tumbling blue jays

early this morning ella and i retreated to our back porch, and spent our first moments of the day basking in the glorious virginia weather. while repotting my herbs i attempted to coax my daughter into sniffing their fragrant leaves. then i watered my rainbow-assortment of pansies, and swept potting soil from the porch onto the grass. each movement seemed to captivate my 6-month old.

we watched intently and with broad smiles as a trio of wrestling blue jays came tumbling from the branches of a nearby tree onto the groud below. and as a squirrel darted across the fencepost.

as we soaked up the solace of early morning quiet, the gentle melody of windchimes was intermittently drowned out by the frantic barking of our dog, nash.

so simple. so glorious.