“Slip and Slide” ©Ruth Armitage 2013 Acrylic on Paper 11″x13″

I’ve just returned from a few days away, from visiting my home territory, listening to country music, visiting with family and friends. Summer is always a season of Slip & Slide… the thrills of moving fast, green grass, harvested fields, wind in your hair, cold water, warm sun all jumbled together in an uncontrollable slide toward autumn. Seasons: days and months and years, childhood, adulthood, old age… all combining in a sweet-salty-sad tapestry.

All weekend, my sister kept saying ‘Do you remember when….?’ and I DO! And someday I will look back and ask her ‘Do you remember…’ about this weekend. The challenge is to appreciate the present while cherishing the past.

Now I’m home. I’ve filled three vacuum canisters and two dust pans. I’m packing for my trip to Utah! Getting everything ready for my husband so he doesn’t have to work too hard while I’m gone. Appreciating the comforts of home. Looking forward to the stimulation of a new class. Here is a bit of summer inspiration to tide you over until I return…

Under the Harvest Moon

by Carl Sandburg

Under the harvest moon,

When the soft silver

Drips shimmering

Over the garden nights,

Death, the gray mocker,

Comes and whispers to you

As a beautiful friend

who remembers.

Under the summer roses,

When the flagrant crimson

Lurks in the dusk

Of the wild red leaves,

Love, with little hands,

Comes and touches you

With a thousand memories,

And asks you

Beautiful, unanswerable questions.