Joys of Summer

They are haying the fields around our house, my favorite two to three times a year. I just love the smell, love to see the once-tall grass short and new and green, love that connection to the farming community here. This family leases the fields from the owners (who built a huge expensive house way out on a 92 acre piece of land) and hay the fields to feed their dairy cows. My favorite part is when they bale it - there is something about the way the bailer whips that topsy-turvy hay into a lovely rectangular bail! To go with the sound of the tractor in the field is the sound of my dear husband mowing our lawn.

Today is the perfect summer day for me weather wise. In the 80s, no humidity to speak of, a beautiful breeze, partly cloudy. Perfect.

Two days ago on my way home from school (how strange it feels to talk about being in school again!) I stopped at one of those small local grocery stores. I was buying only one small item, but then suddenly the clerk was handing me a huge bouquet of gorgeous roses!! They were free, a bit on the 'past it' side for them to be selling, so they were giving several bouquets away to customers. The ones I was given were the most beautiful color of them all. When we got married, my mother-in-law wore a corsage from sterling silver roses, and these roses remind me so much of them. They aren't pink, they aren't purple, they aren't really quite mauve. The are lovely, though, and I will enjoy them as long as they last. What an unexpected treat!

This week has been exhausting. We got home from my parents' camp late Sunday night. Monday I started class, then we went to the baseball game with DH's whole family (which was loads of fun). Tuesday I had to get up quite early to be in Manchester by 8 for my next class. And so it continued, with me reading as much as I can and typing up drafts of papers last night while eating my dinner after class, and so on. I am glad I do not have class on Fridays, and I am so grateful to have a husband as wonderful as J, who is so supportive and takes care of so many things while I am out during the day. Little Bug is thrilled that I am home in the evenings, as I was gone so much during the class I took in the spring, either at class or at work.

I am adjusting to life as a student, and I think I will enjoy both classes, though one more than the other. It is wonderful to put my mind to work in such a big way again, and to be stretching those muscles that have been dormant so long!