Time to Celebrate: Island floating by!

I decided to write today without a pic! Pics will be coming of our 40th anniversary roadtrips this summer! This summer we celebrate with my sister and bro in law in MO and KS with the Tall Grass Prairies and time to relax soon! Then we spend a week with our kids in CO! Talk about heaven on earth and a break from responsibilities at home!

We celebrate 40 years of the up and downs of marriage, ins and outs, roller coasters, quiet times, retreats to home in the evening, conversations and keeping up, loving each day and islands floating by! Yes we did see an island floating by on the lake last week!

Our Neighbors who are moving to CO very soon and will be greatly missed, called after two nights of crazy storms --- with hail, wind, rain and tornadoes down the road --- to say an ISLAND WAS FLOATING BY our house on the lake!

Sure enough, we went outdoors and there quietly floating by was an Island as proud as could be with tall grasses of all colors -- like the Tall grasses we hope to see in KS near Emporia!

It was one of those SURREAL moments in my life when the world stands still as we watched this small island moving peacefully by us in the middle of the lake -- an island that was torn loose from its home in the storm!

It very slowly floated by and we wondered if we were seeing things but it was real even as we kept wondering if it was and marvelling at it -- an island floating by us that had been created from the winds and rain!

So i guess that is how i feel right now as we approach our big 40 wedding anniversary now soon on June 28 -- it is like all the many memories of our marriage and dating, having children floating by -- now they are grown and making lives of their own as i contemplate this floating island as it slowly moves by me very quietly -- as it turns to night in the bluest sky after storm clouds!

May you be able to watch the islands with tall grasses floating by in your life and your relationships too -- and as we remember the moments to savor -- the stories in our life together and remember them, tell them, celebrate relationships, commitments, the ups and downs of life, the daily conversations, the problem solving -- and the griefs, the sadness with the deepest joys that have to come to us in forty year across time as life floats by as a gift!

I am also reflecting now on all the friends along the way floating by on that island of grasses in the evening light ----- and our children, loved ones who give us love and life, true happiness like those grasses waving to us on their way by! And the times we can still share together!

Enjoy nature and all those you love around you and we hope to as well now as we celebrate 40 years of marriage this summer!

Summer Delights

I am discovering that summer has slowly and quietly come upon us like the willow trees and green leaves of awakening to summery mornings basking in sunlight!

It is time for gardens and flowers, blue skies against green leaves and cotton flying from our cottony tree~ as we thinking about sweeping the deck one more time~

It is time for resting on the deck in the evenings listening to summer sounds, garage sales on steamy weekends, art in the park and summer art shows, yearning for walks in tall grasses with wild flowers in KS coming up! Time for travelling south to MO and KS for our celebration trip coming and making plans for summer days on day trips and trips to rest our minds and schedules.

It is time for our wedding anniversary of 40 years coming soon, a few trips this summer and vacation time to renew our souls and open our minds to organic colors and landscapes, small intimate flowers and little treasures in nature ~

It is time for reading outdoors or sipping lemonade when the weather permits, enjoying the new colors of the lake and canoeing, figuring out new plantings, having outdoor meals from time to time and some mores, evening fires outdoors and friends coming to visit the lake for fun and rest.

It is suddenly summer and time to enjoy all the sights, sounds, foods and thoughts or summer, meditation and eating watermelon, deviled eggs, sweet corn, seeing friends outdoors and awaiting the daylilies after the lilacs of spring!

It is time to enjoy all the things about summer that make it a time to get outdoors and discover nature again anew, to see friends again and family on trips, vacations or a Beach Boys concert in town~ getting caught in the downpour of rain and lightning as we run to the car to get to our homes~

Time for visiting loved ones and enjoying the mountains, dreaming of evenings and mornings that last longer and waking up to a warm day of new thoughts and summer surprises each day!

Time for the blues and greens of summer outdoors and memories of summers before and new ones to come while we enjoy the present warmth of summer days and nights!

And I am ready for Rhubarb pie, summer rain and rainbows, popsickles, lemonade, time with friends, family and renewing ourselves! Have a great summer everyone with some delights each day!