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Number 40

the long days of summer

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6.15.21, 6:16 am, #catsmountain

WE HAVE HAD a restful couple of weeks in the western NC mountains, the broad vistas and cool temperatures and gorgeous early summer greens and blues a balm for a soul, weary or not. Light comes through our east bedroom window long before the sun comes over the ridge just after 6, and so we, too, are up early, ready for the day. I am at my studio with coffee in hand shortly thereafter. It is just my most favorite thing, the way the day stretches out long before me then. Sunset comes hours and hours and hours later, the sky still holding light at 9:30. (We have been known to beat the sun to bed.)
I am grateful every morning and night. I am grateful for birdsong and open windows, meadow flowers and rain showers and this beautiful place on God's green earth. I am grateful for work to do that fills me up, and I am grateful for time and the space to do it.
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6.14.21, 8:27 pm, #catsmountain
I hope your summer is as joy-filled as so far, mine has been. I hope it is filled with whatever your heart desires: adventure and sunshine or quiet spaces to read; sand and surf or winding country roads; tomato sandwiches and waterfalls and lighting bugs and laughter. Or—how about this—all of the above and more. All of this and more because it's June and in June by golly the gift of summer stretches long before us, filled with promise and possibility.

Oh, I am wishing for you a glorious, golden summer!

XXOO,
Cathy
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BINGE LOVE
Y'all. Offspring. This show is so good. It's Parenthood but set in Australia with the most lovable dysfunctional family ever. And there are seven seasons, so it goes on and on which is a beautiful thing. We're watching on Netflix, and it is also on Hulu, maybe?
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BOOK LOVE
You know I had to. I mean, I have a puppy name Stella! And How Stella Learned to Talk is a fascinating listen. (I read it on audio.) A young speech therapist who works with nonverbal children applied the same principles and communication techniques to teach her dog to "talk" via a system of verbal buttons Stella would push—including one that says love you. It was fascinating and inspiring and confirmed what we dog lovers have always believed: our pups are far more advanced in their reasoning and emotions than it might sometimes appear. What joy to go along for the ride as on behalf of dogs everywhere, Stella is able to actually communicate what she wants and is thinking. And if you are so inclined, there is enough detail that a lay person could employ the same techniques. Fascinating.
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STELLA
(You know I had to.)
LINK LOVE
Well this was fun! From Bookbub: Bestselling Books the Year You Were Born
RECIPE LOVE
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image: Little Spice Jar
I made these yummy Key Lime Pie Bars for a neighborhood pot luck a couple of weeks ago and they were a big hit. Easy, good and so summery. From Little Spice Jar.

The enneagram doesn't put you in a box. It shows you the box you're already in and how to get out of it.

--Ian Morgan Cron, on his podcast Typology
FROM THE DAILY GRACE ARCHIVES
6.28.2017
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in the column of love

Montreat Music and Worship, 2017: This was one of the most powerful moments of my life. And it was completely unexpected.
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And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.

--F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
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