Southern summers are the best summers

Fireflies, honey, tomatoes from the garden, porch wine, thunderstorms and more.

It’s been three weeks since my last newsletter and what a busy three weeks it’s been. My Southern summer has just been so much fun (minus all the driving though it does spur tons of ideas and aha moments being on the road for extended hours at a time).

Since early June, I’ve been in Miami; Savannah; Macon; Chattahoochee Hills; Wilmington, NC; Hilton Head, SC; Asheville, NC; Atlanta, of course; and Loudon, Tennessee. Some activities I have been fortunate/lucky/happy to participate in: yoga at a studio opened by my former SCAD professor, an old school book launch Q&A and book signing, beekeeping (first timer over here!), the spotting of synchronous fireflies, Rita’s Ice Custard, an educational wine walk/hike in the forest, Old Florida Lime Chips, late night swims, lots of no natz, a delicious dinner party with wine industry peeps (lots and lots of lovely wines), dodging then embracing all the natural elements, eating from the garden(s), deer spotting in multiple cities, frequent walks—short and long, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some other wonderful experiences because there have just been so many…

I’ll share more about those adventures later, but today I woke up in Raleigh and what an exciting, chaotic morning it’s been. Staying with a girlfriend I haven’t seen in a few years and she burst into my room at 9AM to tell me there was a hummingbird in the garage and we MUST save it. So we did. She grabbed a ladder, I helped unlock it (lol), she climbed up and I told her what to do—thanks google. BE CAREFUL, DON’T FALL. She was and she didn’t. But that poor baby was tangled up in spiderweb and we panicked. I looked up wildlife rescues while my friend attempted to untangle him (her? why did we auto assume everything is a boy?).

“YOU’RE GONNA BREAK HIS NECK,” I said. And then, “wildlife rescue doesn’t pick up birds.” The tiny hummingbird tried to fly and fell. We picked him up and somehow freed his wing, his beak, his tiny little leg. With the force of a horse—cute, fast, strong— it took off into the skies and we might’ve cried. Adrenaline is real. Later this morning, my friend spotted it flitting around her bird feeder and all is right in the world again. Nature is cool.

And on that note, I have so much more to share about being outdoors in the South in the summer. Scents, sights, sounds. So for now I will just share a few photos as teasers because I want to give each destination the attention it deserves in a longer post with places to stay, where and what to eat/drink, things to do, all that fun stuff. Stay tuned and continue to enjoy the loooooong, warm, wet days, if summer is your season.