Indian Summer

The leaves are as shaky as my mothers hands today. Indian Summer is setting in and I can
feel the change with less humidity, leaves on the ground and dusty air. Fall Sunsets here in the delta are much like the ones in the West - there is so much dust in the
air - little dust particle prisms magnified by the glow of the suns rays change our blue skies to yelow, orange and red, purple, green and indigo.

This is one of my most favorite times of the year, in competition with spring. I must be like most people loving the nicer rather than harsh weather, but if it were not for a really cold winter day, there would be no need for a nice warm fire, and if there were no hot days there would be no need for the relief of a pool of water. And I do love to wear flip flops and boots.

And I also love soups and stews and chicken and dumplings.

Blessings

This is Nettie Carr Ferguson, the newest member of the Carr, Ferguson family. Our newest little angel, just born, straight from the womb, brought into this world on August 20th, her grandmother "Mimi" Ferguson's birthday, and my brother Chuck's Birthday.
She is beautiful and all anyone needs in life is to hold a baby to know the truth of what God really wanted for us...innocence, trust and love.

August and the smells of summer

All that anyone can talk about is the heat and the humidity, but I can feel and smell
summer ending and I know it won't be long before an unexpected dry breeze will blow across us and one day we will wake up and say, It smells like football season.

On the short path to my studio yesterday, I thought I could actually smell the earth decaying and decomposing - ground smells of heavy humus cooking in the heat of the earth, lifted up like body odor. Earth, sweating. Then there came the hot summer shower and the steam was heavy enough to take my breath away. It smelled like a wet dog smells after coming in from a rain storm. All those end of the summer smells, just pour out of the earth in August, needing some relief, just like me.

The little girl

We are back in Birmingham, I am playing with babies again, growing children, but still
babies. I am remembering my own childhood, summer nights, staying up too late, sounds and smells, crickets, locust, frogs, charcoal, heavy night air, and attic fans. I can hear the sounds and smell the smells tonight, thick and sweet, much like syrup right before it burns. It's the same sounds and smells that I remember when I was a little girl, but now I'm not the little girl, I'm not the mother, I'm the grandmother.

Just one grandmother of millions on this sticky hot summer night, remembering, because it
is what we do, alone, sitting quietly on porch swings. Remembering ~ nights like this, years ago when we were little girls hearing for the first time the sounds and smelling
the fullness of summer.

and the mosquito truck...