It’s amazing how quickly things change. We had a few days of heat at the beginning of the week and the season seemed to shift in an instant. Suddenly the roadsides are decked with blue chicory, black-eyed-susans, and white Queen Ann’s lace. The first of the goldenrods have begun to flower. Down by the barn the air is heavy with the perfume of milkweed flowers. The lawn that was purple with violets in the spring is speckled with purple prunella now.
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| Chicory blooming along the road. |
In the garden everything is growing rampantly. The beans have passed knee high. The pumpkin and squash vines are blooming at last. The onions have begun to fall over and the garlic is ready and both will soon be pulled up to cure. The cabbages are forming heads. The tomatoes have finally set fruit. The dill plants are six feet tall. And under the grape arbor the lilies are blooming. I can smell their sweet and powerful fragrance from one end of the garden to the other. We’re eating peas and new potatoes. The canning season officially opened on Monday with a batch of raspberry jelly. I love hot weather. For so many months of the year here it is chilly, cool, cold, or freezing. I cherish the few weeks of summer when it’s hot. Ah, summer!
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| Fragrant lilies in the garden. |
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| Our first batch of raspberry jelly. |
Several months ago I was thrilled by the announcement that a second novel by Harper Lee was going to be punished, a story set 20 years after To Kill A Mockingbird that she actually wrote first. I pre-ordered it immediately and waited anxiously for its arrival. To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my favorite novels, my top nomination for the title of The Great American Novel. I’ve read it many times. So when my copy of Go Set A Watchman arrived at last, I set aside the book I was reading and started it immediately. I finished it in a day or two. I was disappointed. [SPOILER ALERT] This book undoes much of what I love most about To Kill A Mockingbird. In Watchman, Atticus Finch is not the noble defender of equality under the law. A pivotal episode in Mockingbird, the trial of Tom Robinson, is told completely differently in Watchman and ends with Tom’s acquittal, not his death, as a tribute to Atticus’s skill as a lawyer and nothing more. In Watchman Atticus is a racist and an apologist for racism. I doubt Harper Lee actually wanted the book published. She had 55 years to do it and didn’t. Now when it is finally published, many find the circumstances suspicious. I wish I’d never read Go Set A Watchman. Now when I read To Kill A Mockingbird again (and I will), I’m afraid it will be tainted by that other Atticus. I hope that eventually I can forget Go Tell A Watchman.
My parents and Miriam arrived on Thursday afternoon. They were down in North Carolina for the last two weeks visiting Hollie and her family. On their way up here they stopped in Duncannon and spent the night at Aunt Esther’s house. We’re so glad they’re here now. We don’t really do a whole lot during their visits. They just like to relax. Dad always finds a book or two to read while he’s here. We mostly just sit and talk. They spend a lot of time sitting on the porch. It’s nice just to be together and have a house full of family again. On Friday Hannah, Miriam, and I drove up to Palmyra and brought Josiah home. He had a wonderful time being on the work crew for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. After a month away, we’re glad he’s home and he’s glad too, but it won’t last long. He will leave again tomorrow for a week at scout camp.
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| My parents on the front porch. |
The week ahead looks to be full of fun. The Potter County Fair starts today. We are planning to go tomorrow evening for Family Home Evening. We love to go to the fair. The rest of the week is unplanned, but full of possibility. Most likely, we will spend some time playing some games, sitting and talking, eating good food, and enjoying each other’s company. And that is good enough for me.
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| The rainbow we had last Sunday evening. |
