Each and every day, I like to spend some time outdoors. It helps to relax and feel at one with the world. Kevin created a little oasis in front of our cabin when he added a koi pond, a favorite place to sit and reflect.

Our resident pond dweller, "Mrrrp" the frog!

This quiet spot definitely lends itself to pondering :)

I also have a lot of fun snapping photographs in the woods around the cabin. A couple of weeks ago, our mountain laurel bushes were in full bloom. Late one afternoon, right before the sun started to go down, I decided to take a few pictures of their delicate pink-trimmed, white blossoms. A tiny black moth was resting at the base of one clump of flowers, as you can see. This photo looks a little fuzzy here, but, in the original, the most amazing trails of light extend from the upper right hand corner down over the leaves and flowers with a magenta colored prism-like effect ... one of those rare flukes that makes amateur photography especially enjoyable!

It's time to get back outside to water the gardens. In addition to a variety of flowers, we're growing beans, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, cucumbers, and strawberries this summer. It takes a lot of effort to get our clay laden soils fertile to nurture the garden plants. Fortunately, we've got layers of leaf litter in the surrounding woods and we can simply dig up the rich, nutrient laden soil from under the fallen leaves and mix it in with the rocky, clay soils and the plants love it!

Wishing you peaceful moments...