sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

July 10, 2020


fairy lights, fetch, and finally cool again
posted by soe 12:45 am

Tomato Trichomes

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The trichomes on one of my garden’s tomato stalks catch the low angle of the evening’s sunbeams and shine as if fairies had strung them up to the light the way to the butterfly ball. (Trichomes are the hairlike structures on plants’ stalks and leaves. They serve a variety of purposes, and botanists theorize on tomatoes they discourage predators. And An Invitation to the Butterfly Ball was a picture book I grew up with by the renowned Jane Yolen that combined counting and beautiful illustrations by Jane Breskin Zalben.)

2. A woman stops by the park with two dogs. One is an adorable 10-week-old puppy and the other an adult Australian shepherd. She throws a Frisbee across the field, and the older dog tears past, leaping in the air to catch the disc and racing with it back up the field to lay it at her feet. The dog’s athleticism wows everyone in the park, as we all look up from our meals, books, and conversations to marvel at its aerial feats. The puppy is content to trot a few steps after its friend, stand for a second, and then trot back with it to their person.

3. We have a new air conditioner. Our previous one behaved temperamentally for two weeks last month — working for a couple hours and then beeping incessantly until you unplugged it — and then, just before the heatwave commenced two weeks ago, it refused to do anything at all. Which, oddly enough, is exactly what Rudi and I felt like doing as the temperature in our basement apartment inched up toward the upper 80s. But now we have a lovely new machine that makes us want to work and cook and sleep again, and Corey has cardboard and styrofoam upon which to nap.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Category: three beautiful things. There is/are Comments Off on fairy lights, fetch, and finally cool again.