I’ve been thinking a lot about place, where we set anchor. When we transition from one home to another, one city to another, one job to another, or must endure a challenging life moment that skews our compass, we’re left feeling groundless. Like stirred-up sediment, the view is muddy until it settles. And it takes time to settle.
June feels like an in-between state, when the momentum and frenzy of the previous months merges with the languor and long days of summertime. Like a rock dropped into water, or dirt kicked up in a pond, we are suspended for a moment in a slower season. I welcome this change of pace, even though I tend to buck transition.
June feels like an in-between state, when the momentum and frenzy of the previous months merges with the languor and long days of summertime.
I am in the midst of moving into another home, and while I look forward to making fresh memories and embracing a new space, I am mentally cataloguing all of the precious parts of the longtime home I’m leaving. This place has been mine for a while, and though it is only a structure, I feel connected to it in an intimate and personal way. Humans are built for attachment. But when we step back, we understand that what we are seeking outside of ourselves, we’re also seeking within. To feel at home anywhere requires us to feel at home within ourselves, though we can be inspired, stimulated, moved, comforted, and held by the spaces we inhabit.
This edition touches on the in-between spaces, those that aren’t our own but that help us recharge. Think deep woods, secret gardens, and nearby vineyards. Among many stories that celebrate the comfort of quiet places, we give thanks for our sheer luck of closeness to wineries on par with more popular wine regions, and we offer must-stops to and from four standout regional vineyards: Eagle Mountain Vineyards & Winery, Marked Tree Vineyard, Overmountain Vineyards, and Biltmore Winery.
Inevitably, as summer unfolds, we’ll fall into a familiar rhythm and find our routines. The days will ring of laughter and cicadas and overflowing gardens bursting in fragrant blooms. June is the jumping-off place, the beginning of it all. Moments of transition mean that something important has come to an end, but only then can we welcome a new beginning—and the promise of shimmering days to come.
