solstice meditation

let it be said here that summer is my least favorite season.
we've talked about this before - i'm well aware - but hey, blogs get repetitive.

it's probably my scandinavian blood. my propensity for butter and oily fish has landed me with an extra thick skin, ill suited for heat and humidity.
don't like a damn thing about bar-b-ques.
could write a memoir on my experience with thunderstorms.

but turns out that most of the things I do love take center stage in summer months, flowers, fruit, vegetables; you know the drill. so i'll grin and bear it for a 30th year, waiting patiently for labor day.
making hay while the sun shines, if you will.

this morning on my walk with Nea (who, incidentally, shares in my distaste for the warmer months) I happened across a small parcel of happy weeds with purple flowers tucked amongst the evergreens. But what the hell was it called? We continued on, my mind painfully sloughing through my repertoire of plant nomenclature. Trying to extract something from your brain can be a strange, almost physical experience.

Crown Vetch! - how could I forget? i was obsessed with this weed for a few weeks last summer...it's soft abundant takeover of a marshy field...it's myriad lavender flowers. Believe it or not, vetch holds up great as a cut in water.

so the dog and me, we backtracked and I grabbed it up roots and all; dutifully filling my role as the NYC parks department's faithful weeder.

it is such things that give me small pleasures this time of year...when all the swiss chard, rosé and raspberries fall short.

happy summer, fools.