Perfect Days: A Thank You Card

This has been one of the finest summers I've ever known. It seems impossible to catalogue the various aspects of the summer's perfection - I'm sure when I look back on it, I'll have nothing to sift through but photographs of smiles and surprised faces, and faint, wispy impressions of experiences.

Here are a few:

Walking through Bughouse Square

This tiny little park (parklet, perhaps) is what I imagine if someone took the Boston Commons or Rittenhouse Square and shrunk it down to fit inside a little bottle in Chicago's brain. Here, a daily walk led me to study the truly lovely flower bed around the fountain, bees and monarchs darting around its bold denizens. A blanket and a shady spot, and hours spent playing airplane.

Farmers' Days

"I could marry a farmer," I joked to Kate after our fantastic lunch. The Green City Market is a banquet, a plaza, and the best produce section you've seen. My first visit this summer was with Joan where we enjoyed savory crepes (cheese, tomatoes, arugula) and peach smoothies. Then, the following week, the Welvers blanket was honored to host three friends, a blueberry crepe, and much sympathy for my laid-off-ed-ness. (Temporary, I hope.) The flowers, the food, the babies staggering about - so much to see. Not to mention the delight I took in ogling the young bronzed farmers. So young...*smirk*

And Even More Tomatoes

For three straight nights this summer, I feasted on a bag of tomatoes - a gift from Kate's garden. How to describe their sweet, intense flavor? Those tomatoes were...oh, take it away, Neruda....

And there it is: on
the table, at the summer's
equator,
a tomato -
an earthen sphere,
a fertile and
repeated
star -
reveals
its folds
and channels,
its renowned fullness,
its abundance
free of pits
and peels,
thorns and scales.
It's the tomato's
gift to us,
this fiery color
and undiminished freshness.

__________________________

Other Impressions

A million facial expressions. The smiles of strangers. Songs, songs, more songs. So much laughter bubbling forth. Drooly raspberries, a new trumpet to play. Goodnight, Moon. (Goodnight stars. Goodnight air. Goodnight noises everywhere.) Long strolls under the honey locust trees. Dancing to Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke, Little Richard, Desmond Dekker, and others. "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Gazing at the Tree of Birds in Abuelito and Abuelita's back yard. The relief of a welcome nap.

I am so grateful for good friends, a safe home, and perfect summer days.