This week we came home from a nearly two-week trip visiting family.

It’s been almost two and a half months since we got the keys and slept in the living room at our new property.

Friends, I’m exhausted. I don’t think I realized how massive an endeavor this move would turn out to be.

June! Oh, June. What a magical month.

Hello, my friend. How are you?

I’ve had a slow start to my year. Intentionally so. At least at first.

I’m a bit fanatical about sketchbooks. I love creating in them and I love encouraging others to embrace the practice, too.

What I love most about sketchbooks is the freedom I find within their pages.

Hello my friend!

Summer has arrived in full force and my garden continues to enchant me every day.

My peach and cherry trees are filled with flowers. Daffodils are blooming and everywhere I look outside, spring is progressing.

Every time I went into the kitchen this week, I visited spring.

My baby* Hoya lacunosa is blooming on a shelf above the sink.

Earlier this week I sat in my studio with a steaming mug of Dragonwell tea and watched my garden through my new sliding doors.

Some projects live in my head for a very long time before I get around to bringing them into the world. Painting a series of “barn” quilts for my house and garden is one of those projects.

Ah, June in the garden. What a beautiful month.

Today on my blog, I planned to share about the Winding Roads Art Tour, but as I was driving home on Sunday evening I realized I hadn’t taken a single photo all weekend.

Written on my calendar today is “Blog: Garden”.

I sat in the dining room with my coffee, cereal and journal.

“I’m crabby. Crabby. Crabby. Crabby,” I wrote.

In June when I wrote to my Joy Letter subscribers I said that June was my favorite month. Right now, though, I’m thinking August might be.

I’ve been in a bit of a creative funk. I know it’s just a natural part of the ebb and flow of my creativity. It’s taken me years to be able to recognize this and let the funk happen.

We’re more than half-way through June. The solstice is just a few days away. Summer is well and truly here.

Last weekend was the Winding Roads Art Tour.

I keep trying to write about it, but nothing I write truly captures the experience.

Not much was happening in the garden in April, but now things are really starting to take off.