We’re finding our summer rhythm, slowly but surely. At first I didn’t think we needed one, but oh! friends, rhythm is life. Especially when these days are so long. Each day needs some purpose to give it meaning, even if its only picking cherries, visiting a friend, or just dusting the house and baking a chicken like I do every Tuesday. Feeling driftless, I was heartened to put down in writing all the things that form our rhythm these days. Each in its turn, our days contain a sprinkling of:
Time outside, under the apple tree, by the river, in the green woods, at the park, in the garden.
Time to move, to ride bikes, walk, splash, stretch.
Time to rest, to nap, to read stories, to look up at the fruit ripening over the hammock.
Time to sweep, sort, build, dig, spin, wash, to cross things off the to do list.
Time with friends, to play and talk and celebrate the goodness of our community.
Time to create, paint, cut, paste, stitch, cast on, dress up, sing.
Time to wander, to do nothing, to hold each ripening moment in our hearts.
A handful of those things and we call it a day. Another very sweet summer day.
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What have you been up to?
Kyce Bello 
This has been our first week of summer break, so we’re still feeling out our rhythm, too. This year I intentionally chose to not sign us up for any classes or other kind of commitments; I feel like we are in real need of open days, time and space to breathe. I also feel a bit intimidated by all that open time and space. Even five years into it, somehow I still feel a knot in my stomach sometimes, anxious about if and how I’ll be able to do it.
So I took some time before the school year ended to set some intentions for these months. Specifically not goals (like I usually do), but intentions: to seek out and live into a nourishing rhythm, to be about our home (living in, learning about, caring for), and to experiment with balancing time (really, presently) together, with the time I need for myself and my work.
So our days this week have been filled with washing dishes and laundry, weeding too long neglected beds, finding ways to work around a broken oven, reading together, exploring and drawing at a local park, finding snake skins and watching them blow away on the breeze, playing with water, sewing, (hurriedly) cleaning the house for last minute guests… All the little tasks and victories and mistakes that don’t seem like much to recount but are full of significance just the same.
Ooh, Annie, this is like a hidden gem of a post within a post. Love that you are finding your rhythm, too, and the intentions you have created to guide you.
Ooh, Kyce your summer rhythm is wonderful- perfectly embodies summer!
We too find ourselves drifting at times during the summer- many we know sign their children up for every sort of lesson or camp or other enriching activity- but summer is when our activities stop, and we spend our time working in the gardens, going to the lake, eating outside, visiting museums, visiting with friends. Though we do have a weekly rhythm which we follow, we also tend to lose ourselves in the “doing nothing.” THough it is so important to have those times where you are doing seemingly “nothing,” (though really I don’t like that word, when we are sitting and just “being” some of the most important thoughts and ideas are happening), still these little ones need a strong rhythm. And two year olds, they don’t sit and just “be” all that easily. . . .
So anyhow, trying to create a firm summer rhythm has been on my mind. With children of very different ages- 11, 8, 5, and nearly 2- and with very different likes, interests, and temperments- this can be challenging!!
Rhythm is a funny thing because having a flow and even a schedule of sorts somehow allows that long out breath of idle hours and rest. It takes care of all of us, the little ones for sure, but I’ve found also the mamas need it too. At least I do.