And so I am back. It's June, with June weather, June weeds, June bugs. And June flowers. For ten days I've pulled myself away from peak growing season. Today I plunge back into it, making amends for my absence.
There is a lot to do.
But before I show you where we're at, here at the farmette that sits right smack in the middle of south central Wisconsin, let me say a word about swallows. We watch them swoop gracefully as they search for food for their young ones and we think -- how cool to be born with that gift of grace. A magnificent bird indeed!
But wait, I wanted to mention something about the other swallow -- my book. (Title: Like a Swallow: Looking Back at a Polish Childhood.) Some of you have been wonderful with your sweet emails to me. I plunged with the publication without showing the book to anyone and even though I tried to imagine what it would be like to read it, say as an American without a clue as to life in postwar Poland, or perhaps a friend who had lived there then (imagining what the reader is thinking is a regular exercise for me -- I do it every day with Ocean), I couldn't be sure how it would "sound" to someone else. So thank you: I have loved hearing from you. You are a generous audience!
Here's the thing. My publisher wants me to encourage you to write a review. On Amazon, or wherever you may have found the book. I grimace every time she tells me this, because it sounds so needy and awfully self-serving. In fact, I never wrote Like a Swallow to load up my bank account. But I do care about reaching readers. I do want a story from that time, that place, to get to people who haven't given much thought to life in so called communist Poland. And in this my publisher is right: the more you, who have read it, do a thumbs up on various sites like Amazon, the more likely it is that someone else will read it too.
Thank you! And, reviews or no reviews, I do love hearing from you directly, so don't let this humble request keep you from scribbling something to me as well, if you're so inclined. I don't permit comments on Ocean, but you know how to reach me outside the confines of this blog!
And now back to the real swallows, right here in the farmette: so beautiful, so full of life.
They have their work cut out for them. So many bugs out there! Too many mosquitoes of course, but that's to be expected. We had the rain this spring. Oh, did we have the rain!
But, but... what's blooming right now? I know you're curious. I was curious too this morning as I set out on my morning walk.
And I was thrilled to see that the peonies are at a good stage of magnificence. Not finished at all! Still in full glory, just like in Montreal!
(The Big Bed is starting to fill in...)
Too, the Siberian iris (my favorite) is really doing well this year. I love this gentle flower. I haven't the mass that I saw in the Botanical landscape in Montreal, but even a handful is so very pretty to look at!
(Our old girl, Peach, strolling through the garlic patch)
Breakfast on the porch. It's such a haven now! The bugs can't reach it even as we are so fully outside. With a bouquet of cut peonies from the flower fields.
I do a lot of weeding throughout the day. There is a hefty amount of bending, pulling and digging and so I have to watch myself. My back is not used to it anymore! Still, I accomplish a lot.
In the meantime, Ed has been moving more dirt to the young orchard, creating more space for our meadow project. I'll be throwing down more seeds this week, even as the existing meadow of wildflowers and grasses is already giving us so much pleasure!
Such a typical farmette late spring day. It's good to be home!
With love...
