AT RANDOM:
Well it’s home again to Plume Gables and the greatness of Idaho summertime. As I sit here typing, the night bugs are scratching out their cacophony with drawn out leg strums and the staccato of antennae against evening air. The grapes are mumbling their long summertime sigh, “Longer. Taller. Reach further. Grow plumper.” Thank God for the darkness outside, the silhouette of the mountains in the distance, the heady scent of sage winding through the screen door and around my senses. I love home.
I also love lavender cheese. This stuff cannot be beat. I spent too much on a block of it from the fish shop at the local Pocatello Co-op and I don’t regret it one bit. I’ve been living on it and black bean salad with fresh garden veggies and avocados. Eating, these days, is such a simple pleasure. For the most part, I glean what I can from the garden and wash it all down with iced tea and plain yogurt (Nancy’s). These are mundane life details but I feel like we haven’t talked for so very long that I’m inclined to give you the long and the short of it all.
Little rocks with big plans. Lined up, smooth talking on the front porch railing. Hot in the afternoon sunshine. Little miracles. Mountains on my doorstep. I want to slice them in two, keep one half for myself and give the other to you. We’ll keep them in our pockets and run our thumbs over their smooth faces when we attempt to be wise while making big decisions in life. Little stones for peoples with busy fingers and complicated nexus.
I gathered them at the South Fork of the Snake River
under dark clouds, beside the wateRRush.
What makes you choose one stone out of a pile of stones? The color? The texture? The size?
I nearly always have a rock in my pocket.
A rock and at least 3 hair elastics.
I’ve spent the day remembering all the things I thought about while crisscrossing Idaho, Oregon and Washington. I remember most of all, listening to one song by Fleet Foxes, repeatedly, in the dark while following the tail lights ahead of me:
Come down from the mountain
you have been gone too long…
…call me anything you want
any old name will do
call me back to
back to you.
[Fleet Foxes]
I couldn’t get enough of those notes, drawn out long and laid out bare.
I felt like a witness, unto myself, listening to that song.
AS I WRITE THIS. I’M NOT SAD. I JUST AM.
Summer is strong enough for me; strong enough for us both.
There was a clear stream in Oregon, on the edge of the pines. I set my bare feet down it in but it felt like I dropped my soul in that cold spring water. I drifted to sleep under blanket blue and when I awoke, I wasn’t thirsty any longer. And when I took to the road again, I flew.
Of course, while I was away, the garden connected with it’s tribal-jungle heritage and grew zucchinis the size of lamp posts. This is one of five:
[this is a classic pose of mine by the way…]
This weeks harvest:
zucchini
green beans
onions
tomatoes
basil
sunflowers (does this count?)
beets
The concord grapes are nearly ready!
I can’t wait for the entire yard to smell purple.
And lastly, reconnecting with my studio space, my metal, my stones. Pouring out a few metalliferous thoughts. Building necklaces, three sheets deep. Curvy rings. Flowers and etched bands. The embrace of bezel against stone. I have many treats for you birds.
Happy Friday.
It’s so good to see you again!
What have you been up to and how does your summer flow?
Love,
PLUMENTINE
Oh J! It's good to have you back with us on the interwebs.
You seem to have had a soul-refreshing holiday. Yeah you!
Look at your muscles~
Its so SWEET to have you back! Juli 🙂
LAVENDER CHEESE?!!? I nearly commented on this alone right away but forced myself to read through to the end of the post first. Having read it all, I still MUST know about this strange conglomeration of flora and mold. How strange.. and interesting…
Emmers.
PS welcome home sweet lady friend of mine! Your returning just as I am leaving… is there any way you could spare a bit of your "relaxation" you soaked up while away and send it my way that I may stick it in my pocket for my trip? Gosh that'd be swell.
What a lovely post and a lovely you! I hope your well is full to overflowing…sounds like our patience in your return will reap us with our own harvest!?
Your garden looks so heavenly…I think a trip thru the greens sounds devine, smells of the sage and basil, grapes and zuchs. Since I have no garden, I will head to the farmers market just down the road.
Glad you are home refreshed. 🙂
Its a joy to have you return home to the Gabbles and too see the sweet treats you brought along home from the W.P. rocky ocean… spirit stirring indeed… I miss it just reading…
btw: the zuc-photos are so funny, it is said they are the gardeners bane trying to use them in recipes just so they are consumed, you cannot even give them away… you actually have to do a drive by gift basket with them, put the brown bag plumb full on someone's doorstep ring the bell then runnnnn…. or put a whole bunch in chocolate zucchini cake…
anyhow, they are fun to watch grow…
SO fun to watch grow!
Prolific in the best and worst of ways:)
Love pocket rocks. Can't leave a river without at least one.
Never tried lavender cheddar. Am trying to imagine it…can feel the cheddar on my tongue and lavendar in my nostrils.
Big zucchini = an edible cudgel…?
Thanks for sharing these! Hey, welcome back!
I pick rocks because of how smooth they are, and the color they are when they're wet. Then i bring them home and they're just a bunch of gray blobs. Not nearly as exciting as they were on the beach.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE fleet foxes, so much. I adore them and their lovely songs. For a while I've been meaning to recommend this one song to you. It's called, "Lakes of Canada," by The Innocence Mission. Maybe it's because it's about Canada…or maybe it's just the melody. Anyway, makes me think of you. I hope you like it! This is getting long…great post! Happy you're home! And I'll take a zucchini off your hands if you can't finish it! <3
you know how i love pocket rocks. 'member the ones i showed you in my nerdy 'hey J, check out my rock collection ('snort')! isn't it AWESOME?' moment? there's something calming about rubbing your thumb over a stone in your pocket.
I pick out stones by the way they feel in my hand. BTW, love lavender cheese.
Pam
Man…giant zucchini! I had computer off day Plumentine but greetings greetings!
xxo
That cheese.. sounds oh so yummy! I have never heard of that I'll have to check out the local Co-op.. I'm thinking Trader Joes may not have something so special and fancy…. have you ever tried Lavendar Chocolate? to DIE for ….
Lavender cheese!?! Oh, heaven's my that sounds delicious! If you find it, you also must try cumin seed gouda. Yummers!
Cumin Seed Gouda is old news dear friend. Lavender Cheddar is the new pink!
XO