Going to bed last night I gave myself a lecture about doing some household chores today. Nope! Sat down on the porch to eat my bagel and I’m still sitting here at 3:30 in the afternoon. And in the great schemes of things it doesn’t matter if I sit here as long as I want. The beauty of retirement is glorious!

This morning was so pleasant, had a light breeze blowing, making the wind chimes melodious, and a beautiful bird symphony was playing till the lawn mower crew up the street messed with the feng shui of my porch pondering. Don’t know if riding lawn mowers and weed eaters have mufflers but their machines were so loud and disruptive to my pondering. I just blocked it out and focused on the big red-headed woodpecker enjoying the suet baskets. They are such handsome creatures, bleached white and inky black and bright red.

I was talking to Penelope and Stew comes to the screen door and says, “Who are you talking to?” “I’m talking to P,” I say. I heard him mumbling about Shady Oaks. Don’t y’all talk to your dogs? At least we know they listen when we chat with them. Penelope never talks back but she patiently listens.

The first bloom from the garden of sunflowers the birds planted opened today. That little five inch bloom faithfully followed the sun all day. I watched like a child and the bloom was always smiling at the sun. I greased the bird poles near the sunflowers and Fatty tried every trick she knew to get on a bird feeder. She leaped from the bird bath to the feeder and slid down the pole and then crawled up a sunflower stem and before she could jump to the feeder the flower fell over and dropped her. I put some peanuts and seeds in the ground feeder for her. She’s a persistent lady. If it rains the grease off the poles tonight she’ll be perched on a feeder when I go outside in the morning. I’ll let her be tomorrow. She just better get her fill of seeds before oldest brother comes to visit.

I waited patiently after supper excited about the upcoming sunset pageant. The cloud cover has masked the sunset’s magnificence for several days. Tonight the sun was a beautiful ball of orange, her warm honey colored rays lighting up the horizon in a golden light. The sun was dressed in an orange marmalade colored gown embellished with gorgeous green sequined dragonflies. Mother Nature was focused on an orange palette tonight, brushing her watercolors of apricot, tangerine, and peach across the horizon as she painted the stage of sunset. She left her pink watercolors at home and brushed strokes of grays and blues and purples and bright white watercolors across the surrounding clouds that were gathered to participate in the sunset pageant. So pretty!

The sun, still glowing in her formal orange gown, took the hand of Father Sky as she rolled down the horizon, dragging the day’s light behind them as twilight captured the landscape. As the serenity of the black abyss of night swept across the sky and covered the earth, Father Sky waked the milky moon and the silver stars, the stars lighting the heavens with their twinkling nightlights. The night comes alive as the day sighs and dies.

Read quotes today between bird watching and pondering. An older lady friend from down my street walked up to see the sunflower blooming and to look at my vegetables in the pots and check out my newly planted flower garden. She’s so sweet and has great gardening advice and beautiful white hair. She says she “loves to play in the dirt.” She’s a dog person and is so sweet to Penelope. I gave her four tomato plants and she’s promised me a night flower.

I was just thinking about all the people who pass through our lives in a day, making the day a little brighter and we’ve never expressed our thanks for the sunshine they bring. My oldest sister-in-law calls me most days and she’s the first ray of sunshine I need to be thankful for. She’s always happy and chipper and I’ve never told her thanks for her many morning phone calls. She’s been sunshine on many dark days for me. Thank you!

Marcel Proust says, “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” I have lot of gardeners in my garden of life, some older, some younger, and some just beginning life, and I appreciate all of you for the sunshine you bring. The Polyphonic Spree says, “Just follow the day and reach for the sun!”

We all need to reach for God as we reach for the sun. God lights our lives like the sun lights the world. God is our sun and his love warms our hearts and heals our souls. We lift our hearts up to God and he fills us with the Holy Spirit and helps us grow in his wisdom. God shields us from the harsh rays of life and comforts us with his presence. The sun will always shine just as God is always with us. His hands are outstretched to carry us in his loving arms. If your days are cloudy look to the sky for God’s sunshine. He will bring light to the darkest day.

“God created the sun, the sun is life and life is….. God!”— Stacy Lynn