I’m a lucky old girl. I ate my breakfast cinnamon roll and fruit sitting in the swing enjoying starting my day quietly, gifted again with Father Sky’s trademark sketched blue sky I love, a sky full of layers of snow white fluffy clouds holding hands with veils of thin cigar smoke clouds. The larger clouds were kissed Clorox white on their crowns by the sun’s rays. I sat in the swing most of the day watching cardinals, a few finches, and some chickadees visiting the feeders. I’m listening to the woodpecker’s drum solo from high in the old oak. The pink high heel doves are bobbing around under the feeders while Fatty the squirrel, in love with himself, preens in front of the bird feeder camera, stuffing seeds in his mouth and cheeks. I didn’t see the turkey vultures but saw their shadows sailing across the yard, floating over the brick wall next door. Had a small murder of crows create an angry raucous symphony for a while and then they left leaving the songbirds all alone and singing their morning prayers.

When I took Penelope on her first morning walk, I kept seeing what I thought was glitter in the yard under the oak tree. Couldn’t figure where the glitter came from and then realized it was dew, God’s glitter. The sunlight was making it shimmer. God sprinkled it around my yard perfectly this morning. Early afternoon we had sunshowers, the sun so bright I could see the silver raindrops glistening as they fell from the heavens. The little songbirds love to visit the feeders during sunshowers.

Found some beautiful prizes the Lord left meon my morning walk. The little kestrel had killed a male cardinal and left a pile of down feathers in his wake. I picked up one of the tiny feathers, marveling at its beautiful color and graceful curves, resembling a graceful fragile glass sculpture. As I walked further I noticed a new group of dandelion blooms, just born bright yellow in the morning’s golden sunshine. The older dandelions with their dainty little umbrella seeds were waiting for a wind gust to set them free. The little pink and purple tiny, tiny wildflowers are blooming now, too. And the watercolored pansy blooms…their colorful brush stroked velvet serving as dance stages for the three butterflies and bumblebees visiting the porch bannister urns.

The yard was full of cardinal pairs today, the males dressed handsomely in their bright crimson robes, the females gowned in soft fawn brown velvet. Seeing a northern cardinal is believed to be a sign and a spiritual message that deceased loved ones are visiting or angels are near. I love the thought of visiting cardinals as signs of departed loved ones watching over us. One male cardinal has started coming on the porch at dusk, sitting under one of the black metal chairs, sometimes sitting close to me on the bannisters. I call him Chief and thank him for the flock of cardinals that come every night at twilight. He brought eight pair of cardinals to the feeders tonight. I remember as a child how exciting it was to see a “red bird.” Now they gather in my yard each day.

I was reading quotes a friend sent and it was perfect conversation for the porch cardinal visit. Jameson Arasi wrote, “I will endure a lifetime of missing you for the privilege of loving you.” You know, grief never goes away. It just gets quieter.

The sunset was a pastel rendering tonight, pale shades of pink and coconut and aqua. So beautiful in its muted colors. Made me think of the block of old timey three-color coconut candy my mother-in-law loved. I imagined Mother Nature dressing the sun in a pastel designer gown of pale yellow silk for tonight’s sunset pageant. Father Sky took the sun’s hand and as they walked down the horizon they dimmed the day’s mystical twilight. “Evening skies don’t just fade…they fall in love with the night.” Makes me remember my most favorite Thoreau quote and I write it often. “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” Such a beautiful thought!

We don’t need to look at life with a magnifying glass to see all the beauty that’s right before our eyes. We always see the bigger picture but sometimes we need to focus closer. We don’t have time to see the bumblebees’ flight, the beauty of the tiny wild violets, the myriad of colors in the sunset and sunrise. We just need to look, really look, and we can find the beauty in everyday life that surrounds us. It’s right before our eyes. “Nature is the living, visible garment of God,” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

I realized more and more I’m a lucky old girl. God has truly blessed me and I’m truly grateful and thankful for all my blessings. I was thinking today if I could relive one day in my life one more time, which day would I choose. I pondered a while and decided I’d choose a regular night with all three of my beautiful children seated around the dinner table with me and Chief. Our children are elementary school age, all three laughing, turning over a glass of milk, pouring out too much ketchup on their plates, complaining about eating three black-eyed peas, deliriously high on life before the chaos of growing up had really started happening. If you are gathered around the dinner table with your family tonight, be thankful for your happy and healthy children. Tell them you are proud of them, hug them, hold them, and tell them you love them every day, many times! You never know what tomorrow brings. Yesterday is behind us, gone forever. Tomorrow is the gift of another day so make that day count!

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” — Rachel Carson