“Sometimes since I've been in the garden I've looked up through the trees at the sky and I have had a strange feeling of being happy as if something was pushing and drawing in my chest and making me breathe fast. Magic is always pushing and drawing and making things out of nothing. Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden - in all the places.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
We live in a neighborhood where the beach is just a few steps away. There are some stairs and train tracks to cross and there’s the tide. When the tide is high there is no beach, just waves crashing against the craggy rock wall. We pay attention to the tides living here. Tucked in the junk drawer, next to the keys and collection of pens, Gabe keeps a tide book that he checks daily, while his coffee brews. I usually use the app on my phone. On the days when the tide is dramatically low we plan a beach day. Sunday was one of those days for us. We told the family a loose plan, all guided by the tide. Gabe and my brother took the kayaks out to try and get crab while the rest of us sat on the beach, snacking, talking, looking for rocks and soaking it all in. I went for a brief chilly swim and felt practically baptized to the season. When the tide nearly reached the wall we packed everything up and headed back to the house to cook the day’s catch. It was the sort of day where everything felt like magic.
Summer has that sense. It feels like the crescendo of the symphony where all the instruments are playing on full blast. Everywhere you look something is blooming, new ingredients are in season, and every bird is singing their song. It’s a lot to take in. In the season of abundance we can’t take it all in all the time. But there can be moments, a brief pause, a leisurely day at the beach, the methodical filling of the basket standing at the raspberry vines. Snapshots of summer magic.