#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Black Swallowtail in the bee balm
Kelly, Karin, Deborah, at the Mount, Lenox, MA
Wow, what a day of gardens and sunshine and major political news. I thought I’d be tired, but I did a swim and the water was glassy and very warm. Home to invite Wave into the yard to help me with some projects. Cheerfully, eagerly in a shirt and no pants, we go out into the amazing summer weather. Our first delight: the black swallowtail that flew over our heads into the bee balm. He loved using his clippers to deadhead the daisies, and then I got him to help me move wagon after wagon of mulch from our massive mulch pile to finish mulching the newly transplanted ferns and other plants in the dragonfly garden. The best way to hold his interest, I discovered, was to pretend to be various types of machines: excavators, dump trucks, etc. So, he worked hard. I had, in the afternoon, three competing events, and I wanted to go to all, but could only choose one: I chose to go to the The Mount, Edith Wharton’s amazing museum and gardens in Lenox, MA to see my dear friend Karin’s installation in the sculpture gardens, pictured below, where she was the artist leading the tour. There was traffic and it took awhile, but I listened to a variety of the short fiction on The New Yorker’s Writer’s Voice podcast. My favorite was Roddy Doyle’s The Buggy. I loved it. I’ll listen again soon. It was a spectacular tour, and Karin was so knowledgeable and interesting about the various pieces, including her own, which is my definite favorite, because it’s a wave. A wave that can be in a garden, but communicates everything I love about water and its reflecting quality––in the gorgeous habitat of trees, grass, plants. Home listening to the political news updates the whole way, Biden’s withdrawal, which kept me quite interested. Tonight, everyone suddenly home and dinner made, kitchen cleaned up, and lots of conversations, catching up from everyone’s day, a busy, noisy, happy after-dinner hour. And then to the compost with my daughter, and to the watering, and the hefty, pleasant pink clouds and all the growing things that bring me, and everyone, so much happiness. I stayed out until dusk fussing over plants. Came in at dark and had energy to be out longer. I was so pleased that Deborah, my friend and writer from the Charles River Writers, also made the trip out to The Mount to support Karin.
“Vertical Water-Silver Wave” by Karin Stanley, featured Artist, The Mount, Lenox, MA