Last night, Clif and I had dinner on the patio. Clif grilled some chicken, and with it we had Farmer Kev’s potatoes and corn from Jillson’s Farm. Everything was simply cooked—the corn steamed, the potatoes boiled, and the chicken brushed with olive oil, salt, and pepper. But how good it all was. When vegetables are that fresh, they don’t need any embellishment, and vegetables are only that fresh once a year for a relatively short period of time. So in the summer, most of our vegetables come from our CSA share and the farmers market.

After dinner Clif started a fire in the fire pit, and we had S’mores for dessert. They were certainly not as wholesome as the vegetables, but they were pretty tasty nonetheless. As we ate, the crickets sang. In the woods, owls called to each other, and from the Narrows Pond, just down the road, the loons added their haunting voices to this late summer song. I looked up. The dark sky was framed by the branches of trees, and stars sparkled inside the frame.

A beautiful night, and both Clif and I felt very fortunate to be in our own backyard on such a fine evening.