Three beautiful things from the last week:

1. Towards the end of the festival, Daschel is looking for someone to play with. A teenager teaches him to play hackysack for a little while. Rudi takes him for a piggyback ride and lets him wear his sunglasses and hat. A woman further up the hill plays catch with him. Finally some children his own age arrive and he’s able to join in their games.

2. En route to the festival, we spend the night just north of NYC. We take the train into the city to have dinner with erik and then sit in a twilight-filled Union Square watching people and dogs go by. The next afternoon, we stop at Eri’s. She rustles up an old bike for me to borrow and we pedal leisurely into town for lunch at a cafe.

3. Mum calls mid-afternoon on Sunday to check if we’ll want supper when we arrive there after the festival ends. Rudi, having ridden 100 miles earlier in the day, enthusiastically endorses the idea. I expect that she’ll just have leftovers for us to reheat when we arrive, but the whole family has waited for us to dine amidst the candles outside. In addition to Mum making my favorite potatoes, Gramma has baked a blueberry-peach pie.

Now that we’re back on track with 007: Snap a Dozen Days, this shot embodies July for me:

Hanging out with Shelley, Mike, Daschel, and Irisa at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. We’ve been camping together for five years now and it just wouldn’t seem like July without our annual gathering.

This shot is just before we parted ways at the end of the weekend, which is why everyone looks a little weary, sunburnt, and/or impatient. But it’s the only shot I have with all of us in it. Other shots from the weekend can be found here.

The festival was good this year. Only a couple of rain showers — one Friday night and one Saturday morning — fell on us this year, as opposed to all weekend like last year, and not a single explosion/fire marred our experience. It really seemed like the organizers listened to our criticisms from last year, and we definitely saw a more obvious presence from volunteers and security as well as a better rain plan for those cars parked around the farm.

Thursday night was just Rudi and me, as Shelley and Mike opted to come up Friday in order to stay later on Sunday. We particularly enjoyed the harmonies of The Lovell Sisters, who are coming to the Kennedy Center’s free Millennium Stage later this month. We got a chance to meet them to have them sign our cds, and they were just sweet and overwhelmed and lovely. And they had their parents there with them. Isn’t that adorable?

Friday, despite applying sunscreen early, I awoke from an accidental morning nap in the hammock a radiant pink color. I listened to the emerging artist showcase from camp and was delighted with Vienna Teng’s dulcet tones, as well as with several others. Friday night we ventured down to the festival, only to have to quickly reverse directions with a sick child and impending rain. We did get a chance to see The Jason Spooner Trio, and Shelley and I later returned down the hill during the Friday Night Song Swap, featuring Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky, Mary Gauthier, and Marshall Crenshaw.

Saturday during the day, I just begged for shade. Merely having sun shine on me hurt (Isn’t it amazing the way our bodies do that? “You! Stupid! Didn’t you learn yesterday not to hang out in the sun?!”), although a “Three Geeks and a Red Head” ice cream cone helped some with the mental anguish. We listened to the evening acts from camp, where we sat around the charcoal grill and made s’mores. We didn’t get to see the lights on the hillside during Dar Williams’ “Iowa,” but we imagined them. The night was lovely, and one of my favorite moments of the festival.

Sunday, we broke down camp after a hardy breakfast and then headed to the festival. I consumed a large lemonade and a savory crepe for lunch while hanging out in the kids’ section, before we returned to load up the cars during Richard Shindell’s set. We were back down at the mainstage in time to catch the final two acts of the festival — The Nields and Arlo Guthrie. Arlo was in especially fine form and regaled the audience with hilarious stories from his past. He was the perfect performer to end the weekend with.

And then it was all over for another year…

Earlier shots in the 007 series: June, May, April, March, February, and January.

I fell off the wagon a bit back in June for 007: Snap a Dozen Days, when I neglected to take a single photo. I meant to, mind you. I even had the exact photo in mind that totally embodied what I wanted most in June, but I didn’t take it until last night:

June’s theme is Home. I spent the month traveling and stressed and really all I wanted was to be back at the Burrow, particularly in this scene.

This is my reading nook, that Rudi and I set up after bringing the bookshelf back from Connecticut over Memorial Day weekend. You can see my rocking chair, where I like to sit and read or knit. If the weather cooperates, the window is open and the chair faces outdoors. If Rudi’s home, the chair faces into the room, so we feel like we’re hanging out. If there’s a pillow on the seat of the chair, you’ll often find a cat on it.

On the bookshelf, you can notice a few things. The top shelf has my happy lamp, as well as a stuffed camel from Rebs and the yarn for my next pair of socks. The second shelf contains my knitting books and my library books, as well as a hummingbird from Karen. The third shelf has my literary books — poetry and writing, a dictionary, a long-ago gift from Karen, and the most recent HP book. The open spaces on the shelves are for the cats to play or sleep on, as they like to attack one another there, nap, and launch themselves into the window.

To the right of the bookshelf, just beyond the frame of the shot is the pie chest, which contains most of my yarn. Rudi thought it would be terribly convenient to have my knitting books in close proximity to the stash. What a smart guy!

Earlier shots in the 007 series: May, April, March, February, and January.