Dear August
As the wheel turns - poems, lughnasadh, harvest, videos, and musings
Dear August,
All year I’ve waited for the sun
to sear this kind of love into my bones
a heat pressed with a ripe ease
a feeling that I’ve made it home
in my longing for your golden light
in my dreams and in my thirst
I surmise it’s you August that will
heal the lone and cursed
rinse me of the year forlorn
take me in your gilded wings
returning to your precious hold
I’m alive and oh how my heart sings
“I can’t tell you, but you feel it…”
Emily Dickinson
Before Instagram became what it is today, I used to make little diary videos titled “Dear August” posing questions, musings, summer, or life observations. I posted a couple last year, one being toward the end of this post as well as in this one - a post that describes my love of the month quite well.
My Dear August poems (I have one in Forest of Light as well) are a nod to those videos and also indulge me in my love of late summer and the return to my birth month.
Here are two more videos from the archives~
2 a.m
Fairy Garden
Not only is it August, but the beginning of the month also marks the first harvest, the grain harvest, on the wheel of the year. It’s the perfect time to get creative in the kitchen with bread recipes. And according to the Celtic calendar, the first of August marks the first day of autumn.
I’ve seen a lot of people eager to get that ball rolling so here’s your excuse. :)
For me, I feel like August is a 5th season. The sweet spot between summer and autumn when the world is abundant with nourishing foods and sunshine, but the breeze begins to carry in a slight chill and the scent out of doors begins to change.
Have you every noticed that? I think one of the largest differences in seasons is the scent but also one of the most overlooked. I’m not talking about the scent of individual things like flowers or rain. But the cumulative scent of nature in each season. If you go outside in winter and there’s snow and bare trees, the world as a whole smells entirely different than in late summer when there’s still green grass, flowers, rich dirt, and leaves. Things are starting to wind down and dry out bringing in a new aroma of drying leaves and grain.
Lammas/Lughnasadh
It’s August
gold bedazzles the edges
of life- the fingertips of trees
irises of loved ones
bees pollen-covered legs
sun and time
have bronzed the fields
of wheat to harvest
for farmers yield
so that in our kitchens
we can bake our bread
and share the season
of abundance ahead
August feeds our body
more importantly- our soul
persistent in the giving
in making us whole
through the golden days
let the rays keep you warm
soon the first leaf will fall
and autumn will be born
My plans
Baking ~ bread and flourless chocolate cake are on the list.
Cleansing my home for autumn~ I have my eye on a few closets that house bins of seasonal decor, luggage, gardening pots, and other “junk”.
Apple & pear picking ~ In a few weeks our local mountains will open up their u-pick. I can’t wait!
Staycation ~ I’ve lined up a mean TBR for the month. My kids return to school soon and I’m planning on having a “staycation” that lasts from the day they return until my birthday (the 29th). It will be a delicious 2 weeks of reading at the beach, writing, and I have a craft project I want to embark on. I’ll be dedicating a post to it if it all works out. I’ve already purchased one of the main components!
Little Free Library Tour ~ I mention this in my July Ings in the planning section. Looking forward to scattering Iris about town and hopefully finding some gems to read myself!
Quotes
August of another summer, and once again I am drinking the sun, and the lilies again are spread across the water.
~Mary Oliver
I love borders. August is the border between summer and autumn; it is the most beautiful month I know.
~ Tove Jansson
To see the summer sky is poetry, though never in a book it lie - true poems flee.
~Emily Dickinson
How will you be spending the month of August?
Reading Iris, perhaps? 🙃
x,
Courtney
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