August | 2015 | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

Smooth. Sweet 100s. Perfect little bites. The skin is tight so when you put one in your mouth you have to pop them open to release the sweet, careful to keep your mouth closed so it doesn’t spray everywhere. Sometimes when you pick them, if they are ripe and warm, they’ll split open as they come off the stem.

When Dexter was still here, he loved them so much he tried to pick his own but couldn’t tell if they were ripe and would leave a trail of squished green ones behind him. He was so happy when I would grab a container and say, “let’s go pick some tomatoes” because he knew he’d get some, and every one of them would be ripe. This is a picture of him his last summer, when we put in a tomato plant just for him. I told him he could have all the tomatoes off that plant all to himself, even though I knew he’d probably be gone before it got fruit, before they were ready to eat — and he was. Letting him go, missing him has been anything but smooth.

1. Clean bookshelves. Organized and dusted, with about 15 bags of books removed, half for donation and half for trade. I didn’t really mean to take on this project today. It started with just three books that I was getting ready to take to trade, which led to checking for others, which led to cleaning and completely reorganizing the whole shebang.

image by Eric

2. Play date. Pancho is only five months old and he’s already bigger than Ringo, but not quite as big as Sam yet. It’s good to have another dog the boys can play with, and the bonus for me is I love Pancho’s mom so it’s like a play date for me too.

3. Summer fruit. Upick strawberries at Garden Sweet, watermelon, and peaches.

4. Good mail. I love having pen pals who write real letters that make me want to answer back immediately, that are so intimate it feels like they were sitting right there talking to me.

5. Glazed lemon zucchini bread with raspberries. Even better when there’s enough to share.

Bonus joy: finally working out the details of something really exciting I’ll tell you about on Monday, enough vegetables to share, dogs who just got baths, Ringo getting so grown up he can lounge in the backyard without me having to watch him every second, Sam’s coat turning purple red like it does every summer, Eric being able to walk the dogs when my foot hurts or it’s too hot for me, solar tunnels letting light into a few of the dark spots of our tiny house (we keep thinking we left the light on, now I want to put them everywhere), finalizing plans to get started on our bathroom remodel, having the energy to spend a whole day cleaning, being able to let go, physical therapy, soaking in the tub, napping, laughing, jasmine rice, hummus with cucumber and sweet potato chips, sleeping in, air conditioning.