“What wondrous life is this I lead!
Ripe apples drop about my head;
The luscious clusters of the vine
Upon my mouth do crush their wine;
The nectarine and curious peach
Into my hands themselves do reach;
Stumbling on melons, as I pass,
Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass.”
– Andrew Marvell, Thoughts in a Garden

 “In August, the large masses of berries, which, when in flower, had attracted many wild bees, gradually assumed their bright velvety crimson hue, and by their weight again bent down and broke their tender limbs.”
– Henry David Thoreau

Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragonfly
Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky.
~Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Silent Noon

“Snails don’t walk.
They slither and slide
Along wet pathways
Gleam and glide,
Squeezed between
The grasses green,
Polished houses shell-like gleam.”
– Theresa Heine

The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.
– Mark Twain…Letter to George Bainton, 10/15/1888

There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.  –Celia Thaxter

I drifted into a summer-nap under the hot shade of July, serenaded by a cicadae lullaby, to drowsy-warm dreams of distant thunder.  – Terri Guillemets

“summer moon
a bottle of wine
breathes all night”
– Francine Banwarth

“It will not always be summer: build barns.”
– Hesiod

One of the best Northwest experiences… Mystic Sea Charters wine/dinner cruise via Hellams Vineyard, La Conner. Love the waterways of the north puget sound!

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney

“I don’t think about the miles that are coming down the road, I don’t think about the mile I’m on right now, I don’t think about the miles I’ve already covered. I think about what I’m doing right now, just being lost in the moment.” – Ryan Hall

“I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart.” – Mike Fanelli

“The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.” – Robert Frost

“How fair doth Nature
Appear again!
How bright the sunbeams!
How smiles the plain!
The flow’rs are bursting
From ev’ry bough,
And thousand voices
Each bush yields now.
And joy and gladness
Fill ev’ry breast!
Oh earth!–oh sunlight!
Oh rapture blest!
Oh love! oh loved one!”
– Goethe, May Song

 “Through all the frozen winter
My nose has grown most lonely
For lovely, lovely, colored smells
That come in springtime only.

The purple smell of lilacs,
The yellow smell that blows
Across the air of meadows
Where bright forsythia grows.

The tall pink smell of peach trees,
The low white smell of clover,
And everywhere the great green smell
Of grass the whole world over.”
– Kathryn Worth, Smells

 “Buttercups and daisies,
Oh, the pretty flowers;
Coming ere the spring time,
To tell of sunny hours.
When the trees are leafless;
When the fields are bare;
Buttercups and daisies
Spring up here and there.”
– Mary Howitt

 “Spring with its wavin’ green grass and heaps of sweet-smellin’ flowers on every hilland in every dale.” – Roy Bean

 “Drinking good wine with good food in good company is one of life’s most civilized pleasures.” – Michael Broadbent

An anniversary is a time to celebrate the joys of today, the memories of yesterday, and the hopes of tomorrow.  – Author Unknown

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”
– Charles Dickens

“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
– William Wordsworth

“Springtime is the land awakening.
The March winds are the morning yawn.”
– Lewis Grizzard and Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You

“Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.” –  Martin Luther King, Jr.

 “Away in a meadow all covered with snow
The little old groundhog looks for his shadow
The clouds in the sky determine our fate
If winter will leave us all early or late.”
– Don Halley

 “Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour.”
– John Boswell

 “Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” – Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” – Oprah Winfrey

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain

“January is here, with eyes that keenly glow,
A frost-mailed warrior
striding a shadowy steed of snow.”
– Edgar Fawcett

“Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.”
– Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evenin

“Bare branches of each tree
on this chilly January morn
look so cold so forlorn.
Gray skies dip ever so low
left from yesterday’s dusting of snow.
Yet in the heart of each tree
waiting for each who wait to see
new life as warm sun and breeze will blow,
like magic, unlock springs sap to flow,
buds, new leaves, then blooms will grow.”
– Nelda Hartmann, January Morn

“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 “Holly and mistletoe
Candles and bells,
I know the message
That each of you tells.”
– Leland B. Jacobs, Mrs. Ritters First Grade Critters

 “A full moon shines
over the morning frost;
the lanes are full of late-fallen leaves;
walking across the mulch
is almost as tricky
as treading over ice.

In town the carol-singers are in
crowding the shopping-mall,
while a group of muffled musicians
play by the outside market.

This year but two robins
on the early Christmas cards;
the squirrel still runs along the fence
skirting our newly-erected shed.”
– Gerald England, Mid-December, Famous Poets

Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.
Elizabeth Lawrence

A few days ago I walked along the edge of the lake and
was treated to the crunch and rustle of leaves with each step I made. The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air.  Eric Sloane

Over the river and through the wood,
To grandfather’s house we go;
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh,
Through the white and drifted snow.
Lydia Maria Child, Thanksgiving Day, 1845