Late June: Sketches

On the longest day: rise early, missing sleep. Drive towards the risen sun, sunglasses perched. Across the cobbles of Exeter Quay snick-snicks an urban fox, slips quick paced under cover of scratchy shrubs. 

At the home of Granma Grace, an ambulance is summoned (spoiler alert: this turns out okay).

Paramedics Julia and Maria are asking us about end of life care: revive, we say, the quality of life is diminishing, the interest in it not piqued at all.

At the hospital, our Grace is so lovely everyone must be lovely by return. She brings the sparkle. 

A doctor brings her toast with maramalade, both paramedics pop in to see how she’s doing.

We’re home in time to broil chicken for her lunch, she’s having a good food day. 

(Angina medication to be revised.)

Back home there’s Grandchild 2 picking strawberries, she tells me a whale’s tongue weighs as much as an elephant. A cold wind whips up around us, a lovely respite.

We head for Bude, for two hot hours of training and teaching, then we slither to the sea pool at Summerleaze.

The cold wind comes, it keeps Grandad and Grandchild 2 in the shallows.

This Granma is in the water, the water is not cold. It clings around a body like silk and magic.

In the sky, a half moon, a full sun.

Hello Longest Day - here I am. In a saltwater pool contemplating diurnal pivots.

Later, one glass of wine, one bed.

Next day: in the garden is witnessed a blackbird flying by, a whole ripe cherry in its beak.

That day we pick the cherries in. (Most of them, some are for sharing.)

And then: bright round moon in a blue sky, sunset pouring orange red along the horizon, it’s so hot the night is sluggish to start, everything is: the van we bought is having an electric fault fixed, the van lent for its absence needs a jump start.

Everything is lava, the weighted and slow kind. 

We have cold fruit tea and stick some vodka in it.

We see, as the van hood slams, a fluoro-glow at the base of the willow arch - a glow worm!

And then we are running up and down the lane, sloshing our simple cocktails, ogling living lumps of light. 

And then: eat breakfast outside in spite of heat, a sort of protest. Drink cold coffee. And select a car insurance package out of a mass of text and promises and prices. The least popular job is done! 

Do other stuff but we’re too hot to remember what we are doing. Pour water on growing things. 

Wilt. Until the evening when the river water at Meldon turns my hands blue and I’m so happy to have that cold water pressed into my skin.

Sit in the car with a hot coffee, the filling moon behind us, sunset at our feet.

It’s Wednesday again: Mr and me go to visit Granma Grace, we take a stroll to the river so Dog can dip and while she splashes a little snake swims by. A young female adder, we think, but it could have been a grass snake - either way it was a joyful thing to see.

That afternoon, Mr, Dog, and Grace slouched down for a nap, while I wrote these notes and the yellow roses nodded at the open window.