Monday: Simple Gratitude

Well - that time of year is here when the mood is noticeably starting to shift... and the days are feeling less streched-out and more compact and busier.  Schedules are being made for the Fall, rooms and clutter and junk is being cleaned out (slowly), and Summer projects are getting checked off of our list.  Still a lot of swimming, and out door fun to be had this Summer, even as these lovely, warm and sunny days get shorter and shorter.  But as things inevitably speed up at the end of my favorite season, I'm taking a small moment to count more blessings from this week that whizzed by me in a flash...

(in no particular order)

* Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band on vinyl, and crazy dancing (and some singing too) by both the younger AND the older set of this small family, on a lazy Sunday at home.

* thunderstorms that water all the plants for me while I'm sleeping.

* a boy who likes to pull the plants from the garden, and is always finding little creatures at the same time.  Lots of small frogs in the little swimming pool this weekend (no no!  not in the house!), and a really pretty (but unfortunately - really hungry) caterpillar found on a carrot in the garden.

* date night - at the hardware store - followed by chinese food.  :)

*  lots more vegetables from the CSA, and this year, a small amount from our garden too!  First batch of everything is bagged up and frozen for later.  And the refrigerator is still filled to capacity for our eating this week and next.  How fortunate to have so much good food!  I am super thankful for this.

* A dream about my great-grandmother last night,  and her tableful of ripening peaches on the covered porch.  It was so good to visit with her again (even though I was only dreaming it).

In my memory that table was filled with peaches every time I went over to visit.  And I remember that smell.  I get all teary when I smell ripe peaches, and almost even just thinking about the smell of ripe peaches.  I wonder how many cans of peaches she put up each summer?  I wonder, where did she get those peaches?  I was much too small to ask these questions at the time, but not too small to appreciate the end result - delicious peaches to eat all year round, and not least of all the delicious smell!

* a good hot cup of coffee.

* a quick dip in a cold pool, followed by popsicles on the picnic table.

* sleeping in