“Summer night — even the stars are whispering to each other.” ― Kobayashi Issa

Well, it's that time. You knew it was coming, right?

I'll be back in a few weeks with (hopefully) a fresh vision for 

this blog

the business

life in general.

Happy summer friends. :) See you soon!

Dreaming of Summer

the organic bird

summer dreaming

Some days I wake up and wish it was 80 degrees outside so I could have a good enough reason to slip on a skirt, load up my daughter and drive to the closest lake shore. There we would spread a blanket, warm our shoulders under the sun and talk about how much we love hot dogs and watermelon.

Winter chill, please dismiss yourself. 

Yes and Amen. 

"To see the summer sky is poetry, though never in a book it lie - true poems flee." -emily dickinson

We took a slow stroll through this quiet town tonight.

all images by: theorganicbird

Can I just have a lifelong dose of summer walks? In small, mountain towns?

After summer storms, it all feels like a page ripped from a storybook.
Gray, low-hanging clouds make all of the colors rich. You can almost taste the green.
Old, worn wood and siding looks beautiful.
Overgrown brush is now wildly romantic.
Wild raspberries fall loose into our hands, sweet on our lips.
Misty and cool, the mountain behind us shadowed us all the way home.

If these trees could talk... they would tell you to keep walking and not listen to the praises and laments of my 28 years here on earth. It would just take too long. I've sat under these pines for hours, finding a holy sanctuary with my Father amidst the hidden patches of earth on these hills. My sister and I recently talked about Eve, and her home in the Garden. And I wonder if that's why I feel so much peace here. 

I know the word says that creation groans, waiting for the redemption. Just as Adam fell from grace, the earth fell with him and waits for the new. But I like to think when creation becomes a meeting place for the Holy, it returns to Eden, if only for a few moments. 

So we walk, and I remember, and pray for new to come soon. To my heart. To the stories that we tell. To this earth.

So again, I wish these summertime strolls would linger on in our hearts, in memory.

Soon, very soon, we head west. This summer will be a beaten down path that took me there but to which I cannot return. It's growing over behind me, branches snapping back, so forward we go.

theorganicbird

__

linking up with the soli deo gloria girls today.

summering.

dearly

Hello loves!

Are you sunkissed and summer soaked? I sure hope! I hope you've had a couple sweltering evenings on dimly lit porches with citronella swirling around your toes, oscillating fans turning in the corner.

Are you making some memories? Leaving work early to take your kids to the pool, or burning some marshmallows over fire? ... Maybe even accidentally drop one into the blaze and watch it morph into a black sugary mess?

Have you?
Cranked your AC as high as you think it will go?
Jived out to some Beach Boys?
Seen Super 8? (please say yes?!)

Are you intentionally, deliberately, on purpose, enjoying your summer?

Today, you've flitted onto this blog again, and I'm sure you've noticed how I've been quiet.

Last Friday, my mom and I, along with my little M, took the 8 hour trek south to see family here:

source

I wish I could say I spent the week outdoors and enjoying the mountains, but instead I've spent it on this little Macbook, working the days away. To-do lists and bills to pay have to sometimes override hiking trails and forest wandering (notice I say sometimes.)

But it's ok, because we've been shopping, coffee-drinking and back-porch rambling. We've made microwave s'mores and soaked in the late summer evenings on wicker and by candlelight. My little M blends into the family as they entertain her in my waning moments — games, movies, books and yards to run. I'm grateful for family that grows and opens arms when mine feel weak and weary.

And not to be a broken record, but on Sunday, we leave for the Outer Banks where I plan to put away my to-do list and be with the family on the beach for a week. A house on the shore will accomodate all of us (28) and we'll own our little piece of sand for a week.

So... that's a lot of rambling and words to say — unless inspiration strikes, this place will be relatively quiet for the next few weeks.

It's just the time for summering,
staycationing,
vacationing,
swimming,
cooling and such.

The internet will destroy my summer if I let it. This is the season I longed for about 4 months ago, so it's only fitting I go enjoy it.

In the meantime, here are some summertime links I'll recommend for you...
— this album. Bon Iver just made some magic.
— this video. I want to say this to you about whatever it may be that's eating away at you.
—this image. It just says it.
— this book. One of my beach reads.
— this site. Love this nostalgia and stories many chapters later.

sorbet, sir.

I am radiating heat. I wanted sun-kissed cheeks and nose, and I sure got them. And a sun-slapped back and shoulders, too. I look like I'm blushing all the time. I don't hide my blushes well. It's no secret when what I'm feeling and thinking shows on my face. So for the next few days, no one will know otherwise. But, I digress.

Even though I'm self-employed, I still try to allow myself the indulgence of a three-day weekend. It'd be easy to work all weekend and continue making to-do lists. But I didn't do that this weekend. I turned off my work e-mail, put away my phone, stepped away from the computer for hours at a time, and experienced the love of a long American weekend.

I spent quite a bit of time in the backyard on a blanket, reading a book while Madeleine played and exhausted herself (much to my delight). We saw family, ate good food, rested, relaxed, swam, tanned, and honestly, literally, counted our blessings outloud in the kitchen.

Summer was in the air, on the porch, in the dripping watermelon and on the slow breeze that creeped across the empty cornfields. Gratitude is a rich dessert to taste in the middle of it all. 

Hot dogs, hamburgers and barbecued chicken. I am completely smitten with summer and all its beauty. I'm thanking God for giving us summer. It's like the great palette cleanser after a long winter. Sorbet sweeping across my parched tongue, flavored, sweet, gentle. 

New.

Full of all the best.

love.