Lush

Yesterday was one of those perfect summer days—with low humidity, a gentle breeze, sunny skies, and low eighties temperatures. While many people in Minnesota, across our country, and around the world marched for black justice, I spent my day taking it easy because of a sore knee. (It’s not a big problem, I just did something that got it slightly out of kilter and my muscles let me know in a big way.)

During times like these I often feel like I shouldn’t be enjoying myself because so many people are suffering. And then I come to my senses, notice that deadly “should” word, and remember to choose joy. Despite all of the horrible things in the world, I choose joy. Each moment is a gift that we can hold in our hearts with gratitude and appreciation. Yes there is sadness, brutality, selfishness, injustice, and pain. And there is beauty, goodness, and kindness beyond belief. As I wrote earlier, it’s not an either/or world, it’s a both/and world.

And now for the mundane simplicity of my day yesterday. My peonies are coming into bloom and the only word to describe them is

Lush

As I gaze at them I am filled with gratitude that this year I feel well enough to photograph them again. I started writing that they were my favorite flowers to photograph but I realized that I love photographing almost every flower. So much beauty in such tiny packages! This time of year when I move from blossom to blossom to sweet fragrant blossom is my favorite.

I picked three peonies yesterday and brought them into my dining room studio. This morning when I woke up and walked out to the living room I caught a sweet scent of peonies. Ah, the fragrance of flowers. The wild phlox that I photographed earlier this week also has a sweet fragrance that lasted for about a day.

There were dragonflies hovering around the peonies and my container garden yesterday. I’m eating daily salads of several varieties of lettuce, kale, and other greens. My cherry tomato plants are blooming and the sugar snap peas and cucumber plants are growing daily. The deer ate a bunch of my sugar snap peas so I’ve rearranged their containers and placed some netting over them. Blueberries are starting to set on my blueberry bushes and the black raspberries are in bloom. Summer marches on and I am savoring the days.

A peek inside my “studio”

I took a picture of me in my messy studio as it was yesterday shortly after I started working with the flowers. (Did you notice Gracie on the chair in the lower left corner of the photo? She seems very bewildered by my photography at times but keeps me company while I work anyway.)

And here’s my first self-portrait in which I had not set the camera settings fast enough and I moved. Even though it was a mistake, I like it, especially the hummingbird feeder and the view out the window.

“To be happy we need to learn how to structure a day that is rich in meaning and joy-producing activities. How we spend our time defines who we are. There is no magical future. Today is our future. Our lives are events that unfurl in real time, minute by minute.” Mary Pipher, Women Rowing North

What is lush in your life right now? And what are you grateful for today?

May you walk in beauty.

May you soak in the lush beauty all around.

May you choose joy.