Beyond the Fields We Know: Cooler on the Rocks

Summer Reading

Summer reading is a chair on the deck under the big red umbrella, a book and a mug of tea, on very hot days, a cold, fizzy drink with a little paper umbrella in it. Summer is short in this part of the world, and such small celebratory gestures are called for.

The reading always includes natural history, mythology, folklore and science. The fondness for magical realism, quirky whodunnits and Belle Époque fantasy lingers, and I enjoy a good mystery, particularly when it is set in a faraway place. At this time of the year, there are also books on bee gardens and composting. And cookbooks.

As in other seasons, reading choices seem to make themselves, turning up in my local library, book store bargain bins, village thrift shops, yard sales and the little free libraries that have sprung up everywhere.

My thanks to the Muses for the kindred spirits who occasionally turn up at the door, hand me a bag of reading and ask hopefully if there is any tea in the pot. (There usually is).

Wise Words

We live in a sea of light.
Henry Plummer

The camera points both ways. In expressing the subject you also express yourself.
Freeman Petterson

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Oscar Wilde

When we deliberately leave the safety of the shore of our lives, we surrender to a mystery beyond our intent.
Ann Linnea

It is in the speech of carters and housewives, in the speech of blacksmiths and old women, that one discovers the magic that sings the claim of the voice in the shadow, or that chants the rhyme of the fish in the well.
John Maruskin

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Saturday, July 18, 2026

Cooler on the Rocks

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