The First Harvest

I love this time of year. There's something so magical about August. It's often the hottest time of the year, and yet heralds the harvest to come. It is a reminder to play and enjoy the lazy summer days before the hard work of Autumn is upon us.

It is a time of Summer fruit and sweet corn.

A time to release fear and take heart, to recognize the star of hope within us.

It is also the time of sunflowers. I don't remember seeing these flowers in the desert where I grew up. But here on the East Coast, the fields are full of them - these tall, radiant flowers that turn to the light.

"I don't think there's anything on this planet that more trumpets life that the sunflower. For me that's because of the reason behind its name. Not because it looks like the sun but because it follows the sun. During the course of the day, the head tracks the journey of the sun across the sky. A satellite dish for sunshine. Wherever light is, no matter how weak, these flowers will find it. And that's such an admirable thing. And such a lesson in life." - Calendar Girls (written by Julia Towhidi and Tim Firth)