Can’t deny summer today! Pretty blue cloudless sky, hot humid sunshine. I bought two ornamental trellis panels for my cucumbers to climb on and the ground was so hard even with the hammer I couldn’t get the bottom stakes in the ground as far as I wanted. The trellis package had two little wrench’s, four screws, but no nuts. Oh well, I’ll just dig around in my tool box for some.

Had a blue jay visit my yard this morning. God spent some time painting their colorful bright blue plumage, touching his brush to white and black, highlighting their wings. He gave them regal heads with crests and little black necklaces around their necks. They are such handsome birds. This blue jay was on an acorn expedition. My yard is still covered in places with water oak acorns. I had read that blue jays can carry up to five acorns in their mouths. I watched him pick up four acorns with his beak before he flew off. The blue jays carry three acorns in a stretchy part of their throat called a gular pouch, one acorn in their mouth, and one acorn at the very tip of their beak. They are great foresters planting oak forests from their caches of acorns. I just wonder if they ever choke. If I was a blue jay, I’d probably want to eat one of the five and choke to death flying.

Sophia Lee writes, “Mother Nature brings a sense of calmness, helps us destress, and brings a greater sense of appreciation for life, which is why it’s so beautiful to see.” I love nature’s colors of summer from God’s garden palette, the fresh dark green of the vegetables’ leaves, the sunshine yellows and oranges of squash and cucumber blooms, the tiny pale yellow tomato blooms that come before the red deliciousness. And the myriad of watercolors on the beautiful zinnia blooms….

Father Sky sketches a deep blue sky each day that fades so beautifully into the sunset. None of his sky sketches are ever the same and his clouds change as Mother Nature touches her watercolor brushes to their surface. Tonight on Penelope’s last walk I watched Mother Nature paint the sky a champagne pink as the sun rolled down the horizon on the arm of Father Sky. Watching the sun set each day brings a calmness to night’s approach. As the day begins to get dark we’re reminded of God’s light in the darkness and his promise of a glorious sunrise to wake the coming day.

Love this short quote from Abraham Lincoln also credited sometimes to William Thackeray. “Whatever you are, be a good one.” Inspired me to be a good housekeeper today but when I went to turn on the dishwasher, I looked out the side porch door and saw the fighting finches battling on the tube feeder and a yard teeming with songbirds. Now I’m being a good bird watcher and a good porch swing sitter! I’ll get back to my house chores in a little while. Well, two hours later and I’m still pondering on the porch swing. I think I to try to be a good one. Maybe I don’t try hard enough, though. I get distracted by nature’s beauty.

I’m pondering on what it means to be “a good one.” Good is the opposite of evil. Good as an adjective is something to be desired. Used as a noun it means something that is morally right, being a good one might just be doing your best at all tasks. Scripture tells us to serve others, being kind and considerate, being positive a negative world. “Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased,” Hebrews 13:16.

My oldest son is “a good one.” Wherever he is, whatever he’s doing, he always does his best. No matter what happens or comes his way he can usually find a positive side, keeping the negativity at bay. You ever heard people say, “He’s one of the good ones.” Well, he truly is. We all need to do good and be good. We need to choose to be an inspiration to others. Life is not about pleasing everyone but about being true to ourselves and pleasing God. “Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts,” 1 Thessalonians 2:4.

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” — Marcus Aurelius