What July Has Been

Hammock afternoons, high ropes, and finding cool spaces to escape the heat

Minneapolis Institute of Art, © Manuela Thames

Lately, dinner has been stripped back to simple meals like fresh pesto pasta or leafy salads. Salad counts as a full meal if you throw in some protein, right?

It’s been a hot summer. The kale and basil in the garden grow with stubborn optimism, while the tomatoes finally taste like real tomatoes again.

On one especially hot and humid afternoon, I took myself on a solo date to the museum - the Minneapolis Institute of Art, to be exact. I wandered through the cool galleries, admiring the paintings and photographs, but mostly I came for the people-watching. There is something both intriguing and entertaining about watching museum visitors slowly wander, lost in thought as they contemplate a work of art.

Time stretches out differently when the days are this long and bright. Mornings arrive before I am quite ready for them, and the days themselves refuse to end. I love it, though. I love the longest days of the year. I lie in the hammock with a novel, reading the exact same page three or four times because I keep getting distracted watching the clouds drifting by. Underneath the hammock, my dog seeks refuge from the heat, and I listen to the steady rhythm of her panting. In the cooler mornings, we head for the woods near the river, where she jumps into the water at every opportunity.

The highlight of this month was accompanying my sixteen-year-old son on his adventure camp. Who knew that spending a week with a group of teenagers could be so deeply healing? Up on the high ropes, I realized once again that I am, in fact, afraid of heights. But with the teenagers calling out, “If I can do it, you can do it,” I made it through several of the obstacles. On another day, we spent a couple hours on a lake in kayaks paddling like maniacs to “capture the flag”. It ended in everyone tipping over everyone and laughing so hard that I forgot I was an adult. Getting to be a kid again, at least for a little while, made me feel more alive than I had in a very long time.

Back at home, I promised myself that I would embrace the rest of this summer with everything I have.

The dirty feet.

The long days.

The sweltering heat.

The fresh vegetables.

And those long evenings when you just want to linger outside a little while longer while listening to the steady hum of crickets and the all-too-familiar sound of a mosquito approaching your ear before you swat it away.

Maybe this is what summer is really all about: collecting ordinary, fleeting moments that quietly weave themselves into beautiful memories.

All the images are in-camera double exposures and were taken on the day I went to the museum. Museums are such great places for making photographs.

I hope you are enjoying summer as well, wherever you are.

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Items of Note

Our next Creative Hour for paid subscribers is scheduled for Saturday, August 15, 11 am Central Time.

Please check out my workshop schedule for fall below!