“Sometimes when I find out what's on other people's minds I honestly wonder if we all live on totally separate planets.”
― Anne Tyler, Three Days in June
I worked in the garden this morning for a few hours. Everything had out grown its boundaries and was in need of a hair cut. The morning was cool and it was a relief after the heat over the past few days.
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Eating outdoors makes for good health and long life and good temper, everyone knows that.
-Elsie de Wolfe
A big bowl of steamed broccoli and a perfectly ripe watermelon is the perfect summer meal. Especially when it is 80 degrees out.
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A dog's idea of personal grooming is to roll on a dead fish.
- James P. Gorman
Someone got a bath today!
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“It shocks me how I wish for...what is lost and cannot come back.”
― Sue Monk Kidd,
I had a delightful day with Percy yesterday… toes were kissed, bugs were caught and let go, giggles were abound. We read a few books, went through his art box and ate lunch together. It was too hot for a walk, and really too hot to even ride in the car, so we stuck close to home while his mom and dad worked away in the office and bakery. These days will come to an end come September when he starts kindergarten, and I can’t help but wonder how that will feel. I come home and take this photo, and think of my mom, as she loved these goose beak flowers, as she called them. It got me feeling a bit nostalgic wishing I could call her and tell her about my day. But if I close my eyes and listen I can hear the way she always answered the phone and for now, that will have to be enough.
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“She did a little soul-searching, the way one does on the big birthdays. She asked herself when was the last time she’d felt truly light, joyous, and—yes—creative in her own skin. To her shock, she realized that it had been decades since she’d felt that way.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
Here I am at day 50, finally out of my back yard! I won’t lie, there were thoughts about stopping, after all, 50 is a good solid number. But now I wonder what else is it I am suppose to learn?
I have blogged now for almost 15 years. It is what I know. I have used it as a journal for sure, but also as a place to grow creatively how ever, lately it has become a bit mundane, repetitive and, a bit tedious. As I look at turning 71 in a few weeks, I wonder if it is time to maybe mix things up a bit, maybe take some risks. As the path of life goes, I see glimpses of the stop sign down the road with only a few turn-outs lining the path. I am not complaining, but dang, it is now or never.
I told my husband yesterday that I do not want to be at that stop sign wishing I would have done more of the things that make me feel alive. I can see how deeply I have pulled into myself over the past few years. Content to work with what I have available, in the tiny spot I occupy in the world. I am hoping something calls to me over the nex 50 days. Something with a bit more substance. I have my thinking cap on and some creative souls to help me along.
“She left pieces of her life behind her everywhere she went. It's easier to feel the sunlight without them, she said.”
― Brian Andreas, Story People: Selected Stories & Drawings of Brian Andreas
roses and kayaks ~ the best of summer
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“But it seemed to me that this was the way we all lived: full to the brim with gratitude and joy one day, wrecked on the rocks the next.
Finding the balance between the two was the art and the salvation.”
― Elizabeth Berg, The Year of Pleasures
I spend the day visiting with old friends. We pass around grandchild photos and think about our boys, who all played soccer together when they were teens. I laugh and feel myself relax into their familiarity, these beautiful woman who know my life story. These amazing woman who have been right beside me whenever the bottom dropped out of my world and how they held me tight through it all. I hold on tight now to the stories told today, the updates, the good and the not so good moments we all have passed through since the last time we saw each other. I try to find a place to store up the goodness of today as I know I will need it at some point, so I write about it here, hoping it will help me remember how friendships need to be nurtured, and I best do my part.
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