Pretty fall morning today but it was back to summer time by mid-day. The sky was azure blue and the sun bleached a sky full of fluffy white clouds. I ate my bagel watching all the purple finches, doves, titmice, cardinals, and chickadees flitting around doing what birds do. The loud squawking blue jays came and stole some acorns off the oak tree. I’m still looking for where they pile their acorns while they are planting them. The fighting finches controlled their arguing and shared the feeders with their friends. The finches visited the birds baths, three at a time several times, drinking water all morning and afternoon. I’m thinking maybe where they usually drink might be empty of water. The lawn mower men came so I was looking forward seeing the wood thrushes forage for bugs and insects on the newly cut lawn but they didn’t visit. Noticed the chimney swifts this morning, too. They really are wonders in their torpedo shaped bodies. They do everything while they fly, even mating and taking baths. I don’t usually notice them till dusk.

Read about dragonflies while I was perched in the swing and drinking my hot coffee. I found out that old folk tales say dragonflies catch insects for snakes and follow snakes around and stitch them up when they are injured. Guess that’s where calling a dragonfly a snake doctor came from. Dragonflies are also thought to warn snakes of danger. I haven’t seen that beautiful blue dasher dragonfly in two days. I was hoping he’d take up residence in my yard. He was so handsome in his little blue suit. The sun light kissed his wings and made them glitter and sparkle. I could see his big turquoise eyes. He probably lives on the creek in the back yard behind the bamboo forest.

Yellow butterflies are all over my neighborhood this morning. They’ll play tag and dance a choreographed ballet together in the sunshine, then separate and perform a tap dance routine on the vibrant colored blooms in my yard. I always wonder if their little slender legs and feet tickle the flower blooms. Last year a monarch butterfly lit on my cheek and it tickled me. I could see three monarch butterflies in the yard across the street. I’m really loving these fall butterflies. Yesterday a monarch and a yellow cloudless sulfur sat together on a deep purple zinnia. So sad I missed that butterfly photo opportunity.

My door bell rang late morning. One of the lawn mower crew wanted to know if could he pick a few bell peppers. I told him he could have them all. That one little bush has just put its heart into producing peppers all summer. It would faint, lay its branches down, and I’d think that was the end and the next time I looked at the pepper plant, it would be standing tall and blooming again with little peppers on some branches. It’s blooming now! And full of dime size peppers. I told him to take the green tomatoes, too. He left with a smile and a bag of peppers and tomatoes. Chief’s mother used to make green tomato relish from the fall tomatoes.

My friend, I call her my quote assistant sent this quote today and I love it. I’ve had a happy week and all these things in this quote have occurred in my little slice of the world. Here’s the quote. “I hope there are days when your coffee tastes like magic, your playlist makes you dance, strangers make you smile, and the night sky touches your soul. I hope there are days that you fall in love with being alive.” — Brooke Hampton

You know there are some days when the coffee does taste like magic. Depends on how the day is progressing. Depends on our attitude. Some days we just drag along not being grateful for our many blessings. We never think of the miracle of breath that made another day possible. Hot coffee in a pretty cup, a spoon of sugar, some caramel creamer, and my coffee does taste like magic when I drink it when I’m perched in the porch swing. Nothing better than a hot cup of coffee.

My Echo Dot plays music from the seventies while I write and while I go to sleep at night. Doesn’t make me dance but does make me remember all the dances at the National Guard Armory after the Friday night football games during my high school years. Music can conjure up so many memories for me. Some happy, some sad. One of my friends sang The Lord’s Prayer at Rosalyn’s funeral and it was perfectly beautiful, echoing off the tall slender pine trees surrounding our family cemetery. I’ll never forget how her singing comforted Chief and me. The guitar music at Chief’s funeral warmed my heart, too, in its simplistic beauty.

Strangers can make us smile and we can do the same when we smile back. The lawn mower man smiled as he picked my peppers today and made me smile back. Phone calls from family and friends have made me smile lots today. You know, we choose to be happy. It’s a conscious effort to be grateful and thankful for the life we live. We can learn to love the life we live or be miserable always searching for what’s already right in front of us.

The night sky always touches my soul when I watch the sun slide down for the night. I imagine Father Sky tucking the sun in her bed, kissing her goodnight as the darkness covers the horizon. In my mind I see Mother Nature laying her paint brushes in a row, carefully choosing her tubes of paint to squeeze on her palette. Searching for inspiration on how to color the sunset on the sky canvas. The sun lay her head down tonight in a watercolor layered with soft hues of pink and blue. I always sit in the swing and watch till the sky is dark and the stars twinkle hello to the night sky.

I can honestly say, at this stage of my life, I am in love with being alive.

“Keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about.”
― Marilyn Monroe