Dear Reader:

Life always finds a way to keep climbing. When I went out to water the plants yesterday the morning glory vines were going berserk. One had jumped on the fairy picture and was starting to climb around it….in fact I couldn’t tell where the morning glories stopped and the painted flowers began.

Another morning glory vine decided to climb a decorative sunflower and leap to the fence from the top of it.

Still another morning glory decided to climb a dead plant stalk…searching for higher ground.

I went and got another roll of twine to help the morning glories get to the fence.

Have you ever watched the movie American Beauty? There’s a scene in the movie where a character is watching a plastic bag floating in the wind. The bag drifts back and forth and up into the air as the wind shifts direction.

As the character watches, he says, “sometimes there is so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it.”

We get saturated with so much violence, hatred, and evil-doings in the news/world that it is easy to find ourselves complacently walking by so many objects of beauty without giving them a second glance.

Two new blooms made their appearance yesterday in the garden. Though I don’t remember the name of the plant the delicate, periwinkle  blooms made me stop in awe and appreciation of their beauty.

While watching the morning glories climbing over and around the fairy painting….I had forgotten that there were beautiful purple flowers in the painting to match the morning glory blooms and bumblebees….lots and lots of bumblebees.

Memories of mother, of Eva Cate playing with the fairies in the garden, and now purple morning glories adding to the decor of the painting. Beauty surrounds me.

I, also, got a good report from my oncologist yesterday on my blood work and overall health. I was reassured that I would stay in this “new” drug I have been on… as long as it continued working for me. That was such a relief! It is unbelievably mind-blowingly expensive….thank goodness for being a teacher and having my state insurance plan along with Medicare. The best insurance around….it really makes up for the pay scale for teachers in this stage of my life. It has saved me literally thousands upon thousands of dollars and potential financial medical ruin..

I have learned the hard way that good health is one of the most beautiful gifts in life…..actually price-less in its beauty.

I came across this poem fortuitously and thought, it too, is beauty in its own creation.

“Tomorrow does not stand apart,
A shining, all new day;
Tomorrow is a thing slow-built
Of hours passed away.

It’s made of dreams your heart has stored,
And dreams discarded, too;
It’s made of all the joys and tears
The years brought you.

It’s made of lessons you have learned,
The friends you’ve known–the foes;
As each of our Todays is bent,
So our tomorrow grows.

It’s made of sweat and toil and pain
And song and love and laughter;
Each minute of Today helps build
The day that follows after.

Tomorrow does not spring full-built
With some new dawn’s bright rays–
Tomorrow is a slow built thing
Made up of yesterdays.”

-Helen Lowrie Marshall from her book, A Gift So Rare

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So until tomorrow….Let’s get in the habit of pausing during our day and take five minutes to remove ourselves from our daily routines, meetings, and  deadlines…to walk outside. Find one object of beauty, examine it, appreciate it, and return to your life more fully aware of a Creator Who loves us in everything He creates.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Delight of the Day: How cute is this…Stephanie Ballard Trzeciakiewicz shared this idea/photo (“potting’ wreath”) as seen at Joanne’s Craft Shop. “I think I can I think I can.” Even adding some miniature tools would be cute too. My potting shed is smiling at the thought.

Tonight Anne’s first moon flower bloom should take place….so exciting….mine are a little behind but growing and climbing.