Today’s day was just so pretty and crisp in its winterness, robin egg blue sky, clear and cloudless. Father Sky didn’t use any of his pastel sticks to draw clouds, letting the blue sky canvas enjoy its unmarred blueness. I looked for the moon but he didn’t stay up too late today. My yard was decorated with songbirds all day — cardinals, titmice, goldfinches, purple finches, wrens, downy woodpeckers, chickadees — a few squirrels and a very grumpy raccoon.

I caught raccoon number three out in the side yard last night. The raccoons have been emptying the bird feeders outside the lady den windows so I’ve been setting the cage on the ground there. Late last night a pack of dogs attacked the cage and tried to get the raccoon. Never heard dogs with murderuous barks. The barking woke me up. The dogs drug the cage around, bent the cage trip arm. Stew and I had to beat on the windows and holler at them to make them leave. They didn’t hurt the raccoon but they left their blood on the trap door and the handle and the cage wire. They were so vicious, barking and snapping like rabid dogs. Those dogs scared me to death.

Not going to walk Penelope at dark till a few days have passed. I’m scared the dogs might come back. I’d never seen any of those dogs before so maybe they were passing through. Gonna put the trap on the back deck tomorrow night. The deck has no steps so I won’t have to worry about those dogs. The raccoons just climb up and down the deck posts. The deck was where I saw three of them together so maybe I’ve caught all of them.

The sunset was glorious this afternoon, a pageant stage sketched and painted in pinky-peach and golden hues. The sun beamed her rays down in a blinding bright white and walked down the horizon on the arm of Father Sky, dressed in a pageant gown of watermelon pink. Mother Nature used her watercolors to shade the horizon a golden honey, making lighter brush strokes as she swept the color up and blended it into the high blueberry sky. As the sun turned off the day’s light, Mother Nature painted a faint wash of pale yellow along the sky line that faded as the twilight silently crept over the horizon. The old oak trees’ black silhouettes stood tall in the twilight, guarding the day’s end and softly welcoming the night with its luminous moon and twinkling stars.

In my book of quotes for every day, today’s quote is “Laughter is sunshine; it chases winter from the human face,” Victor Hugo. Isn’t that a beautiful way to describe laughter, chasing a winter frown from someone’s face. Love that description and I love to laugh. Laughter is happiness music from the heart.

I thought about that quote while I was trying not to laugh as I ate a piece of apple pie with Penelope staring me down and licking her lips with each bite I took. She was sitting in my lap, a few inches from my face, staring at me with the pitiful starving child look. I couldn’t help but laugh at her but I was not going to share the pie with her because while oldest sister-in-law and I chatted in the yard this morning, Penelope stole my breakfast bagel. I came back in the house after oldest sister-in-law left and caught Penelope trying to hide one half of the bagel under the sofa cushion.

I spanked her and she sat behind the sofa and pouted through a whole episode of Gunsmoke.

I looked under all the cushions and in her blanket piles to see if I could find the other half of the bagel. I hope she ate it and didn’t hide it covered in cream cheese. She probably licked the cheese off before she hid it. Found her pizza crust stash the other day under a pillow on the living room sofa! She snatched an end crust when it slid off Stew’s plate as he came down the stairs. I swear she was a turkey buzzard in her former life. Guess I better go look under the pillows on my bed. She stole three biscuits off a plate one morning I had fixed Chief for breakfast. Hid them in our bed! Chief was so funny asking me about the biscuits, wondering why I had taken them away. We found them when we turn the bed covers back that night. We always laughed together at her antics.

Ever gotten tickled in church and the more you try to not to laugh, the more you want to laugh. And then the church pew shakes as you try to laugh silently. I remember times as a child that my mama or my grandmother would frown and shush me when I got tickled in church. I’ve gotten tickled on the church pew as an adult, too!

I’ve always heard laughter is the best medicine. I believe laughter has a healing power for the mind and the soul. Proverbs 17:22 reads, “A merry heart really does a spirit, soul and body good like medicine.” Science has proven that laughter reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and fights against sorrow. Humor can lighten an argument. Not in a good mood, have a good laugh, and life suddenly starts looking better.

Laughter brings feelings of happiness and joy. Job 8:21 reads, “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.” Laughter is a big part of children’s lives but as we mature, we become sedate and laughter is more infrequent. Best thing about laughter is it’s free and it’s fun. Laughter helps us strengthen our relationships and connects us emotionally.

Hope there is a little laughter in your life today.

“It is cheerful to God when you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart.” – Martin Luther King Jr.