High season.

Summer is at its deepest, most fertile, most beautiful now. It is high season, for all things. In our vegetable garden life has finally arrived after a cold spring and summer so far. The sweet peas are threatening to take over the garden and hundreds of flowers are in bloom, slowly transforming themselves into lovely crunchy pea pods. The kids walk in bare feet, munching away on anything ripe in the garden. The juiciest, sweetest strawberries are served by chubby small hands and they taste like summer itself. The chili plants are growing out of the kitchen window frame, the potatoes are blossoming in the field, the artichokes are starting to resemble a small jungle, just like it should be. Very soon the greenhouses will have ripe tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers and we will be self sufficient for that magical little while.

It is high season for me as a photographer too, the weddings are lined up throughout the summer, in addition to family sessions and other jobs. I also let myself rest though, in dreamy summer days where we forget the time and just spend time together. We go to the pond nearby to swim or look for frogs, we walk in the woods, fish in the lakes. We go to the coast, fish for crabs, swim in the sea, sleep in the lavvo. We camp at home too; spend nights in the hammocks on the back porch, we hear the owls in the night, we wake with the sun coming over the ridge and filtering its light through the cherry tree in the garden.

Nik runs the kennels and it's full; dogs arriving and leaving, dozens of walks in the fields and forests. Dogs in all shapes and sizes. Our cats observe them all from afar; they are in summer mode too, lazy and sleepy.

Small showers of rain make everything moist and fresh, the air afterwards is so clear and lovely. Summer rain is something else.

We sit on the front porch in the evenings, in the sunset, with the view of the valley and hills far away. We talk about all things; plans for the future, hopes and dreams and worries.
Our horse and cows are cooled by the soft summer night, the flies are asleep and don't bother them anymore. We go to bed a little bit too late every night, but it feels right, like our bodies don't need as much sleep as usual. 

It is high season for everything alive. Winter is like a distant memory, like it happened on another planet or in a different time. I absorb it all, let my body and soul fill up with it. I let myself feel good.