Today my eldest granddaughter turned 9, my brother celebrated 45 years of being married to the love of his life, and we all celebrated the fathers, grandfathers and those who act as fathers in our lives. It is a lot to ask of a single day, but the sun rose at 5:22 AM and will set at 9:02 PM…giving us more than 16 hours of daylight in which to be joyful.

I remember going to meet this bright flower on the day she was born. When she cried, as all children will, her entire forehead wrinkled and she looked like a Romulan. She was, and is, smart and kind and beautiful.

The child favors yellow, which makes sense for being born on the day with the most sunlight of the year. The mullein and butter-and-eggs have just come into bloom.

The bees have been loving our rampaging weeds.

This fine pheasant has staked out the end of our driveway as his territory. He is much less intimidating than the Sandhills I had to sneak by a couple of years ago.

I am grateful to have these wonders to share with this child of the light.