a quote...

"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable."-- Joseph Addison

It's a Birthday...

Does anybody remember besides me? i love you Frank. i always will, but i realize the physical door between us is closed.

i'm opening new doors... and i even opened one that lasted 7 months and it is presently in process of being closed! i know you would approve of closing this one!!!

i've opened several other doors though. These are real keepers and i know you would encourage me in them.

Quote of the day today is:
'The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.'
- Flora Whittemore, author

Day 3...

...not really but got a thing going here! Had two graduation parties, a daughter visiting from California, and a 'moving away' potluck in the past few weeks and somehow managed to lose 8 pounds anyway. Now that's not bad at all, is it? I'm giving Sparkpeople.com loads of credit for this, coupled with the fact that 3 daughters & my grandson's fiance are members as well. Mostly two of the girls & i are currently very active there & that continual support, coupled with the free Sparkpeople tools, is a very very good thing. Check it out. You might like it!

I signed up for a daily motivational email that encourages the blogging portion of the program. This includes a quote & i'd like to share the quote from this morning here with you.

'There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.'
Albert Einstein, physicist

My house has a deck that spans the entire back on the second level. The first level is a 'basement' - partially exposed with windows & doors from the ground up. It is a beautiful deck.
From the deck you can see my back yard. Beyond that is a field, farmed annually by a local farmer. Beyond that is a row of trees & the river. Although i can't see it i know the river is there. Somebody recently commented as he stood on my deck - 'This is a million dollar view.'
Funny, i never really looked at it that way. I've lived here all of my adult life & i guess i just took it for granted.

Recently i've learned to enjoy & appreciate this 'million dollar' view. I've had breakfast on the deck - in the morning before excessive heat takes over the day. I've sat for a while & listened to the sounds. Yes, there is traffic driving past my house but mostly they are hardly noticeable. Across the river is a state highway, but as it goes through town traffic must slow down.

What i hear is the birds... so many birds. They love the trees my husband & i planted throughout the past 47 years. We wanted to create a wild life haven. We did.
There are bunnies & chipmunks. An occasional frog from the nearby county ditch (we refer to as the creek) visits the little pond my husband created in the garden the year before he died. I see an occasional little garden snake... helping keep the grasses insect free. They rush away when i'm around, sometimes startling me as much as i startled them.

The yard is green even in the driest of seasons because it is more than grass... it is a neatly mowed meadow. When I mow there is a smell of clover & mint... and in the closer yard - the smell of lemon balm gone wild.

Yes, i am learning to enjoy, to appreciate this miracle... the beautiful natural habitat that grew with our love... right here in my own back yard. In this day of weed killers, insecticides & the chemically perfect yard, my backyard is truly a miracle.

In my mailbox today...

..was this quote: "If the automobile had followed the same development as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year killing everyone inside."-- Robert Cringely

True, so true! I have a new car. It cost more than we originally paid for the house I still live in.