In this time in history, when racism, extremism, sickness, brutality, and death dominate the news and our personal conversations and experiences, it can be really hard to find beauty at times.

A vase of bright summer flowers adorns the Farmhouse Table in front of me, but stormy thoughts of grief, rage, and bewilderment cloud my heart as I think of the painful plight of our country.

“It’s like you looked both ways before crossing the street and then an airplane hit you,” a friend said to me about the times we’re living through.

That’s one way to sum it up! But as I sit here at the beloved Farmhouse Table at Hedgebrook, the view is as bucolic as ever – the rich array of green and blue hues, llamas grazing, wildflowers waving and the sunlight enlivening the Salish Sea.