cosmolinguist | [256/365] storing sunlight

I needed to do laundry today -- running out of clean underwear! -- and I realized, in putting away the shorts and sleeveless tops, that it's probably the last time this year I'm going to use almost any of that stuff. I washed both of my pairs of sandals too, again not expecting to use those for a while.

I'm always so sad to see summer go.

But when I took the basket full of clean laundry to the dining table, I saw a sieve there that was overflowing with fresh herbs that mother_bones had just cut for me. Oregano, sage, garlic chives, spearmint, black peppermint and...uhh, the other mint, I don't remember its special name.

So I rinsed them all and she picked out the twigs and stuff (I helped with the mint because there was so much of it, yay), and we lay it out on an old towel to dry a bit before putting it in paper bags to rest in the windowsills and dry properly.

As I was pulling mint leaves off their stalks, I was thinking about how miraculous it is. The sunshine and rain we had this summer, and plant food from MB, turned into photosynthesis which turned into these leaves. Which made the patio smell nice every time I sat outside, and which went in mojitos and potato salad when I made them this summer. (And they fed lots of small animals too, I observed as I pulled off the leaves with holes in them and put them with the twigs and other stuff like that, which will go in the compost bin and help more plants grow next year!)

I'm always so sad to see summer go. But I hope this winter when I make tea from that mint or put sage and garlic chives in our Christmas dinner, I hope it reminds me of the sunshine and the summer.