The Summer Bounty

Jam.

Today I opened the last jar of jam from summer, just in time.  I am surprised it lasted us the year. The strawberry season was short and the berries less tasty than they might have been but out we went anyway to pick, to begin the harvest season with an abundance of sweet.  

I love the ritual picking, mashing, and preserving that comes with summer.  I love opening a jar of summer jam on a cold December night and breathing in the sweet smell of warmer days.  I love tucking a cool jar of jam in next to warm pies and cookies as winter presents.  I love the way in which a jar of jam contains all my sensory memories of happy, simple days of abundance.  The sweet life in one last jar.