All Is Well

Garden growing strong.

Pumpkin and lettuce seedlings in the conservatory.

Well, it appears that we are done with crises for the week, today all the plants are growing strong, the two chicks that Ellen is raising are just getting to that adorable, jumping-around stage, and the two late hatches are in the brooder eating, drinking and generally resting after their traumatized start to life. To some extent, in the animal world there is often a decision made whether to live or die when a creature is tiny and new; a baby rabbit can be picked up and it will become so scared its little heart will speed up until it dies, with no trauma involved, and sometimes, a picked-on, motherless chick decides it's going to live despite its beginnings, stages a comeback, and thrives. 

Recovering nicely.

In the non life-and-death areas of life, there was an art show in town featuring a coastal artist I really like, and so I headed downtown this morning to snag another print of hers for the house. We already have one in our living room and wanted one more to round out the space. The painting is of  a barn we always see as we're driving home from the beach, meaning it's something I generally see late on a weekend afternoon (the same time of day the painting seems to have been done) when I'm feeling very content and happy. Since it reminds me of happy things, I figured why not look at it all the time?

Peaceful barn.

It's also time to harvest the lavender, which means lavender iced tea, lavender ice cream and the house smelling very lavender-y and perfumed (in the most natural way possible, not the AirGlade stink that modern life tells us is a good and clean smell. Blech.)  Every season has its challenges, but late spring especially also has its rewards. Lavender is one of them.

Life goes on in other ways, too. Groceries is two weeks into his Navy basic training and called us this morning very homesick, and Big Ag is learning the ropes at his new job as a vineyard manager, enjoying good days but also having some bad ones. 

Those things are just the stuff that life is made of, and I think the trick is balancing the not-so-good with the blessings, in order to remind yourself that although it's never perfect, maybe for just one day -- perhaps today -- all is well in your corner of the world, and it is  always appropriate and right to celebrate that.

Lots of lavender and some red hot pokers.