Walking Penelope this morning earlier than usual and I saw the moon was still up. He had stayed up later than usual. Mr. Waxing Gibbous Moon resembled a luminous celestial pearl, floating beautifully, hanging low in the dark blue sky canvas. I marveled at the different colors of white and gray I could see, so pretty against the day’s blooming blue sky. Every time I see the moon in the day’s morning I think of that four line children’s lullaby about seeing the moon. “I see the moon and the moon sees me, the moon sees somebody I wanna see. God bless the moon and God bless me. And God bless that somebody I wanna see,” Clifton Johnson. “The moon, like a flower in heaven’s high bower, with silent delight sits and smiles on the night,” William Blake. And the moon is smiling on the morning today.

Small towns are full of adventures. Went to get a haircut around lunch. I was going to a new place, not quite sure where it was, same salon I’ve been to before but at their new location. Oldest sister-in-law goes to that hair salon for her updos so she had given me directions, said it was on the other side of Alfa. I parked, saw the words salon on the door straight ahead, walked in and sat down thinking, I didn’t remember them doing nails before. Every woman in there turned around when I sat down and looked at me. The lady sitting at the first table says, “I help you?” I explain I’m here for a haircut. She says, “This nail salon. Haircut salon down sidewalk.” Mortified and embarrassed I hop up and leave and walk down the long sidewalk reading each door as I hobble along. As I’m walking away a girl opens the nail salon door and yells to me the hair salon is the last business at the end, next door to Alfa.

I finally see it and notice two young women running around breathless outside near the parking lot. I go in, get in the salon chair ready for my haircut and the young women I saw in the parking lot burst back through the door laughing, excited, and saying, “We could not catch it!” Someone then says, “Take a towel back out there! Throw it over it and when it can’t see you, pick it up.” I am out of words wondering what “it” is so I whisper, “What are they chasing?” My beautician replies, “A chicken fell off a truck and they’re trying to catch it so doesn’t get run over on the highway.” Well, we all had a chicken story to tell after that revelation and while they’re all talking I’m thinking I’m trapped in Leota’s Mississippi small town beauty parlor in Eudora Welty’s short story, Petrified Man. Then we got on pets and we all listed our children’s pets. I think my list was most impressive — dogs, cats, chickens and roosters, rabbits, gerbils, hamster, miniature hamster, gold fish, tropical fish, a canary, parakeets, and a turtle named Mr. T. Always wanted a goat but Chief always said no because my grandmother McMurray had a stray goat that loved to tap dance on the hood of her blue fishtail Cadillac.

Well, dearest friend just called me and told me she saw a large black bear in her backyard in Alexander City tonight. Will wonders never cease? Her next door neighbor filmed the bear walking around on his backyard deck. Hope the bear doesn’t find the neighbor’s cat door. Said the bear visited Walmart yesterday. Bear sightings are burning up Facebook over there. Pretty exciting night. Like I said, small towns are wonders!

Was missing the sunset after supper as the sky was overcast in melted vanilla clouds. The next time I glanced that way the bright yellow orange-red sun had burned a hole in the clouds and was perched on top of an aquamarine horizon. Beautiful! Made me think of a beach sunset as the deep reds and oranges set the sky on fire. When the fire burned out, a pale golden glow faded as the day darkened. Took several photos but I just didn’t capture the beauty. The dark aquamarine cloud resting under the sun looked like a body of water. Mother Nature is a talented artist painting every sunset with God’s watercolors. You cannot deny God when the sky is so glorious.

No rain today but it’s coming back tomorrow. Nature’s storms come frequently and we just accept them. We all want sunshine and blue skies in our daily lives but we all experience storms and dark times. Mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual storms can boil up in our lives with circumstances beyond our control. Some of these storms change our lives. Other storms test our faith and beliefs. Storms can teach us to be grateful for what we have. Storms can bring joy in moments of pain. Storms can give us peace when we accept God is in control. If we weather these storms, we realize our faith has carried us safely through to the sunshine. Psalm 107:29 states, “He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.”

I’ve weathered some storms in my lifetime and they have tested my faith. But after waiting for the cloudy overcast skies to clear, I realized life does go on after these storms. We pick up the pieces of our hearts and hold them close in the sunshine of another day.

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” — Vivian Green.