Another bright and clear day. Light blue sky, no clouds. The sun light looks clean and clear. It’s so bright, almost makes you squint. Not a lot of birds this time of day. I can hear their songs but only a few are on the feeders. It’s quiet enough that I can hear this huge bumblebee flying around. It’s a carpenter bee. Fat as a pig. Lit on my toes yesterday and walked around. I thought they couldn’t sting but research says yes they can, more than once, so today my feet are resting in the swing wearing my red Keds.

The UPS man brought my solar water fountains this morning. You just place them in the bird baths and instant fountain. Lots of little add ons to make different water fountain patterns. Last one I had, one of the neighborhood dogs, Boots, got it out of the bird bath and chewed it up. I’ve got the fountains barely streaming, just bubbling up, so the water doesn’t evaporate. Helps keep the water from being stagnant and keeps mosquitoes from laying their eggs. The birds enjoy the water bubbling. Sometimes I let the water stream high with the shower spout on and the birds can sit on the edge and take a sprinkle bath. I’ll fill the bird baths up tonight so the early birds can enjoy the fountains.

Penelope barked so much at the UPS man this morning he gave the dog biscuit he brought her to the dog next door. Boots got two biscuits! He gave Penelope a biscuit last week and she somehow managed to bark and hold the biscuit in her mouth at the same time. It’s really embarrassing when your lap dog acts like a pit bull. I told her I was ashamed of her! Dogs were the first animals domesticated by humans more than 30,000 years ago. We humans have loved them ever since. “You’re never friendless if you have a dog.”— Douglas Mallock

Almost sunset now, and the sun is kissing the tops of the trees at the end of the street. So pretty, like a mother bending over to kiss a child goodnight. The tip tops of the trees are smiling back with their sunlit greenness, like a child smiling up their mother. I love the sun. Just makes you feel good when it warms your face. Scientists say the sunlight raises our serotonin levels which makes us feel better. Research says sunlight boosts your mood and helps you feel calm and focused. And we all need the sun’s vitamin D.

My mother and I used to to lie out in the sun on the beach all day long on vacations to Jekyll Island. We’d look like gingerbread cookies when we came home. She’d sit on the porch here soon as the spring sun got warm and she’d have a golden tan way before the summer arrived. She’d sit with her feet propped up on the bannisters. When I look at the scuppernong trellis I see Mama, her feet resting on the bannisters, throwing scuppernong hulls in the azaleas.

When I was in college at Wesleyan, I’d have several term papers every semester. When the spring sun got warm I’d sit on the back lawn of the dorm and write my papers. I’d have a good suntan when I’d come home on spring break. Remember when the college students would sit out on the roof decks at the dorms and sunbathe. Read that some college have tanning beds now for students. Guess we all worship the sun in some form.

The sun is the only star in our solar system. Everything in our solar system revolves around the sun. The sun is 4.5 billion years old! So huge it would take 1.3 million earths to fill up the sun’s volume. Here is a neat fact I found on a NASA page on the sun — “If the sun was the size of a typical front door, the earth would be the size of a nickel.”

The Bible says God made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. The sun warms the earth and brings an end to winter. Nothing could live on the surface of the sun but on the surface of the Earth, nothing can live with out the sun.

Perfect quote to end on! “May sunshine surround each new day. And may smiles and love never be far away.” — Catherine Pulsifer