the beginning of summer offers us long days and short nights together…the possibilities of chores are endless.  i’ve never been good at creating a chore system or an allowance system or a laundry system…and i am realizing that very few systems of mine are repeated.  we have a lot of “let’s do it this way this time” systems, i guess.

so, there was a day when the house was like this, but instead of doing this, we ate chocolates from mother’s day and headed to the back yard to tend the cherry tree.

half the tree was dying and not sure what was happening to the rest of the tree, we did a quick cherry harvest.

our system of the day (because my mind can’t rest when i find myself thinking there has to be a faster way to do this!):  move the trampoline under the cherry tree, find as many heavy stones/bricks as we can, pile those in the center, pray that it doesn’t tear a hole in the trampoline, climb on the rim of the trampoline, shake the branches, watch the cherries fall and roll to the center.

pause in between to check on the chickens.  the love affair we have with them has only increased.

bring the chickens back to the trampoline and let them join in.

laugh at our sweet “chubby” with crooked beak and misplaced feathers which gives her a hawk-like quality.

collect harvested cherries.

whisper gratitude that my mom and dad arrived in the days following so they could help finish washing, sorting and pitting them.

now our freezer holds the sour sweetness of that day and the humble gratitude that this was our day’s work.