Summer Solstice

I've had a hard couple days.  After getting a very violent stomach flu virus on Wednesday night, I spend Thursday night helping Nora get through the same virus (except that she had it worse than me and was up throwing up every half hour all night long).  Yesterday when I woke up I still didn't feel better.  I spent the day trying to get things done with a queasy stomach in between a lot of sitting.  Aside from feeling sick, it was more than a little depressing.  It was beautiful outside and the garden was calling me.  But since walking more than a few steps made me nauseous I was trapped indoors.

But then by late afternoon (after a long nap) I suddenly started to feel better.  Ryan made us an amazing dinner and I was able to eat for the first time in two days.  After dinner, I read Nora and Jackson some of our read aloud (the last book in the Heartwood series that we just adore) and we got Nora to bed early.  Then later downstairs, I had this really great moment.  Jackson and Ryan were watching the baseball game, Grace was reading in the window seat, Nora was on the mend and asleep upstairs, and I was reading Iyla a stack of books- and I just had an overwhelmingly happy moment of clarity- life is so good.

Which leads me to today, one of my favorite days ever.  It began with a little time reading my book "Notes to Self", followed by time a quiet morning in the garden.  Then we all decided to play a game of baseball, which was silly and chaotic and so much fun I didn't want to stop.





Later Ryan started working on the new porch.  And I went back out to the garden.  Iyla is so in love with out there right now because there are monarch caterpillars everywhere to find and red ripe strawberries to eat.  I weeded and planted and watered and enjoyed every minute.

Meanwhile Grace was inside making this amazing cake for our Summer Solstice party we decided to have (even though it was a day late).  We were all feeling better and it was a beautiful summer day so we decided a party was in order.  The cake was so beautiful and she topped it with our strawberries. It was absolutely delicious! Iyla couldn't stop asking for more.






{she used this recipe  but used wheat flour instead of white, with my mom's Christmas cookie frosting recipe which she added strawberries too.}

Aside from strawberry cake, we had homemade pizzas for dinner with garden toppings.  I tried a combo of arugula, oregano, chives, basil, and sausage which was SO good.  After dinner Jackson talked us into doing a small fireworks show for us.  Iyla thought they were great as long as they weren't too loud.







We ended the night in the field chasing fireflies.  Truly the perfect summer day.  We will for sure make this a new tradition.

What was most fascinating to me at the end of the day was realizing that our impromptu Solstice party never would have happened had we not gotten sick.  This really amazing day just never would have materialized.  I'm still thinking about that and how life is always taking me on little surprise journeys that I hadn't anticipated.