A taste of summer...

"Here comes the sun...doo,doo,doo,doo...here comes the sun, and I say, "It's all right." Little darlin', it's been a long, cold, lonely winter"......Are you singing along with me yet? If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you know that we have just had two phenomenal days of sunshine and warm temperatures for the end of April and start of May...over 80 degrees...yes, "it's all right!" The beauty of the Northwest shines brightly on days like this.

When I was a young girl, and my mother was baking or cooking, the aroma of something delicious would begin to waft through the house. I would head to the kitchen, take a peek, and ask for a taste. Mom would often hand me a little spoon and let me taste whatever was on the stove or being mixed in the bowl. Then she would say, "That's all for now...you need to wait until dinner." And that little taste....umm...would be just enough to tide me over until I could indulge in the full meal deal. Well...that's what this lovely weather felt like to me...a little taste of the summer to come. 

Girls of summer...

As you may know, we do not always have wonderful warm and sunny summers here....in fact, sometimes we have very few days like that...even in the summer. When the sun comes early...or actually just about anytime we see it...we Northwesteners like to get out and enjoy it...while it lasts. So, when a friend sent me a text and said, "Are you available to kayak at 5ish at my house?" You better believe I said, "Sure! Sounds good. I'll be there!" As I mentioned in an earlier post, several friends and I met weekly last summer to kayak. I often wanted to invite a friend who did not own a kayak, but I only had one, so I began to search Craigslist. After one kayak got away from me, my husband, unbeknownst to me, found another one like mine and surprised me with it! (He's a pretty good guy!) Our kayaking group is pretty casual, so I knew that I had the freedom to invite a new neighbor down the road that I had been wanting to get to know better (I did double check with my friend who issued the invite and she said it was fine...just like I thought!). There's just something kind of wonderful about kayaking...you are close to the water, cutting through it with the rhythmic swish of your paddle, feeling buoyant...at peace.

Friends, old and new...

We had the perfect evening...warm air, flat water, sun shining...and even an eagle and osprey circled above us. My new neighbor and friend loved her first kayaking experience! 

Heading home...

And the next morning, I awoke to view this from the deck...

And these words came to mind, "...but may they who love You be like the sun, when it rises in its' strength." Judges 5:31.  I love that...rising in strength...His strength.  Hope you can enjoy the warmth of the sun wherever you are today. Here comes the sun! Sing along now...