A few rainy days, the 6 a.m. world, a novel worth staying up for, and a filmmaker you need to know
The rain came. It came for a few days in a row, and there is something about rain after months of dry, scorching heat that feels like an exhale you have been holding since June. The leaves on the trees had been turning brown, not because fall was arriving but because they were simply exhausted. I understood the feeling completely.
This summer has been relentless. It has been the kind of hot where the air itself feels offensive, where stepping outside means negotiating with the sun and usually losing. Even the pool, which is supposed to be the great relief, has not been much of one. Getting from your chair to the water requires a small act of bravery, a sprint across pavement that could fry an egg, and then once you finally lower yourself in, you become essentially a hippopotamus. Entire body submerged. Just the head above the waterline. Head, of course, covered in a hat and sunglasses. This is the glamour of summer in the South.
But then the rain came, and with it the promise of August. One more month. One more month until the “ber” months, September, October, November, December, which are, if you ask me, the months when life remembers what it is supposed to feel like. I am ready. More than ready.
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The 6 a.m. World
A few weeks ago I mentioned I had started taking long morning walks, and I am still doing it, still heading out before the daylight. This morning it was me and the bats on their last loop before bed, and the dawn chorus just starting to fill in, birds calling back and forth as if comparing notes on the night. At six in the morning I never see another person. It is just me and the squirrels and the deer and sometimes Patches, and the world is entirely quiet in a way the rest of the day never quite manages.
This morning the silence was so complete that the only thing I could hear was the distant hum of an air conditioner somewhere down the road. There is something I did not expect about that kind of quiet: it is not empty. It is full. Full of birdsong and rustling and the particular sound of early light, if light can be said to make a sound. I think it can. In a world that is permanently making noise, silence has become something I am actively looking for, and these walks are where I find it.
Tomorrow I have my annual MRI, and if you are the praying kind, I would appreciate your prayers.
On the Nightstand
This week I finished Frankie by Graham Norton, and it was exactly the kind of novel I did not know I needed. Frankie Howe has spent a lifetime on the edges of things, watching, observing, never quite sure enough of herself to step into the center. Now old and recovering from a fall in her London flat, she begins telling her story to Damian, a young Irish caretaker who arrives to look after her. What spills out is a life — post-war Ireland, 1960s New York, friendship and art and the particular intensity of certain years that blaze so brightly you spend the rest of your life wondering how to talk about them. Norton writes with a lightness that conceals real feeling, and Frankie herself is the kind of character you keep thinking about after you have closed the book.
Looking for more books? Everything I have recommended can be found on My Bookshop. Most are also available from Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and on Libby from your local library.
Something to Watch
This week I discovered filmmaker Jack Harris, and I have been watching his work with the kind of attention I usually reserve for a very good book. If you have not come across him yet, this is a beautiful place to start. I hope it turns out to be an ongoing series, because I am already wanting more.
What I Wish I Were Wearing
The rain has brought with it cooler air, not cold but definitely cooler than the 90s’ we’ve had. With it my mind is slowly wandering to sweater weather. Crazy, I know. It’s not even August. This rollneck sweater will take you from cool summer nights right into Fall, layer it with a t-shirt or button down. Pair it with jeans, shorts, pants or skirts. Slingback sandals, tennis shoes or flip flops will work along with this bag or a tote.
Outfit Separates Below
The rain has moved on now but it left something behind, a cooler morning, a quieter quality to the light, and that kind of energy that comes when you have been waiting for a turn and it finally comes.
Tell me — are you a summer person or do you start counting down to fall the moment August arrives?
You can also find me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook, where I share the small beautiful things between posts.
Have a wonderful day friends.
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On My Radar
Sending prayers for your MRI. I am so in agreement that this Summer in the South can’t end soon enough. Done with it! I can hardly wait for the -ber months; in fact, I bought a Halloween owl at Homegoods just to pretend it is October now.