A Study in Summer: Hide and Seek

“Summer set lip to earth’s bosom bare, And left the flushed print in a poppy there. ” ~ Francis Thompson,“The Poppy,” 1891

(This is a repost of a blog journal entry I wrote years ago, pre-pandemic. But I wanted to share it because while it’s slightly melancholic it’s also filled with hope. I hope you enjoy it.)

Although Summer is half over, I’ve been collecting days like drifting leaves, both in my memory and with my camera. It’s a bittersweet chore because I know these days will be gone in a single breath, replaced by school clothes, pumpkin carvings, and Christmas plays. Hopefully these summer journals will one day remind my children that although summers in Virginia were hot and lethargic and almost unbearably humid, they once found an unbounded joy in just being.

Hide and seek was a favorite with my children and their cousins. A lot of…