Goodnight friends! Around 27°c most of the day, parched and clear. More clouds to be seen but only the most powdery scrimshaw shapes and vague crosshatchings. Great gothic spiny clubs of teasel, crimson confetti of dock flowers and the minute metallic chorusing rasps of grasshoppers beneath silver and golden arches of lolling seedheads. Each breath feels like a gulp of honey, air thick and perfumed by thistle and meadowsweet*.
A little tired thanks to continuing poor sleep, but the dry enveloping heat and beautiful play of light give a sense of reptilian luxury to moments of confusion and fatigue, lending a note of sensual pleasure to what would often feel like the edge of a leaden fugue. Eventually I’m able to draw a little, take a long slow walk.
May we find a deeper, clearer sense of how we want to spend our time and energy today!
*As a side note, a few days ago in a caption I misidentified a frothy bright yellow flower growing alongside black knapweed as meadowsweet – it was in fact lady’s bedstraw. I conflated them thanks to their similar sugary scent, but meadowsweet flowers are creamy white with very pale yellow centres, and it has much larger, strongly tri-lobed leaves.
