Even though the weather remains warm, there’s no disguising that summer has been transformed into fall. The days are shorter, the sun less direct. The fields are golden, final crops are being harvested. The skin on fruits and vegetables is thicker; fall offerings replace summer. And pushed along by the drought the leaves are beginning to turn.

When I’m not seeing this all through the lens of a swimmer losing her outdoor pools, I am amazed at the abundance. And apples are coming!

The cycle of the year is so astounding. And, yet, it’s so easy to ignore the rolling bounty. All year long, every day, something magical happens. Too often we deprive ourselves of the wonder by focusing on what we don’t have. What we don’t have anymore. What we don’t have yet. What we don’t have, period.

Now is the time of the ingathering. I thought about this last night as I was writing the musing to respond to this beautiful photo. I had just finished a conversation with a dear friend who lost his mother. It was her time to be gathered back in at the end of a very long life. Now he has the memories to preserve. He’ll mourn, even while knowing they lived every last drop of her life and her love.

The wheel of the year continues to roll. Let us gather in, enjoy, preserve, and share the Peace just as we gather in, enjoy, preserve and share the Bounty of the season. Blessed be.