Last night, Esther and I setup a projector in the yard and a blanket and had an outdoor movie night. We listened to fireworks, traffic, dogs barking, and saw the occasional bat, while enjoying the cool evening air and Boardwalk Empire. I woke up at 7:30 this morning to let the dogs out. They were well-behaved in the yard as they took their morning constitutionals. I set a blue camping chair out under one of our maple trees and resumed reading “Sometimes a Great Notion” by Ken Kesey. At some point I went online, wrote a post on Facebook about Rhett, caught up with the latest status updates of my friends, and then I took to the green jungle that had previously passed as my garden. I weeded, I raked, I spread compost. I then started a fire in the fire-pit to burn the brush pile that had been lingering since last fall. Soon, Esther awoke and joined me in the yard on a second camp chair and started reading. After clearing the raised beds of weeds and grass, it seemed only fitting that I plant something there, so I transplanted two tomato plants and a Thai basil plant that I had been keeping in containers on the front step. I caged the tomatoes and gave treats of fertilizer stakes all around. A healthy watering and fingers crossed. I am confident the Brandywine will be fine, but the basil and the Better Bush are looking wilty.

My jalapeño and bell pepper plants are looking fantastic, young peppers forming on each. The raspberry canes, hazelnut bushes, and two of the three apple trees are all enthusiastically producing fruit and nuts. White lilacs have appeared atop the Japanese lilac tree. All eight maple trees are making helicopter seeds like they’re going out of style. I’ve seen jays, a woodpecker, and the usual robins and chickadees at the bird feeder, as well as an acrobatic squirrel. The breeze has been perfect all day, and the maple has provided the perfect shade to compliment it. I’ve eaten when I felt like it, read comics and Kesey interchangeably, had a couple beers, and basically found as much peace in my own yard as I typically find on a secluded trail. A dragonfly the size of a hummingbird just paid me a visit. Light blue and gorgeous. So far, this is the day I needed.