Present Delights and the Promise of More to Come

Jenny and Jean-Marc made it down for part of the Memorial Day weekend, and Friday afternoon we took a walk around the farm with them.  It was a beautifully cool day with perfect weather.

From a grass farmer's standpoint, when it comes to daisies, we love them not.  Animals don't eat daisies, and where daisies grow, grass doesn't.  But from an aesthetic standpoint, we love them.  Even Tai seemed to like them!

From a photographer's standpoint, we love daisies even more!  A field of daisies makes a perfect setting for a family photo.

Off in a shady corner of the pasture, Siobhan and Sara were chewing their cud, although they got up politely as we approached.

Siobhan wanted a nice scratch, and I took the chance to put some homemade fly spray on her.

We're excited about some promising signs of approaching calving that Siobhan is showing, so stay tuned.

Siobhan seems to be saying, "Hey, Mom!  I'm supposed to be calving first, but you're bigger than I am!"

Down in the orchard there were more promises of delights to come, starting with baby persimmons--the first ever!

Baby prune plums were looking good.

The nectarines have been attacked by some kind of borer, and only a few fruits look undamaged.

Fuzzy little peaches promise much more than the two little stunted ones we got last year.

And little apples on one tree already have a blush of red.

Honeysuckle is a pest, but it sure is a beautiful one, and it scents the air divinely!  Climbing up an old fence post, it just begs to be photographed.

Herb basked a bit in the promised fruits of his orchard that he's worked on so faithfully for the past five years.  He deserves every bit of fruit he gets to harvest!

This picture reminds me of a line from a Robert Browning poem I saw on an old sundial:

"Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be."

That's all I ever remember, and I had never looked up the rest, but I did tonight, and I love it:

"Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
the last of life,
for which the first was made.
Our times are in his hand who saith,
'A whole I planned,
youth shows but half;
Trust God: See all,
nor be afraid!'"

In this culture that fears old age and idolizes youth, how often we miss out on the joy in the second half of life that God planned.  May we continue to enjoy the best, to trust God, to see it all and not be afraid.