"Oh summer has clothed the earth In a cloak from the loom of the sun! And a mantle, too, of the skies' soft blue, And a belt where the river runs."
Once again I will be on the move, this time back to our Moffett way home, where the summer air has been so lovely and clear, and where linens on a clothesline inspire me, under the shade and comfort of great black oaks, and where I am never too far from the sound of the whispering breezes, gently playing the chimes.
Music is everywhere, on porches and under tabernacles, inside churches, circling beach bonfires, blasting out of car windows, congregated at farmers' markets, it plays on. And if we turn it off and simply open our windows, on a bright summer day, our own nature's symphony will fill our ears.
I finished a wonderful book called "Dwelling in Possibility, Searching for the Soul of Shelter", by Howard Mansfield. One review says. "you will look at your surroundings, and perhaps yourself, in a richer and more nuanced way." The cover of the book is beautiful but even more so are the depth of his words:
"To go house hunting is to dwell in possibility. But what is that possibility? One is that we'll be a new person in a new home. Given a fresh start our better selves will rise. That's part of the answer. But the real possibility we seek is habit; it's the ordinary. Give us room for tumult and quiet, for solitude and passing the time with friends. Give us room for ordinary pleasures, for a day well lived."
Hanging my clothes to dry in the warm summer air inspires creative possibilities for a clothesline series, or better yet fills my ordinary moment with an ordinary pleasure.
"Why should beauty emerge from the world of the ordinary?
The answer is ultimately beacuse the world is natural."
-Soetsu Yanagi