We have had such a challenging year, and I’m working on letting go of the sense of having missed summer, or missed opportunities for joy in the past few months.  This is all illusory, I know, and I am thankful for all of the everything and the true abundance of what I have.

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Somehow, Lee and I are still married, and I think that amid the stress and the parenting and the money and the crises, we still love each other. So many opportunities for practising tolerance and forgiveness.

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Often it feels like nothing will ever be settled, or back to normal, and in moments of clarity I can see that this is true, for everyone.  And yet, we (well, Lee) spent last week taking out a wall and having our new well dug, and we are hoping to be back in our little house by December.  Surprises and changes are constant.

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Our daily walks are, quite literally, grounding.  In the past several days, the kids and I have taken a big book bag into the woods to do our reading in the gold fall light.

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The following are some photos of late-summer that were lost in the shuffle, and a few recent fall pics.