That phrase, and the song, Simple Gifts, have been running through my mind lately for some reason, a bit oddly since to me that is a Christmas song. And Christmas is a ways off yet, even as the world seems poised on the threshold between summer and autumn.

We’ve had sunny days with record-breaking temperatures for September and rainy days with weather hazard warnings for flooding and landslides (the area around the farm was untouched this time), and all the while I’ve been laid up for more than a week with what the doctor thinks was Covid.

‘ ‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free / ‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, … ‘

I’m slowly starting to feel back to normal, and today I walked home from a physio appointment collecting simple gifts with my camera, flowers, cats, murals, scents of basil from my favourite deli. The rain, the sound of it, and the cold wetness of my trousers against my skin, so different from the unchanging hours and days recuperating on the sofa.

Life.

Then I came home and had a cup of tea.

How is the season treating you?

~Warmly, Jenny G.