Merry Meet!
How long it always feels like it has been and how earnestly I want to just throw myself into making and sharing with you. Summer to me is the most liminal of times – the cusp of the cold and solid reality. I feel as though I’m immersed in the most dreamlike of walking states and in a blink of an eye, it is gone.
Sometimes, this frightens me because ultimately, our lives are just as fleeting. So, we mustn’t feel bad about allowing the long twilights, steady waves and heat consume our time and thoughts.
This summer has been very pleasant! We have had both heat and rain. Lightning and thunder, red skies at night and so much growth despite the cold beginning. Jamie and I have already travelled to Nova Scotia and home numerous times this month and he is anticipating a trip to the American South for work. Sadly, my passport won’t be processed by that time so I can keep enjoying the cool Maritime breezes and salty Atlantic.
This summer, we have crossed the strait, visited Halifax, walked the Harbour with ice cream, sat by the ocean, gardened bare foot, read books, had fresh salads, waded through shallow rivers, collected quartz, watched next to nothing on TV, avoid social media, ate pints of Strawberries and bobbed in the waves.
Creatively – I have been very quiet. I feel and hope that I will feel overwhelmed with creativity very soon. That I’m simply garnering all of this energy so that in the colder months I have bouts of making and drawing. I’m trying to disconnect from my social media account as much as possible – use it without really using it, if that makes any sense. I prefer blogging, the connections and honesty that comes with it. The significantly less
Still, I am knitting and drawing – just not as much. Some evenings, I don’t even touch wool because my hands are busy with a book. I’m reading Gone with the Wind right now and am so grateful to Margaret Mitchel for reminding me of how liberating it is to be lost in a good book!
There are still many months of summer left! Months to ripen the garden. Currently, I’m picking greens everyday for a salad and flowers to dry. We are only now beginning to cut the garlic scapes.
The day is still very young and we are going to get out to walk Henry. The trails on PEI in the summer are often deserted due to the draw of sandy beaches. I think I will knit today, walk, collect some herbs and flowers and read to my heart’s content.
Merry Part ❤
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” Cicero
Ways of Wood Folk 
What a lovely account of summer life, Julia! A healthy balance of being and doing. I’m glad you mentioned the rosewater 🌹spritzer. I must pull mine out of the cupboard! I tend to use mine in the winter as a reminder of summer and as an extra level of moisturizing, but forget how refreshing it is to use on a hot summer day. Thanks 🙏 for the reminder! Your photos always transport me to a peaceful place in my heart. Summer Blessings!
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And I’m curious to know how you make your rosewater 🌹
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You and Camilla inspired me to make a little post about Rose Water! It’s in honour of you two 😀 I agree, it is very refreshing. I think I will make some from dried petals for the winter, thanks for the suggestion!
It has been so hot here and we are expecting another couple of hot days. I’m planning to take Henry to the forest so we have streams and the shade of the trees.
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Thank you 🙏! I will read it today! I spritzed my entire body with mine this morning. Another hot humid day – temps and heat index into the upper 90’s again. Forecast says thunderstorms tomorrow morn with cooler temps – only around 80. That’s still pretty hot for me, but I’ll take it!
Since I get the weather a day or so before you (depending on how fast it moves) you should be getting a break too soon. Be well, stay cool! Enjoy the forest and streams.
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You take the most beautiful pictures! And your family’s house is gorgeous! I’m in love with the colors! 😍
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Thank you so much!! It is a classic Maritime house! Wooden structures painted brightly and just out in the “wild”.
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I wish I could step into these pictures, Julia 🙂 I am always so inspired by all the things you and Jamie do! I have not managed to dry a lot of flowers, I keep changing places, but I don’t seem to find one that are dry enough during summer. This summer I might, but the only flowers we have are lavender, and I can’t decided wether to let them be for all the bees or to use them in my soaps!
What sort of roses do you use for rosewater? I would love to try to make some. How do you like Gone with the wind? It’s been a few years since I read it, but I liked it a lot. Let me know when you’ve finished what you think 🙂
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Camilla! I wrote a post inspired by you and Bonnie this morning about making Rose Water! I hope it might encourage you to try to make your own! I’m not sure if the roses in Norway are still in bloom, we are beginning to see the tail end of them but there are still plenty!
Mmmm.. I understand your predicament about which flowers to choose and leave. I must admit, Lavender is the one flower that I am quite selfish over. I tend to take over 50 per cent of the flowers because they are just so useful for so many things (soap, laundry sachets, sachets for wool in a cedar chest, teas, baths, calming remedies for the animals, etc. etc.) I think that if you look around and see that the bees have plenty of flowers and blooms to enjoy, the lavender can be yours. If you plant Borage, the bees will be very, very happy.
I am loving Gone with the Wind, but it will take me likely all summer to read! 1000 pages is heavy and I don’t always find the time to read 😦 What are you reading?
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Oh, that is SO kind! Thank you very much! 😊 We have only two type of roses around our house. I’m not sure what they are because they were planted before we moved here. But they are blooming pretty early. My mother has a few historical roses and they are bloming now and looks like they’ve got a few more weeks at the least 😊 The lavenders are planted in a bed where nothing else would grow. I want to make another bed next to them, maybe I could plant Borage there? 😊
Gone with the wind is long, I know. I can’t remember how long it took me to read, but very often i read more or faster the longer into the story I am. Do you? 🙂 I’m still reading «Blå» (Blue), but I put it aside for a while to read a book called something like «A modern family» by a Norwegian writer named Helga Flatland. I think Blue will be translated into english. Maja Lunde wrote a book called The History of Bees and it has been translated to 31 language (I bet english is one of them?). Blue has been sold to translation to at least 15 languages. They are two of four planned books about climate and hos climate changes might affect us i different ways. I think they are very good!
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I have definitely head of the book The History of Bees! I had no idea the author was Norwegian. I will look it up to read! Do you like Karl Ove? My Mom really loves him, I have still yet to read anything by him.
My next book to read is the Country Girls Trilogy by an Irish Writer, Edna O’Brien. I have been meaning to read it too for many years!
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Ok. 🙂 She is a really good writer. One of my favorites. I have not yet read anything by Karl Ove Knausgård. I know that he is suppose to be a very good writer and of course he is, or else that many people would not have read his books. But I keep thinking «would a woman writing about her childhood be that highly praised?» But I should read his books before making up my mind avout him, of couse. Have you read The daugthers of Egalia by Gerd Brantenberg? I really want to read that. Country Girls triology sounds like something I should check out! 🙂
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