Bounty of the Summer Solstice

It's a properly hot summer's day (muggy near 90 degrees with nearby thunderstorms) to mark the occasion. But I am grateful because I celebrated it with my first morning walk down by the lake in....maybe a month & a half. The Cottonwoods had amassed their stash, children's voices denoted summer camp down by the breakwater and I could now see the clearly dead Ash tree next to where the path meets the rocks. Whether it was Emerald Ash Borer, I don't know, but it did make me realize that several of the dead trees I noticed recently were mostly Ash and a few Elms. I confess the Ash don't pain me as much as the loss of the Elms, but a lost tree usually gives me pause.
Since this is a day to do that, I reflected on a few things. Most of them seemed to fit in the category of things or experiences or people coming back into my life, making me feel "rich." Above you can see the literal currency that emerged unexpectedly from a pants' pocket: the Guatemalan 50 Quetzal note (usually about 8Q to the dollar) which I hope had only been there since my March trip to AFOPADI, not the previous one last July. The other reflections had to do with a resurfacing of connections during this past week with three women I met at the Ragdale Foundation (an artist's colony) during the 80s and 90s while I was there on writing retreats: Danielle Sosin, Ronnie Dreyer and Katherine Kadish. Even though I had read about the changes at Ragdale since my last visit in the late 90s, I was surprised to note my response upon returning (for a reading by Danielle from her recent, critically acclaimed novel: The Long-Shining Waters, this year's Milkweed National Fiction Prize Winner).
What most impressed me was the visceral feeling I experienced of how the landscape had changed. How the giant elm tree branches had expanded where they touched the ground like a benign octopus...how the old Arbs had grown leggier and reached out further shading the path down the south side of the garden...how the canopy of over-story trees had been diminished for the construction and made the old house appear immodest...and how the prairie had shifted and consumed what used to be a meeting place beneath several hawthorns.
I have great gratitude for Ragdale as it nurtured me both as a writer and as a future landscape person. For about 15 years, I was lucky enough to roam the prairie during all seasons when I was in a receptive state. I am sure this is part of why I love landscape. You can access that prairie now through the Open Lands Foundation Skokie River Nature Preserve in Lake Forest, Illinois and experience it for yourself...