Oh, goodness. If you did not already know, cats can indeed be trained! My 13 pound orange tabby, Brigid, is extremely food motivated. She’ll pester us whenever we’re eating and will beg for food scraps. She’s even jumped up on laps uninvited in order to be part of the party! Well, it looks like we ended up training Brigid to go into her cardboard box whenever she wants treats. I’ll hear the pitter-patter of her paws jumping into the cardboard box next to our recycling whenever I’ve been in the kitchen recently… knowing this is her new way of asking for treats! Whenever I grab the treat bag out she also now knows to get into the box. That’s a real cutie patoot move, if you ask me. She will simply stare – unblinking – into your soul while she quietly demands treats. I’ve captured the evidence below! …Of course I end up caving and giving her treats 80% of the time. Hence the “accidental” part of this training!

I thoroughly enjoy tea and coffee beverages, so I was excited to try out a new tea that arrived in the mail today! It’s called “Beach Reads” by Chapters Tea & Co. It made for a delicious iced tea! It’s a hibiscus and raspberry lemonade blend (pictured below). We’re supposed to have more rain it seems today, so I sat on our front porch with my tea watching the rain clouds roll in from the distance. But, of course, since I’ve started a blog again I got excited about taking some photos in order to continue digital scrapbooking! I wanted to take photos of our front yard because I’m so incredibly grateful for it. In the background of my (delicious) tea is our raised garden bed. Jonathan and I worked hard on getting that set up in late spring this year. I’ve wanted my own garden for YEARS, but all I could manage were some pots due to not having a lot of space living in rentals without backyards. One of my favorite morning rituals so far this summer is going outside to water the garden and all of our potted plants. I get to feel the cool morning air, hear the birds converse, and say “good morning!” to all of our plants. Ah! I feel so grateful and smiley in those moments! We have a lot of floral plants that smell positively divine this year that I try to remember to smell almost everyday: Japanese honeysuckle, “Music Box” roses, and gardenias. Holy smokes do they smell amazing! I am 100% that person that stops to smell the roses… or lilacs… or flowering trees… pretty much anything I can get a whiff of while out on my evening strolls. I’ll get up on my tiptoes if I have to to get a good sniff!

I feel so grateful by the abundance that summer brings every year. This year Jonathan and I went a little ham with plants! In our “potted plant garden” we have: sage, rosemary, thyme, chocolate peppermint, and super chilis. For the raised garden bed: lacinto kale, rainbow swiss chard, red lettuce, green lettuce, romaine lettuce, dill, strawberries, green beans, radishes, carrots, cucumber, bell pepper, golden cherry tomatoes, basil, chives, and peas! AHHHHHHH!!! The absolute best. Fresh food will always make me feel like the most abundant person ever!

I feel grateful for…

• … how incredibly cute and kissable Brigid is.
• … delicious iced tea.
• … how pretty hibiscus tea looks.
• … the literal fruits (vegetables in this case!) of our labor.
• … that my eyes are able to see all of the beautiful colors of this season.

– An addendum –

I just had to add in a couple more pictures after coming home from choir practice (Threshold Choir, a volunteer organization). It had been cloudy all evening until – POP! – the final moments of the sun shone through the gray clouds to bid adieu!

I also wanted to capture the view behind me in our yoga/office/reading room. (Alright, alright… it’s basically a spare room that I completely took over.) I wanted a nice “untidy” photo of this room to be able to look back on since I have a feeling it will change how it looks in the next couple of years!

To end the day, Jonathan invited me on a leisurely walk in which we admired the pink, orange, and yellow clouds as we ambled over to the nearby community garden. While there we had miniature snack of honeysuckle nectar and chive flowers, and I picked some sprigs of lemon balm to take home to dry for tea. 🙂 We ate (very) spicy radishes picked out of our garden upon returning back home as well – the last of the spring radishes! The summer skies, handheld walks, and small treats from nature… the simple pleasures are surely abundant when we let ourselves be present with them.