lushness

steve and i are making plans to return to languedoc this fall for another 6-month stay.  this is now familiar territory for us. we know what we have to do to vacate our lives for half a year, and we also know what to expect when we arrive. what we will encounter is a dry, arid, prickly place with fifty varieties of thistles and almost no soft lobed, and lush vegetation except for that one inexplicable exception the fig tree. so, i have found myself thinking lately about how i ought to be trying to capture the lush abundance of a midwestern summer, because soon enough i will be in low growing scrub, thirsty and sharp, and smelling like bay leaves.

smoke bush leaves in summer