Miracles in cars

Today at a stoplight the passenger in the car next to me was a very elderly man playing with a baby doll. For the first few seconds I pitied him. Then I thought about the miracles babies have been in my life. Three babies blessed our young married lives and grew to be even greater blessings. My toddler grandson is so full of giggles, and this typing was interrupted by a phone call telling me I am going to get a grand-daughter. I'm so excited!

When I am elderly, I hope someone is thoughtful enough to give me a baby doll to play with if my grand-children are not close by or I am not able to play with them well.

Hide 'n' Seek with one-year-olds

It's so much fun to play Hide 'n' Seek with a one-year-old! If you've never done it, I highly recommend you run right out and find a one-year-old to try it with. (Just don't take her home if she doesn't belong to you.)

All you have to do is mash your big body behind something slightly larger and at least 10 yards away from the one-year-old seeker. Giggles begin percolating immediately as the drooling seeker wobbles on their cute little chubby one-year-old legs toward your hiding place. When you make eye contact prepare for a hooting explosion. It's my new favorite hobby and I'm going to get to do it TOMORROW! Hurray for grandchildren!

My Blog Is Still Here

It's not that I haven't been grateful. Life has been so full of things to be grateful for that I haven't had a minute to enter a blog post. And then I hadn't posted for so long I forgot my blog address. But today I am grateful for a stretch of minutes long enough for me to do some remembering and backtracking and voile! Once again, I post. Yay!

Random Bird Visits

Sometimes when I sit on the deck in the mornings to put on my make-up in preparation for the new day, a random bird or two will flutter to the deck railing beside me. They usually don't see me until they have landed. Then, most look surprised and a little annoyed. And fly away quickly.

One morning a small girl bird, sparrowish in looks, magically appeared. She wasn't annoyed a bit. She tilted her little bird head from one side to the other examining the large peach-colored creature in the lounge chair. Then she bounced along the railing enjoying the summer air. Only when I stood to go inside did she flit upward into the safety of the branches overhead.

I like birds.

Thinking in the Trees

Just outside our bedroom door is a worn wooden deck with comfortable lounge chairs nestled under two Arizona ash trees we planted a few years after we built our home. I remember leaning over the white iron railing two decades ago, wondering what our family would be like by the time the saplings grew tall enough to shade the deck.

One is a girl tree, loaded with seedlings, and one is a boy tree, larger and less full from the weight of offspring. Birds come and go, sometimes encouraged by seed from a feeder. It is a wonderful place to appreciate the neighbor's yellow roses spilling over the fence, morning air washed clean by the rain, and solitude. Life becomes clearer when contemplated here.

The changeability of tastebuds

Blue cheese wins today. In the first 48 years of life, whenever a particle of glorified mold found its way into my pie hole a battle alert sounded and the offending matter was rejected. Today for whatever weird reason I decided to abandon the war and give smelly blue another chance. The orchard salad looked intriguing, and the blend of yellow raisins, apples, candied pecans, chicken, aging crumbles, and greens accented with a cinnamon vinagraitte was the perfect fall lunch. Lucky me.

The 2 nicest things...

Fifteen years ago on my first day of work a kind stranger came into my office and asked, "What are the two nicest things that have happened to you today?" That simple conversation lifted my spirits and reminded me there are always reasons to be grateful. Every day. When we remember, we score.