First Day of Summer

Looking out my bedroom window, I see plenty of blue sky and a clear view of the white-capped Olympic Mountains. The first day of summer looks like one. The peas are finally beginning to bloom in the pots on my deck. It took over two months from planting to flowering. I heard on the radio that this was the coldest spring we’ve had in Seattle since 1950. Now I hope the peas manage to produce pods before the weather turns too hot for them.

The morning sun just flowed through the Rapunzel window where I sit typing, spilling a warm pool over my left foot. Yes, it looks like a good day. I’m very grateful that I get off work at 3:00 today instead of 5:30.

I woke about ten minutes before 4:00 am to find that I’d fallen asleep with the bedside lamp on. I turned it off, but the birds were already singing and I never managed to get back to sleep. I tried to quiet my anxiety about my father’s cancer diagnosis and impending radiation and chemo by listening to the quiet morning and bird song and feeling grateful for these. One bird call sounded like “Judy”. “Ju-dee”, with emphasis and slightly higher pitch on “dee”. Over and over the bird called to his absent “Ju-dee”.