Let's talk about our June days
June 2025
Hey there!
Let’s talk about our days…
I’m in Provincetown where the high temperature for today may be a record breaker. Right now, my weather app is reporting 95 degrees that feels like 110. It's hot, and I have all the windows open with a nice breeze from the water, which at the moment, is no match for the heat. Add to that the sound of children running around at the sailing camp next door and the whir of a buzz saw cutting wood for my neighbor's deck...
However, downstairs a friend of mine is here working on her novel, and inspiration and good writing vibes are swirling their way upstairs where I just finished my fifty pages for today. I’m doing a read-thru of The Glove Factory to make sure the revisions I made over the last three months are working. Fingers crossed, I think this novel is almost DONE!
This month I made another trip to Canada. This time I flew from Atlanta to Montreal where I rented a car and drove the four hours to Baie-Saint-Paul. While I was there, I did a little exploring further north, and then on my way back to Montreal, I spent a night in the Eastern Townships where I stayed on a gorgeous lake. The traffic into the Montreal airport on a weekday morning was insane—I won’t be doing that again.
With summer here, I’m excited to tell you about Mary Carroll Moore’s Last Bets, which takes place on the Caribbean island of Bonaire. I don’t know about you, but these days, I’m looking for books (and shows and movies) with strong female leads. And Last Bets has not just one, but two. I read it over a year ago, and Elly and Rosie are still with me.
“Elly didn’t call herself a scuba diver, but she’d loved her first taste of diving on her last visit. She hadn’t imagined how silent it could be, deep in the ocean, just the sound of her own breathing…”
“Rosie loved to sit on the seawall and watch the line between ocean and sky blur to near invisible. As was their habit after dinner, her dad gathered his marks for the evening games, while she got herself an iced coffee and took her place on the rocky edge.”
To read more about Mary and her writing, click over to Catching Days. And now for a peek into Mary’s day, which she spent at home in southern New Hampshire.
"But when I get home, at this time of year I don’t go to my writing right away. The sun is fully up, the garden awash with light. I open the greenhouse first—it’s small but enough for early lettuce and kales, summer vegetables later, more greens in fall. I water everything. Next is the small orchard, about fifteen fruit trees. They’ve bloomed well this year; we may get a bounty of peaches, pears, even plums. I wander along the paths of the perennial garden and pick flowers, then visit the raised beds in the vegetable garden and gather a handful of asparagus for breakfast. Say hello to the bluebirds nesting in one of the blue-painted wooden birdhouses and orioles at the new feeder—they are migrating through, and we caught them hungry. I feel like May Sarton in her Journal of a Solitude—a daily practice of garden wandering, then words." [read more]
Speaking of gardens, my friend brought lettuce from hers, three different kinds I think she said. So good it doesn’t even need any dressing. She also brought some of her homemade pesto, which we ate on pasta. Delicious. Are any of you gardeners?
Cal and I are headed to Italy next month for a 40th anniversary trip! If you have any suggestions for Puglia, please send.
I’m listening to my 8th Louise Penny novel, The Beautiful Mystery, still loving these books. I’m also rereading Beloved for the 3rd time. And last night I started something a little lighter Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons. What are you reading?
I hope it’s not as hot where you are as it is here. Too bad I wished you a cool breeze last time because that would be really useful today. I’m not a fan of AC, which is one of the reasons I love having windows open up here.
With this letter, I wish for you some cool summer fun--a movie, a swim, an ice cream, or all three!
Write me back and let me know how you’re spending your days. And feel free to share this letter with others. Past letters are here.
Happy last days of June and thanks for reading.
Peace out,
--cynthia
Issue #73 June 2025