clusters of cones and peeks of yellow

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And so we ended our little vacation on the North Shore of Minnesota. While temperatures soared into the 80s down in the cities, we bundled up for cloudy 40s. The weather didn't stop us from having a good time, breathing the piney air of the forest and the damp from one of the largest inland lakes in the world.

I took a few photos but a wrote very little. It is funny to think how anxious I was in April to start my new journal yet I held off. Now that the new one is started I haven't resumed my usual nightly pages. While up north I barely wrote one page and most of that was quoted sentences. I think the reason I didn't feel compelled to write was that I wasn't constantly feeling like it all going to end, that somehow I needed to capture it all because it may not come around again. I was feeling full in the moments, from early in the morning to late at night. I was savoring the experience and letting life flow through me.

And there was no regret as I got my last glimpse of the lake. There was no pang of pain in my heart for leaving. I was facing what was in front of me with a sense of rejuvenation and a little bit of yearning to back in my regular routine.

The memories will cluster in my head blending together the rush of a springtime river with the vibrant smile of my daughter, the bright greens of the pine trees with the waves of the big lake - all peeking out like bits of sunshine in my brain.