My husband built me a new desk as one of the final projects in our house renovation. It sits right in front of a window overlooking one of the original apple trees on our forty year old property. Two weeks ago the tree started to bloom. It is a stunning thing - it looks gorgeous yes, but more than that it is the smell - delicate and sweet. When you stand under it you can feel the way the whole tree is absolutely alive with hundreds of bees buzzing among the blossoms.
This picture isn't from this year. I kept meaning to get a shot but didn't get my camera out in time. A rain storm we really needed washed them away before I anticipated in the midst of an overfilled week. This picture isn't from last year either because last year I was depressed and reeling from death. It's a quick one I snapped on my phone from the year before and all three of my kiddos are there, enjoying the gift of the blooms and the rain showers, tinier than it seems they ever were.
Two years can go by just like that. I've been told and I've seen it myself, the truth that days (especially if they are dark) can drag on and on and on. Yet somehow I was just rocking my last baby under the stars and now she is about to be five.
I haven't written much here the past year but it feels like it is time again. Time to bring some presence back to this place where I like to reflect about love and life and God and belovedness.
One way I'm going to ease myself in without feeling a need to be too serious or too wordy is a summer series. I'm calling it 'Summer is for...' Just a photo or two with a few words. A chance to capture a few moments of gratitude and a few memories for the future hopefully once a week or so because summer is for savouring.
Summer is for biking in the middle of the day under gorgeous skies just because it is fun and we have nothing else to do.
Summer is for reading bedtime stories in the gazebo while the sun goes down.
Summer is for little girls with pink toenails.
Summer is for new life.
(If you blog or instagram I'd love to see what you are using your summer for too.)