Not Writing

It has been almost a month since I last was here and writing. My handwritten personal journal is almost the same. I have shown up there to try and hand write but find I can only write a half of page before my hand gives way and I become frustrated. Typing here is better but still not a task that is done without breaks and thinking about how I move my left wrist so I feel less pain.

The broken wrist bone has long since healed but the soft tissue, nerves and joints with arthritis are still struggling to heal and find a new normal. It all feels a bit like life these days with the pandemic. We know some things have healed but we are all still hunting for what is our new normal. Things like: when and where do we wear masks? Should I eat out or continue doing take out and eating at home? Where is it safe to take my 2 year old grandson? (he is learning to wear his mask at the library and in the grocery store) Do I travel or is it still best to stay at home? How do I deal with relatives who have still decided not to get vaccinated? What is my best bet for holidays that are quickly coming this way?

I have the same number of questions when I think about my wrist and neither of these sets questions have good answers.

So this leads me to the no writing – I find it physically hard and emotionally I seem to keep coming back to the same questions and topics – health, healing, pandemic – none of it very cheerful and at times all of it very boring. We seem to be stuck as a society and I am feeling stuck as well.

Time for a new goal to help find my way out of this hole. I have decided I need to make a list of topics like I do for the March Writing challenge. I need to make sure the topics are interesting and fun. The key word here is fun. There are plenty of wonderful things going on but I have let the pain and negative take charge. Sometimes we need to fake it to make it and this seems to be one of those times.

So here is to setting goals to get me back to writing and having fun with it!

Topics for writing:

Grandson and his animals

• Little Man (my grandson) and his love of farm animals
• Fall weather in Minnesota – the glory of colored leaves
• The ups and downs of unexpected sleep overs with a two year old
• Chasing Milkweed and other seeds: What I learn from “teaching a two year old”
• How many journals can I write in? gardening, Masons, personal journal, blog, drawing
• How to house clean your computer? or at least try
• Fall weather in Minnesota – the glory of colored leaves
• The ups and downs of unexpected sleep overs with a two year old
• Closing down the garden for 2021
• What are we reading? Board Books to Adult novels and Non Fiction

What do you do when you find yourself in a writers slump or just not writing at all?

See you next week with a new topic? Hmmm which one should I start with? animals maybe?

Happiness moments

Sunflowers

Writing prompts are sometime great because they ask odd and surprising questions. My daughter joined a writing prompt meme that sends us a question once a week. The idea is to help us share bits of ourselves with your children or grandchildren, if we have them. (We do have one but at two years of age he is more interested in whether we have a play barn and farm animals, then listening to us talk about what our life was like.)

A few weeks ago the prompt was: when in your life were you most happy and why. Easy I thought and then I realized it was not so easy. I spent a lot of time thinking about times I was happy but there was also so many time of strife and disappointment.

I began to wonder if I was depressed or was I depressed for lot of my life. The harsh moments seemed to just jump out first. The time when my Dad died colored my early childhood. Later there were the struggles with school – my lack of attention/focus and my reversals made some learning hard. College presented its own struggles with long papers and heavy reading. In the adult years there were the death of friends, the change of jobs or moving from one place to another. The making of big decisions like moving out of state or buying a house, having kids.

As I continues to think about this, while walking and drawing and exercising the healed broken wrist, I realized that through all those times of frustration, fear and loss there were alway happy times. I could think about the fun I had as a little kid while playing on the family farm. We visited the farm often because Mom was dealing with the loss of her husband but as a five year old it meant haystack to climb, cousins to play with and meals made from the garden.

The learning to read although hard opened up a world of wonder and joy once I got the letters going in the right way. Books became my joy and escape when needed. My Aunts, both school teachers, had books on a high shelf in the closet bedroom. The cousins always got too pick a book to keep from that shelf. The more we visited the more books I could collect. Joy and happiness abounded.

College came with hard work but there were new friends, new adventures, long late night walk and talks with a boy. There was the learning about freedom away from my mother. The joy of making choices for myself (some were great, some not so great but I learned from them.) The learning although hard was a joy in its self.

Adulthood brought the nervousness of moving, buying a house, having kids and working our way through jobs – all of it with deep learning but hidden joys of new adventures. The joy of making an old house new again for us. The smiles, kisses and snuggles of little kids that were yours to help grow and release into the world.

The boy from college and our grandson laughing at an Old Mac Donald video

Now in our older age there are still movement that are not great – like last summer when my lung was not working or this summer with a broken wrist, or this long and hateful pandemic. But then I look at all this there are these wonderfully happy and joyous moments. The times that our grandson comes running for a goodby hug. The bright golden sun on leaves turning from green to yellow to red while the cool breeze blows. The late night talk and walks with that boy from college who has been with me now for almost 50 years.

Grandson running with a paper wind sock he made this week

When you stop to think about it you realize that happiness is not one certain time period but it is the little moments of everyday. It is waking up to hearing rain on the roof, a hello from a long time neighbor, a FaceTime call from my son. Happiness in the past was time spent talking with my mother even when she was ill with Parkinson’s. We would stroll through gardens she loved, sit in the sun to have tea and chat. Yes, it was sad and hard but it also contained happiness. Those little moments of joy that we share with each other or with ourselves are the best.

If you try you can find a bit of happiness in everyday.

I admit there are days that finding that happiness is hard. (I am thinking of days when my daughter was so sick from chemo and pregnant with our grandson. Those were rough days for everyone and yet I could smile at the sun, fresh air and be just a little bit happy because we had good care and she and baby were going to make it through these heavy times. We all would and did.)

If we look we can find just a few moments to smile, breath and find a bit of happiness everyday.

Where have you found happiness today?

Our Garden Sunflowers with a little Bee visiting

Thinking about a long life lived well

It has been a long time since I have really written anything. A broken wrist early in the summer stopped the hand written journaling, the hand written garden notes and the typewritten blogging. I have showed up here once in awhile to say I am trying. Age slows everything down. The physical healing as well as the mental processes all slow down when you stop moving and doing.

So as I read Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski post on 100 words of health from Ben Bergeron I had to nod and agree. It was the first line that for me said so much.

Create an environment in which it’s easy to eat well, move often, sleep lots, think deeply, & create real connections.

This is what I have been working on all summer. It also what my Aunt told me this last weekend. We were suppose to drive to Iowa for her birthday party but it was called off due to Covid, of coarse. We were all disappointed since this was a big birthday. My Aunt Gen turned 100 a week ago. Can you image? – 100 years old!

We chatted on the phone instead. Well, she chatted and I listened. She was bubbling with joy and excitement even though she missed having her big party. I wanted to asked the question that everyone one else is asking – what is your secret for health and long life?

Listening to her it was clear – I did not have to ask her. She joyfully told me about her day – up and moving each morning – a sitting exercise that she follows on her TV (designed for the folks in the care facility she has her apartment in.) Then mid morning (9:00 am) she is off to her exercise class and later she walks on the Nu-Step to be sure she gets enough walking in.

She giggled about checking in on friends and leaving her apartment door open so friends know they can stop by to chat. She mentioned a few things that disappoint her but she lets them go and moves on to what CAN happen instead of holding on to the things that can’t. She was looking forward to going out with a friend for lunch and talking to her sons. She was busy making calls to say thank you to the over 100 people who sent her cards!

If asked directly she says health is all about moving and exercise -“not just walking!” But I think there is more there than she is saying –

Here is what I heard as she laughed and chatted:

keep moving – all parts of our body

be joyful – laugh a lot

keep busy – doing and thinking

stay connected – build a community around you

let go of the past and move towards the future

She is surprised she is still around and is looking forward to enjoying each day she is given.

I hope to live as joyfully as she does and to hold onto and follow her thoughts on a long life lived well.

Happy Birthday Gen!

Beginning again – slowly

My last post was June 29th just a week after I broke my left wrist. (I am left handed!) I posted that I would see you all later once this settles down. Today the beginning of August was my hope that I would be here writing again. Six weeks without writing in my journal, without drawing or painting, without blogging has been hard. Not driving has also slowed things down just a bit. I was told I could drive but when you can’t bend your wrist, your fingers don’t work right and it hurts to move any part of my hand it did not seem like a safe thing to be doing.

In those six weeks I have been able to weed my garden one handed (sort of). I have made pesto one handed. I have watched my grandson with the support of my husband. I am back to walking although icing my wrist upon return is needed to keep the swelling down. Over time I figured out how to tie my shoes and get dressed by myself. All big accomplishments.

The wrist is healing but the work is slow. After six weeks the left arm has no real muscle strength and either does the hand. So slowly I begin working on range of motion hoping that after next week we might be able to begin strengthening. I won’t go into the shoulder and back issues that resulted in this fall. They are also healing thank goodness.

I know I am luck – no surgery, 4 weeks in a cast is a short time, and the removable brace I have now at least allows me to shower and wash my hair alone. All said and done I should not complain but geez this was not how I thought I would spend the summer.

My summer goals involved drawing 100 images, helping my daughter and her family move into their new house and a redo of several of my gardens. The basement redo did not happen as well. It was pushed off till next spring or summer. All of these fell off the list of summer to dos. They are all things that can wait or in my daughters case they found other helpers. I watched “Little Man” since he now knows I can’t pick him up. It is all ok!

The all ok and this will heal is great but there are evenings and days when I wander the house feeling a bit lost and indulging in a bit of self pity or frustration. It never lasts long and a sweet treat (I found a fudgesicle in the freezer last night) plus a walk around the neighborhood can always help. A reminder that I am not dealing with long haul Covid also kicks me back into reality – this is not bad. A short slow down is all. I am and will continue to heal.

It is all in how you look at things and what you compare yourself and your life to. There are always people who are better off but there are also those who are suffering much more than I. So todays writing is just that – to help me keep things in perspective.

Writing today was also a test to see if I could actually type something without running for Tylenol and an ice pack. I have typed something and I am good without the Tylenol but I will be icing for a short while once I am done. I am just happy my fingers were able to reach the keys, that I could actually hit the keys without pain and I think I am making some sense when I write. Progress for sure!

Here is to being able to write on the computer, to healing and working on positive thinking with a little bit of help from yoga, walking and my husband!

Just for fun a few photos of the garden and my grandson. (one of the helpers when they moved this last week)

Little Man moving his stuff

Balloon Flower or Pop Flowers as Little Man calls them.

The beginning of the tomato harvest

Black eyed and Brown Eyed Susans

Summer Slow Down

Hope you are all relaxing and enjoying your summer. A time to stop, reflect and relax!

I have created a big slow down for myself by falling and braking my left wrist (I am left handed).

So there is:

no gardening

no lifting

no to doing anything that vibrates – mowing, vacuuming

no getting the cast wet

Oh I could go on but what fun is that?!

So I Can:

type one handed

read books

talk to friends and family

go for short slow walks

watch as my basement gets torn apart and redone

As I say a quiet slow summer!!!!

(shhhh – don’t tell anyone but I am still gardening carefully with one hand. Those weeds need pulling and veggies need picking and my soul needs to feel the earth through my fingers!)

Enjoy your summer whatever you are doing!

Side note: I will mostly likely not be posting until mid to late August when I am two handed again! So see you as fall creeps in!

History lessons, summer heat and family love!

It is not yet mid June. In Minnesota June is usually a month of mixed weather – warm days and cool nights. I remember when I was young I always brought a sweater along because the nights turned chilly. Now in 2021 June has lost its cool nights and the warm days have moved to hot.

We are currently, like much of the nation, in a heat wave. The early morning is mid to high 70’s and we climb to the upper 80’s by 10 am and the upper 90’s to 100 but mid afternoon. As a gardener I am struggling. The spring was cool and my plants stayed small. I have a group of them there are still in little cups waiting to be planted.

Last week I was ready and then the weather turned. There is no planting small veggie plants in 100 degree sun. They will fry! So they sit on my deck being moved in and out of sun, being watered twice a day in hopes of keeping them alive. I have pots of perennials waiting to go in the ground that are hidden under bushes to keep them away from the burning sun.

I am up early like my neighbors watering garden and veggie beds and knowing I now need to begin watering the back gardens as well. This heat and need for so much water takes me back to the book I just finished called The Four Winds. (Kristen Hannah, 2021) It tells the story of the dust bowl and the lives of a family fighting to survive in the depression. It is history our history!

A story of sadness, greed and love. A story that reminds us that we need to look to the forces of nature. We need to find ways to understand the delicate balance that nature keeps between animals, plants and the environment in general. We need to listen to the change that is happening in our world. The lesson’s of greed, over production, destruction are clear in our history if we are willing to stop and look.

So as I a struggle with the heat and environmental change I still feel blessed in that I have water to keep the gardens going for now. I have a cool house to retreat to or a Grandson that drags me into the splashing water of a kiddy pool. I have family that are here for a short time to tell stories, play and enjoy the care of each other after a long and struggling year of the pandemic.

The summer stretches before us – hot and sunny but with love, care and joyful times with family. Even in the heat there is joy!

Flexibility is the Key

Wild Geranium

It is the last few days of May and the spring gardens are still just getting planted here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I thought years ago as I retired “oh this will be great, I will have well weeded flower beds, my veggies will get planted early or at least on time. I will write and draw daily.” It all sounded so idealistic.

Now there is the reality. Between to cold weather this spring, late May rains and one young grandson my gardens are not well weeded. The veggies are getting in late so who knows if I will get any food from the garden this year. The drawing and writing – hmm what does a pencil look like, paper isn’t that the thing you crumble and tear and throw around the living room??

I can tell you about everyone else’s garden in the neighborhood since daily wagon rides take us past many well weeded and planted yards.

I think I am learning (once again) that long range plans always need to be thought about with a goal of being flexible and a willingness to let go. Maybe even day to day plans need that flexible thinking as well. I know that in my life people, and health come first so when a grandchild appears or my own grown children call I am willing to let go of pristine gardens to be of help and to be with them. The weather just means being flexible at all times. Who can control things with climate change and the usual weather silliness of spring.

Balloon flower plant

Clematis bud

So that said – the flower gardens are looking green and lush after a few days of rain. They are moving from spring tulips and lilacs to the summer flowers. The peonies are ready to bloom, and everything else is just green green until the summer heat hits. There are poppies starting to grow, the ballon flowers are about ankle high, the coneflowers are just an inch or two behind them. The clematis is setting buds now so we will have blooms in another week or so.

The veggie garden looks more like late April – the lettuce and spinach are growing but have tiny leaves way to early for picking for a summer salad. The radishes are up and the young tomato plants are now in. The pepper plants are still in small pots on my deck waiting for their time to plant.The basil (reseeded twice) is now finally looking like a real plant. It might actually get planted this next week. I did cheat and bought a full size basil plant at Trader Joes just so we could have a bit of basil before late June. My spring peas are not even tall enough to reach the string set up for vining.

Basil growing

The word of the day is flexible! Flexible in planning when you can garden. flexible in setting goals and expectations. Life seems to find its own way. We may be able to push it in one direction or another but I have decided we are really not totally in charge. The sooner I can except that the more relaxed I can be about my weedy spring garden!

Here is to summer and letting things grow! Plus lots of wagon rides!

On our way from from the park – hoping to beat the rain! Note the rock and pinecone held tightly in his hand. He is a nature boy!

Tuesday writing – Where is “me”?

It is now 8:30 am and Little Man will be tumbling through the front door and the day will be gone. There will be giggles, lots of walking, rock collecting and hopefully a nap. Those are the things I do with joy for my grandson. I spend each weekday fulling engaged with him. When evening comes I am tired so a bit of reading happens, no real writing, no drawing or painting, no real gardening.

It has got me thinking about what do I do for me. Even saying those words makes me cringe. Doing for me sounds selfish! Wanting to take time for me sounds like I don’t care about others.

I was raised to think about others first. “How can you help??” is what rings in my ears. So I jump right in – even get excited when I see there is a small way to help someone. Later I realize I have once again given away the small time I have to do something I personally want to do. It is hard for me to book an hour and a half yoga session each week because then I won’t be open for others that might need something. Even though I really need the yoga.

It has even gotten to the point that when I put a call out for names of local companies or individuals who could help with some heavy work in my garden (arthritis is making this work harder as I age). I had a young friend volunteer to come help so she could learn more about gardening. I was so excited to have her join me but the first thing I did was turn into teacher mode. What does she need or want to learn? What plants can I divide to help her start her new garden? I my mind this became all about her and I lost track of that fact that I was doing this for me. I was doing this to help get my garden in shape not to teach someone else. Once again I lost track of me and my needs.

It does not have to be one or the other – in the gardening case I think both can happen. It is just I am the one who lets things move or actually pushes things into a helping others mode.

I did this earlier in the gardening season as well when friend who moved out of town wanted some of the plants in my the garden that she was now missing in her new garden. We were going to work together to dig up things I thought needed dividing or moving. She would get the extras and I would get some things cleaned up and moved with a bit of help. The help was the part I needed. But as things got rolling this spring between cold and wet weather my friend did not make it in. I ended up digging up things for her and bringing them out to her when we visited. I also ended up helping her plant them. Here is the thing – I really enjoyed sharing the plants. I enjoyed helping find new places for them and planting and chatting with a friend. She was not insisting I do this. All was good but when I stepped back a few days later – there it was again. I was ready to help and did so with grace and fun but – my garden did not get thinned as I had thought. I did not get the help I thought I was going to have in digging up plants. So my garden sits as it was – a few plants lightly thinned but no real change.

In both of these garden situations it was not the fault of the other person – it was I who jumped forward to help. A nice trait to have, I know, but each time I lose track of what I originally thought was going to be helpful to others and to myself. Funny how that works!

While these thoughts have been bubbling up in my head I have seen more and more books or blog posts about doing for your self. They are about thinking about your personal needs. I follow Isolation Journals by Suleika Jaouad and on Mother’s Day she reposted a piece on Motherhood by Rebecca Solnit.

The writing prompt was – What mothered and mothers you? How do you mother yourself? How do you celebrate and recognize what cares for you and takes care of you, and what you care for in return?

I had copied this into my personal journal. I had cut and pasted it into my notes app to be sure to respond to it. Today I went back to both of those to find I have not written about it. I find it hard to know what I really do to support myself. What does self care look like for me? I can name things I want to do but they always get pushed aside. I let them get pushed aside. I am uncomfortable with people serving me or helping me. Example: Mothers Day they had to push me out of the kitchen because I was doing the dishes. Geez – I couldn’t even let go of that!

On Mondays at 10:00 am there is a one hour draw with Lara Gastinger on Instagram. I would love to listen and draw with every Monday. My husband has said he will take Little Man during that time but each Monday I seem to give that time away so no drawing or listening for me.

What is it about woman or me that makes it hard to accept help or allow others to do for us so we can step back and enjoy or nurture ourselves? It is not about the others – they have said they would help, or they have stepped back to help themselves and I fill the gap by helping them as well. They have realized their own needs and have gone about seeking out their own help. So how do I/ we find a balance. How do we get to where you can help others but also supporting our own needs and desires?

In all the years of teaching and doing I feel like a lost “me”? It is not a crisis and I am not depressed about it. I just have realized I need to learn to wait a while before I say yes to things. I need to think through how does an activity help them and me. Is this request something I really want to do? I am learning that it is ok to say no and it is ok to say I need or want help.

I also am learning that help can also just to be given a bit of time. Open time to do whatever you wish -a time that is not mid to late evening when you are already tired and ready to sleep.

So here is my writing prompt once again – What do I (you) do to support my(your) self? How do I mother myself?

Goal today is to find time to actually write in my personal journal an answer to this prompt. Then list a few steps to see how I can make this really happen.

Are you in need of personal care from and for yourself? What do you do to support yourself in these wild and busy days?

Time Heals – slowly

Two years ago I wrote a post in early May. It was just before Mother’s Day and I was struggling with the worries and fears for my daughter and her partner. We were excited and fearful all in one breath. Each breath needed to be pushed forward to keep us going – to keep us from going under.

Here is how that post started:

“There have been so many disappointments for this young family – no breastfeeding, no working (she is a power house teacher who is missing her classroom at the end of a school year), no gardening (no hands in the soil due to chemo and no resistance to germs and bacteria), no hair, loss of salary, loss of energy, no working with the natural birth folks (everything now has medical in front of it with a big C).  We have not even gone to the discussion of surgery and long term medication to be sure this does not return. The no’s and negatives could take over if you let them.”

That Mother’s Day we shared with “happy” voices and honoring the soon to be Mother. We pushed the worries and fears and anger and confusion out of you heads for a few hours. We did what families do we gathered, we ate and we looked forward.

Now two years later – this family has weathered cancer, chemo, a pandemic, the racial riots in our city last summer, as well as emotional concerns from heath issue of other family members. It has been a rocking and rolling two years. There have been a few scares along the way but each time they/we have surfaced to find we have weathered each one.

So on Sunday we gathered – five of us sitting at our dinning room table in the late afternoon sun. Two faces joining us from New York on FaceTime. We eat, laughed and followed the joyous movements and chatting of a 23 month old. Through all the trauma and worry both Mom and Baby have come out on top.

There is a young boy running around letting us know what he wants, what he likes and how much he loves everyone. There is nothing like a little one saying “love you Gramma Grampa”.

The human body and soul are resilient. It is not to say that we do not struggle or that all the trauma is gone. We all still jump when a phone call comes that is not expected. We all still worry deep inside wondering will that cancer return. (It will be years before we really know if she is cancer free – this is how cancer goes but for this moment in time she is.) There is counseling to help deal with the worst of things. There is the talking honestly about what has happened. There is the just being there when anyone needs something.

The “just being there” is what keeps us as humans sane both mentally and physically health. The pandemic has helped teach all of us that lesson over and over again. It is not the big things but the little day to day things. The extra bar of chocolate, knowing that orange flowers over pink will bring a smile, giving the right books or making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies or just making space for people to sit and talk about anything.

When people ask did you have a good Mother’s Day – the answer is an overwhelming YES. “Oh – what did you do?” “Nothing and everything”, I say. I putts in the garden, I read and napped and then share a Happy Hour/ easy dinner with my kids and their families. We were just together. No big meal, no big discussions or talks. We laughed, following Little Man around with the computer so the New York crew could see him. We had wine or beer, cheese, veggies and dip, chocolate and rhubarb pie with “ice ceam”, as Little Man says. We gave each other hugs. We were family! Just family together!

My kids (that includes their partners for I now consider them my kids) are my Heroes! I learn so much from them, I admire all they have done and have overcome. I love that they will just come and be with us.

I know there will be bumps in the road – we all know life gives us ups and downs but for now we are on a up and I will enjoy every last minute of it.

Here is to family – to gatherings, to just being there for each other!

Here is wishing you also had a good weekend sharing time with family or friends. Life is too too short to not have people to just be with.

Little Man (almost 2)

It is the little things – look, listen and really see

Crab Apple Tree

I am finding that the big things in nature are great but if you are forced to slow down and look at the little things the world becomes amazing. We are all wandering around looking at the trees flowering – the whole big tree. We see the large tulip bed full of colorful flowers and are wowed but if you stop and look at just one tulip – look inside to see what is going on in that plant the world changes. If you move in close to the tree and check out just one flower on the branch it is a different story all together.

Crab Apple Blossom

This spring has been a cold one with lots of wind which has slowing the spring blooming season. The plants have been slowly opening and holding their color and blooms for a week or two.

The wind has added to my stopping to look and see. There is a quick whiff of a flower the wind sends my way and makes me turn and look. The colors pull me in and make me stop. Then there is Little Man. At 23 months he forces me to walk slowly and to explore every crack in the sidewalk, every flower, rock, stick and pinecone.

Little Man has gained a great deal of energy over the last few months and this Grandma is always looking for ways to use up some of that energy so I can keep up with him. Instead of the wagon rides we walk the block to explore. Spring is a perfect time to do this.

Found Stones

Energy he has but when walking outside he uses his to focus on what is in front of him and he slows down naturally to explore. Also, when you are only about hip high you see the world from a different view point. The sticks and rocks, the underside of bushes and the insides of flowers are at eye level. They become the focus of your world.

His wind chime made with found pine cones and sticks

We spend a great deal of time listening as well. He is fascinated with sound right now. I know it is part of this developmental stage. (He is heavy into language and new words – big words like Hibiscus). As we walk we listen for wind chimes (wind chimeees as he calls them). He stops when a bird calls or a plane flies over head. He listens for the wind in the trees or bushes. I often find him pointing to his ear and standing quietly. He is telling me to listen – Do you hear?

This spring is about the little things. The sights, sounds, colors and smells of the world around us. We spend most of our time just here in the neighborhood. I keep thinking we need to go to the woods, to a new park, some big and fancy place. Then we head out the door and he is completely engaged in the few houses and gardens up and down our block. The park at the end of our street with large “pineconie” trees (otherwise known as evergreen trees/ pine trees) is always a place to explore. Each day something new catches his eye. Today we explored Dandelions at the park, and Violets in the back gardens of our yard.

I am grateful for these days of looking and really seeing the world around me. It is a joy to hear, see and feel the world through the eyes of children. If you don’t have a little one near that you can borrow and take a walk with then try just sitting close to a flower bed or a blooming tree for a few minutes each day (rain or shine.)

It will change your world!

Little Man with another wind chime