Sat on the porch this morning eating my bagel and fruit and it was marvelous, darlings! Seventy-six degrees with overcast sky the color of melted vanilla ice cream, birds all over the yard singing their morning symphonies, squirrels running around the oak tree trunk, my flowers all blooming in a riot of colors, not closing their blossoms from the oppressing heat. But once the sun burned a hole in the canvas of clouds, the porch gradually got too hot. Penelope gave up first, wanting to head to the air conditioning sooner than I. I finally gave up and came inside to eat my first tomato sandwich from my garden. Just as delicious as I knew it would be.

Been jotting down quotes this afternoon and tonight, printing them in a little notebook thinking I might be able to decipher my handwriting at a later day, probably not. Ralph Waldo Emerson has so many thought provoking words of wisdom in his quotes. I love his simple, “Hitch your wagon to a star.” Six little words of so much enlightenment. I think we should all set high goals for ourselves, lofty goals that we think are beyond our reach and we should hitch our wagon to God’s star and let the light of our faith guide us. When we hitch our wagon to God we are blessed through God’s grace. Through our prayers and thanksgiving we anchor ourselves to God and he gives us the courage to reach for things we thought might be impossible. Never doubt the strength of God and prayer.

I think this Dr. Seuss quote is simple in words but deep in thought. “Don’t cry because its over. Smile because it happened.” Good advice. So many of us are quick to cry when we should smile and be grateful. Life isn’t promised to be sunny all the time and bad things happen to good people. It’s alright to mourn and be sad but treasured moments need to be remembered with joyful breath taking smiles. Appreciate all the little moments in life because life is so, so short and time is fleeting. God wants us to see the joy in living.

Was thinking how my garden and lawn need a good soaking rain and I came across these two quotes by Emerson and Roger Miller about rain. Miller is quoted, “Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.” Emerson wrote, “The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” It does rain often in our lives and sometimes it storms. Our attitude has so much do with how walk through a day. We can let it storm and enjoy looking for the promised rainbow or we can be miserable and wet all day. God’s love can put the sun in the storms and rain of every day. Just be grateful to be alive and let the rain, rain. It won’t last forever. We’ve always got the promise of a new day tomorrow.

This quote makes me laugh and is for all my Shady Oak cronies. Just doesn’t seem like something Emerson would say but he’s quoted with this one. “The age of a woman doesn’t mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles.” Gotta love that!

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded. — Bessie A. Stanley