-prodigal summer-

(title borrowed from b. kingsolver's novel of the same name, telling tales of progeny, predators loss, pheromones, and the season exploding with the mad rush of life..) <i generally don't go ga-ga over too much fiction but the Lady is a master. i needed to read this right now, during this time.>

the last three weeks have felt like that,
april became may became july...



there's an urgency,
heat and reproduction!


spores and sex cells!
i wake up to bright mornings
filled with birdsong.

the tall grass turning the once green hillsides golden.
i think, isn't this happening earlier year after year?
or something like that..


well, here's to prodigal summer.

the longer days find me answering the beckoning of my homeland: sunday dinners.

little nieces 

more nieces!

four of my SIX brothers and Pops, of course.

emma had a birthday. there's no shortage of birthday celebrations at a family dinner. :)

sweet peas, manzanita, ponderosa pine: a lesson in foreground and background, honey to my child eye.

evening strolls around the loop. my mom and dad.

these are my wedding shoes.

we were unprepared for the heat. sad? no, funny.

are you a wild bleeding heart? rollins lake, near colfax ca.

tangled up in blue. rollins lake.

dingy diapers don't stand a chance against the magic powers of the sun. it makes them snow white...promise.

intent on foiling ticks. gigi and diana, el dorado hills romping.

who wants to sow wild oats when you can eat them?

i don't know.

holy dope, i uploaded photos and they made a gif. i hope it publishes this way!

folsom lake, a bizarre place.

another family dinner: we walked up to my grandparent's house, who live in the same canyon as my folks'. we played with all of the toys the way we did as children, while our children followed suit. our favorite jump rope.

jump rope at grandma's! 

surrounded by our favorite old things.

and the biggest slide in the world.

we stayed out past sunset.

and said good night to my mom's hens.

the orchard.

kale popsicle. :)

FINALLY we can cruise around, all four of us, carbon free. :)

potluck with new friends at ali's. this one's for you, ali....the rooster joke photo. :)

the growing tribe. 

the hills at her house.

and the creek. the children played together all day. oh utopia.

the back of my dad's truck, another sunday. our bed under the stars.

and our mornings with the sunrise.

climbing "pride rock"

spenceville nature preserve. a true local treasure east of lincoln in the golden hills.

unmarked, dirt roads, no signs. king snake.

the mecca of the nisenan-maidu, their Deseret.

the spirit: fairy falls (the european name at least.) falling to a rock bowl in the middle of an oak savannah. the tall hill cracked down the middle with jagged cliffs. seriously, where'd this beauty come from??

feeling so small next to the waterfall.

see the tiny boys to the left?

"rip daniel farris"

down from the cliffs into the gentler hills

this is how contentment looks

it still seems too early for this golden and purple bank....

we made it to the car.

sunset behind the sutter buttes

well, again,
here's to prodigal summer.

soakin' in the long days before the solstice sneaks up on me like it always does.

perhaps the rush is slowing down,

does this look the way summer feels?