American patriot. May you and your family be happy and well.

    1. Nancy I hope that quote remains true for the future, it is all so disheartening. Thank you for stopping in, and for your kind words.

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