The Farmer's Market: A Festival of Color

I love shopping at our local farmer's market. Everything is organic and fresh. It's a feast for the eyes and soul as well as the body; a festival of color. Buckets abundantly filled with cut flowers; bins, boxes and baskets overflowing with luscious fruits and vegetables; and tables of fresh baked goods, fish, honey, sorbet and coffee. Tantalizing smells of fresh produce waft through the air, alive with the energy of those shopping and sampling. There's  a bit of an "old world" feel, similar to the feeling I had when I shopped the open air markets while visiting Paris and other European cities. It feels good to shop at the farmer's market. It feels good to buy fresh, local, organic food and support the farmer's who grow it and make it available. I know I'm getting quality, healthy, fresh, organic food and I love the eye candy; there's never a shortage for great photo taking. It's a highlight of my week. 

Beach Bliss

Photos taken during a recent trip down to Santa Cruz. It was a little bit chilly but an absolutely beautiful day. I love how the bright blue sky and the golden sunshine make the water sparkle and the colors pop!

Wednesday Gratitude

 
 I haven't done a Wednesday Gratitude for a while now. Life and work just got busy and I didn't make time for it. Isn't that how it goes? Things get busy and we get into our routine and forget about certain things for a while until sometime down the road we think, "Oh, I haven't done that in a while." or "Oh, I used to do that." That's just how things go. We go in spurts sometimes. Letting my Wednesday Gratitude's go for a while made me realize that I liked doing them. Not only did it give me a way to bring out my gratitude thoughts in a purposeful way, but I really enjoyed reading others comments about what they are grateful for. Really, it's so encouraging to me to see what other people are grateful for. I really believe that when we share our gratitude with one another, we feel encouraged to keep on, keeping on. Because we are all trying the best we can, to be the best we can be in this life and play the cards we've been dealt. Some days are up days and some days are down days. None of the days last forever and neither do the ups and the downs. Everything is temporary. And gratitude helps to feed our souls and to encourage us to take another step...even if it's a down day and we can only manage to take just one.

So, this week, I have gratitude for:

Quiet, cozy evenings at home with the candles lit

Some beautiful sunshine this week

A flexible schedule that helps me manage everything I'm responsible for

and the fact that the roses are still blooming

What do you have gratitude for?

A Little Sunshine

"Daisies are like sunshine to the ground"

~Drew Barrymore