I’ll admit to still owning the “newcomer’s view” of North Carolina. I love everything about this state. And, while I’m still capable of complaining about heat and humidity, at the same time I’m deeply grateful we’ve only been seriously hot for a couple of months – and then it will be fall in just a few short weeks.

One thing I do love, love, love about the summers here is the abundance of local, flavorful, fresh fruit and vegetables. And if anything at all says, “summer” in every way that is good, then it is picking up local tomatoes and peaches from the roadside stand just a short walk from our home.

Every morning, right after I bring Rebekah a mug of fresh, perfect coffee, we cut up a Carolina peach and put it on a bowl of cereal. There, looking out at the morning as it makes its way through the trees and into our kitchen, we launch the new day with conversation, devotion, and thankfulness to God for the simple pleasures of life.

Lunchtime, likewise, is brought to perfection with the flavor of fresh, red, ripe, locally grown tomatoes.

Then, completing the summer trifecta of farm-to-table goodness, Rebekah and I have enjoyed abundant herbs, cascading out from the tower of pots on the deck. Sweet basil; oregano; rosemary; thyme, sage; parsley; mint; purple basil; lemon balm. It is the taste of summer, and it does a lot to compensate for the heat and the humidity.

THANKS: This is just a short, uncomplicated post; but I wanted to get across my abiding sense of gratitude and appreciation for the essential goodness of day-to-day life. Just a bowl of cereal, a good cup of coffee, and some fresh peaches, shared in a spirit of thankfulness with the amazing, creative, loving woman I share my life with.

Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow: James 1:17

Thank you, God, I really do feel blessed to the very bottom of my heart – DEREK