Daybook for a mid-summer Heat Wave?

Outside my window ...

The air is heavy with the whirring and rattling of cicada song, their melodies ebbing and flowing through the morning heat. The thick wall of humidity that had been a mainstay late last week has dissipated allowing one to breathe deep at last. Once again the cloudless sky is a deep, satisfying blue.  The temperatures last week had hovered anywhere from 99 to 105 with heat indices from 110 to 124. With temperatures in the low 90's predicted for today and tomorrow with very low humidity, we are now refreshingly experiencing somewhat of a 'cool wave.'

I am wearing ...

A black cotton jersey sleeveless sundress.

On Pandora ...

George Shearing radio. Now playing: My Old Flame by Paul Bley. This station, introduced to me by Katie, reminds me of my brother Paul. He is somewhat of a jazz affectionado. It also stirs up a desire to share a candlelit dinner with my husband. A little wine, a little dancing. Hmm ...

Around, ahem, outside the house ...

My Jim is building a new - bigger and better - deck. The heat wave has not deterred him. He dug and hammered and pounded and poured concrete in defiance of the suffocating, hellish air. Like a marathon runner, he paced himself accordingly finding a rhythm - and several quarts of water - that allowed him to persevere slowly and steadily. He also rested periodically and somehow managed - with no apparent arm twisting - to elicit the help of our son and five of  his friends when it came time to pour the concrete for the footings. A mark of true friendship and fidelity, I'd say! No one, outside of myself, will welcome the new deck more than our little canine friend, Holly. She paws the back door each morning pleading to be let out to bask in the early sun and sniff the beginning of a new day. Each time, I pull the curtain aside to show her the emptiness that was once our old deck. "Not yet, Holly, not yet. But soon, we hope."

From the kitchen and in the garden ...

Our summer harvest! Fresh cucumber, squash, tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, and snap peas. Meals taste so much better in summer! The 'pickle man' has already put up a few quarts of bread and butters and is preparing to jar some dills real soon.

I am hearing ...

Happy meowing for - what else? More food!

I am reading ... and loving ...

Wendell Berry's A Place on Earth

I am hoping and praying ...

For healing and miracles for many who are very dear to me and for some whom I hardly know and for those in between and for some I have never met.

I am pondering ...

Distributism. When I was a young adult my political, economic views - however unsophisticated and naive - were very much left leaning. I was very much a free spirit, anti-war, tree-hugger type. After I married, my conservative Republican husband began changing my mind little by little. As I matured and particularly as I grew in my faith and knowledge of the basic tenets of the Church,  certain issues became paramount - i.e., the right to life and the dignity of all persons. I became disenchanted with radical environmentalism and realized that the relativistic, hedonistic life that had peppered my college years had left me empty and wounded. I did, as they say, a complete 180 and as a young wife and mother, decided to label myself a conservative Republican. And it suited me just fine until, truthfully (and I'm speaking very personally here) I found I really wasn't comfortable with some of George W. Bush's foreign and economic policies - particularly in his second term. So, not too long ago, I decided that perhaps I am really a conservative independent, but I still found no real "voice" out there. And then, I stumbled upon an article about distributism. I read more and more about it, devouring article after article, encyclicals (Rerum Novarum) and books, Joseph Pearce's Small is Still Beautiful: Economics as if Families Mattered. I have finally found my niche. Protecting our natural resources is critical. Big business and big government are joined at the hip. Neither is good for our economy. Workers have rights and people have dignity. And as always, human life is God's most precious creation and must be protected at all stages. Yeah, okay, so I do feel like a late bloomer. It's been right there under my nose this whole time and I've only now discovered it.

Hmm, seems like a lot of pondering, wouldn't you say? Too much for a simple Daybook post and clearly I've only barely scratched the surface. If you're interested in learning more about distributism click on the links embedded above or search for it on the web.

I am grateful ...

For my family and how God has showered us with grace.

A few plans ...

Looking forward to a 'get-away' day trip or two in a few weeks with Jim and possibly the wee hound.

A picture thought ...