Summertime presents a wealth of faces and opportunities. It is the warmth of racing across a meadow, full of life. It is the lazy languor of relaxing in a hammock, watching the bees buzz. It is the heat of a baking sun shimmering on blacktop. It is the icy cool of a mountain stream as you plunge into its dark depths.

Our visual artists share the joys of summertime. Mark Berkerey looks to the bees, as they quietly go about their floral duties. Christine Catalano gives us a graceful moth who treasures its wings for a brief two weeks. Darryn Rae's acrylic work bursts with color and exuberance.

In poetry, we soak in moonlight on an untouched pillow. We take the hand of a salt-wet child of the sea. We feel the sticky sweat of a hot summer's day. We feel the power of a phoenix rising from its ashes.

Fiction takes us on journeys of the heart. An artist finds her new path after her beloved husband passes away. A man doesn't understand the hunger of unrequited love until he falls into its grasp. A woman who feels she's helping others realizes sometimes the most powerful change comes from within.

As always, it's non-fiction that truly takes one's breath away. A woman who left her family behind to be with her true love contemplates the forks in life's paths. A woman's mother grew up in true poverty in El Salvador; she shares with us a world few of us could imagine.

Summertime is a time for counting our blessings, treasuring those who care for us, and appreciating every day.