Serenity, Stars, Family and Fish

I have just returned from a long weekend up in the mountains near a small lake where I spent a lot of time surrounded by my husband, my kids and by nature.  It was very much needed and very much appreciated.

Over this past month I have been feeling a little overwhelmed about an upcoming project that has potential to life changing for urban communities that are in flux.  It's exciting and a little terrifying at the same time, so the idea of spending time away from my home office and my laptop was very appealing.  I tried very hard to only connect with WIFI when I needed to check out something the kids suggested and I did use my IPad for reading on my Kindle app.  I have to say it wasn't that difficult to disconnect and I highly recommend that everyone try to disconnect from technology every so often.  You'll find it freeing.

My time was spent watching the lake, watching the sunset, watching the deer (who apparently are so used the people that they barely acknowledge our presence), and watching the stars.  It was a joy to watch my now adult children interact with each other as equals, laughing and conversing about relevant topics, music and podcasts.  It was a joy to watch my husband with fishing rod in his hands lazily casting out into in the lake, he didn't even care that the only thing his was catching was lake grass.

I am finding that this need to periodically disconnect from the turbulent world that surrounds us is a great way to maintain my serenity and although this long weekend was in the mountains, I am absolutely positive that I can find a way to disconnect in my own backyard.

As the world around us becomes more and more derisive, we all need to take a step back, disconnect, breathe deep and find our serenity and in case you are in need of some help I have attached a photo I took of a beautiful sunset on Saturday evening.

Finding Serenity in Fresh Food

I'm very lucky to have a spouse with a green thumb and who enjoys the labor involved with planting fresh veggies and herbs.

Each year in early spring we choose what we want to grow in our gardens.  This year it has been English Peas, Eggplants, a variety of peppers, cucumbers (I love to make pickles), lots of tomatoes and of course - basil, rosemary and mint.

I have found that there is serenity in harvesting. I love going out into the garden digging through the plants and finding my bounty.  As I place things into my basket there is a sense of well being that flows through me knowing that we did this, we grew these vegetables and each time I unload the harvest into my kitchen I am filled with a sense of purpose on preparing the bounty for dinner or pickles or soup, etc but I am also filled with questions about what to do with leftover harvest when I get tired of eating cucumber/mint gazpacho.

At my weekly Rotary Luncheon a fellow Rotarian mentioned that summer is always an issue for feeding school children in our communities.  These children get breakfast and lunch during the school year but when school ends and summer begins and programs are cut how can we provide the necessary nutrition for these youths.

I thought about my garden and my harvest and wondered if there isn't some way to deliver extra produce to the community that needs it.  Each year I grow way too much and luckily for me I have a vacuum sealer and dehydrator, but what if I could do "good" with my excess.

I would love the opportunity to bring the serenity of gardening and harvesting the bounty to others.

I ask you to think about your gardens and how we can use our excess harvest to help out in our local communities.

ENJOY THE BOUNTY, ENJOY THE FRESH AIR, TAKE A DEEP DEEP BREATH and FIND YOUR SERENITY!

HAPPY SUMMER!