Dear Diary, we had our first blueberry harvest.

We have a new HOA and they have been VERY active. They have someone driving around the neighborhood taking pictures of dry lawns, trash cans left out after pickup, and unkept yards. Generally, it's a good idea. But they are going overboard.

We had a strong wind come through and our Christmas lights fell off the roof. They were hanging in front of the garage for a couple weeks as we tried to make contact with the Christmas Lights guy (our two-story home requires more than just a ladder to take down the lights. Someone needs to anchor into the roof with a harness). We got a nasty email about it.

Someone doing work in the neighborhood accidentally cut through the main irrigation line, so we didn't have working sprinklers for two days during the height of heat. Many people's lawns went brown. We all got emails.

And finally, one of our blueberry plants was blocking a sprinkler, so we got a small dead patch between our house and the neighbor's. Our lawn guy, Saul (who is amazing), advised us to cut down the blueberry bush so the water could reach the patch of dead grass. Luckily, it was the smallest out of the three bushes we have, and it never produced berries.

So I lopped it down to the base. RIP.

The good news is the other two bushes are producing beautifully. We got our first blueberry harvest of the season. One bush produces traditional blueberries that are tart. The other bush produces red berries that are sweet. Isn't that amazing? At the grocery store they only ever have blue blueberries. It makes me wonder how many varieties there are out there we never see. Nature is so diverse.

Thing happen in our day-to-day that can be irritating. Finding the magic in the small things helps me reorient my perspective.