Season 1, Episode 26

Our stories today celebrate some of the joys of being outside in the changing weather of the summer. I wrote the first one, Wind and Wildflowers, a couple of years before the second two, which are meant to be heard together as a two-part series, but I realized they feel like they are happening at the same time and since many of our storylines cross over one another, I suggest we think of these two narrators as neighbors, each enjoying the heat and then the cooling air and rain from their porches. They might wave at each other when they head out to their mailboxes; if one has a bumper crop of summer squash, a basketful will appear at the other’s door. In winter, when the days are short, they take comfort from the lighted window of the other.

So let’s visit them; first, in Wind and Wildflowers, we’ll hike the trail behind the house, listen to woodpeckers, and watch the grasses sway in the wind. Then, in Rain and Shine, we’ll finish up some work in the garden, take a long hot shower, and eat dinner on the porch as the storm rolls in. Finally, in Hummingbird, after a good night’s sleep, we’ll step outside with a glass of iced coffee and meet the morning and any visitors coming to breakfast from the flowers.