So, clearly, I needed to plunge the magnets out of the boots because it was raining while I was reading NAME and eating peaches. No. Not really. But seriously, what have you been up to this summer?
(Below is a photograph of a lake I hiked the circumference of yesterday. I thought I was a champion, but it turns out I’m just out of shape. Oh. But I did witness a turtle rescue today. And I really did make a pie out of those peaches. I love summer.)
The highlight of my summer might be when a neighbor felled a tree and left big chunks of the trunk out by the road free for the taking.
I haven’t split firewood since I was a kid.
I spent an entire afternoon rolling the larger, less knotted cuts the 50 yards down the street to my backyard. A hot day, I must have drank a gallon of water just to stay hydrated.
I went to Lowe’s and bought a wedge and splitting mull. Another glass of water. It took a few swings to get it down again, to remember how to read the wood, the heave and drop, find my rhythm, the way my dad taught me.
Splitting firewood in the city is loud, the thud and the thwack so out of place. Out in the country, the sound just gets absorbed by the trees, lost in the air before it even finds a neighbor. But in the city, it ricochettes everywhere, loud as gun shots. Dogs neighbors away bark and bark.
Sell everything you own. Purchase the lake.