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  In summer, the kitchen is not for lingering in, only for preparing food quickly, wrapping it or dishing it up, and taking it outside.  

The still room and the larder and the dairy are dim and stone-slabbed and pleasingly cool.  Jug and bowls and dishes stand, muslin-covered.  Cotton bags of whey drip, drip, drip, down leaving the creamy yellow curds of cheese.

The refrigerator hums and vibrates day and night, a living creature in the corner.  But the range stands cold and silent.

A pot of basil on the table, a pungent sweet geranium on the windowsill, a bunch of mint hung from the ceiling will all help to keep out summer flies."

Through the Kitchen Window

Susan Hill