Simple Sunday - Summer Evening

~ thankful for this evening--a perfect summer evening...what peace and joy to sit around the picnic table, enjoying the pleasant coolness of the air, munching on popcorn and ice cream, holding my youngest son, watching my second youngest scoot all over the yard, seeing my oldest two carrying out "missions" (i.e. "you are Roman vineyard workers named Marcus and Felix...run to the grapevine and jump up and down five times underneath it, yelling 'Be fruitful!'...then find a purple grape and pick it before running back here" -- or "you are rabbits in Mr. McGregor's garden...crawl under the big swing as if you're crawling under the fence, then run to the garden and pick a ripe cherry tomato, then run back here by way of the big swingset as if you're escaping by a different route as Mr. McGregor chases you")...moments like these are the chocolate-covered strawberries of life: pure delight!

~ I took this picture this evening, but found it impossible to capture the beauty of the evening light on the neighbor's cornfield, the luscious shades of green in the forest, the lovely blue of the sky, and the moon that had risen already...actually, the moon is visible at the top of this picture toward the right, but only faintly...much less vivid than all of this was in real life, but at least it somewhat captures the memory for me