Friday

I used to tell Ed that the NYTimes tracked my stories here on Ocean, because every once in a while, out of the blue, an Ocean theme would appear a day later in some life style section of the pager. Hey, that was my idea! Of course, one other way to look at it is to recognize that there are only so many topics of general interest or discussion in our lives and we just keep going around the same themes over and over again. We'd like to believe that we are original, clever even, but we're not. Everything has been lived before and certainly stated before. 

That sense of repetition and a parroting of an Ocean theme was with me today when I looked at the paper and saw a story on contentment. Wait, didn't I just write about that a couple of days back? Without question we strive for that purposeful contentment, choosing to search for it through our connection to the natural world and more broadly, to my kids, to our friends. Didn't I just say something to that effect? And now the paper gives us this article about the Secret of Aging Well. (In case you don't have time to read it, it is about that: striving for contentment despite roadblocks/impediments/life's issues as you grow older.)

And then I notice the date on the article and I see that it is a rerun from an earlier moment in time, and I think -- my god, we really do just go around the same circle over and over!

Still, as Ed and I sit yet again for an extra long time on the porch over breakfast, watching those darn swallows...

... I tell him -- I'm sure glad you deliberately choose to be the way you are. I think he was a bit puzzled with that one, but then, he's used to me saying things that are a little whacky and out of the blue.

Breakfast was once again super late, but this time I had a legitimate excuse: Wisconsin is now home to ripe blueberries! Ed picked some up at the farmers market yesterday from Aggie our blueberry farmer. And so I baked. A blueberry-thyme yogurt cake. This one:

Speaking of life's repetitions, drum roll! It's time for your July viewing of the day lilies.

In larger groups now. Because really, it's not just a single lily that has us gasp, it's that they look so good together!

Right?

(Okay, just one closeup!)

In the afternoon, I pick up Snowdrop at camp once again. It's her last day of "Nature and Art," and I can tell that she has been as happy with this one as she was with Robotics Camp and Cartoon Art Camp and Softball. Kids love summer programs with new friends -- that has to be the conclusion here.

Today she is especially tickled because in the course of the morning, her last front tooth finally came out. As a person who takes many grandchild photos, I have tried hard to work around the fact that her baby teeth remained in place even as her big teeth had already come in. The dentist said -- give it until the end of the summer. Finally, today, she is rid of them and her smile is sweet and especially grown-up!

In the evening, Ed and I eat leftovers, just because they are there. We take our salads and reheated pizzas outside, because it is so perfect on the porch right now. The swallows swoop down, then soar above the tree tops and as the setting sun hits the bellies, for a brief second they look like specs of gold against a darkening sky. Brilliant and graceful. And each year, more of them build nests here and each year. we get this humbling show of their perfect flight.