Late summer makes me lazy. I take so much for granted. By this time, the jonnyjumpups have faded and the zinnias are twirling like fabulously skirted dancers next to the delicate fireworks of the cosmos and the lacy caps of dill.
I let Elspeth pluck zinnia heads; in fact, I encourage anyone with a love of bright colors and the perfect cut flower to harvest the beauties. No amount of cutting seems to make an ounce of difference.
My neighbor gave me a plastic bag full of cosmos seeds some short three months ago. I patted them into the earth in late May or early June with a sort of grumpy doubt--the same doubt I secretly harbor about every seed I drop into the earth. When I returned from the beach in August, the cosmos had exploded. What a wonderful surprise to find it all orange! I find it makes a bit of a mess as a cut flower, while the zinnias retain their posture and petal patterns like silk flowers when cut.
Today, reading Elspeth Bear About Town, a wonderful sturdy boardbook about a quirky, colorful bear who lives in a sort of London town and frequents such towny places as the bakery, the market, the gym, SplashAlley pool, the theatre (on a rainy day), etc., strolling down towny streets and waving at other hip bears walking dogs, I felt suddenly struck by the full realization of the utter simplicity of our life. We grow flowers and vegetables (sloppily); we read books; we take naps; sometimes our only outing is into the garden. The mail carrier dropping the mail into our postbox is an occasion, as is the Thursday rumbling of the garbage truck and an occasional good storm. Today my major accomplishment was baking homemade yeast rolls and reading an endless stack of books to Elspeth.
For the tiniest second I thought perhaps Bear's town life offered the opportunities we miss. I could be strolling Elspeth through town to a cafe or taking Merry to swimming lessons. And then I looked around at the endless sea of books around us, and out of the sunroom windows at the garden, and I realized that there is good all around, and this simple existence, though it occasionally seems long on hot days, is chock-full of goodness and graciousness. And this simple life, this rhythm of childhood will pass as quickly as a picture book. Let it last! Let it last!
