Dear Reader:

I didn’t sleep as well as I thought Monday night because I was still so keyed up…besides I had to try out new dance steps on Dancing with the Stars. 

I have an appointment with my oncologist, Dr. Silgals, next week…it will be interesting to see his perspective on everything that has gone down since he thought out loud…“I think we need to go on and check this out…not wait any longer.” It proved to be a very wise decision.

I thought it was interesting in the title photo (that I took of a Gerber daisy pot I have on one of the benches in the garden) that this fall-colored (reddish-burgundy) Gerber daisy suddenly appeared. Earlier in the summer the only colors popping out of it were pinks, yellows, and oranges. Then suddenly, with the official first day of fall arriving tomorrow morning, this fall color emerges.

It is almost as if the Gerber daisy is privy to the first fall day garden notification party… and it wanted to dress appropriately for the occasion. Mother Nature never ceases to amaze and delight me!

The title for today’s blog I discovered in the latest edition of Azalea Magazine. I was flipping through it, waiting on a prescription, when I saw an article by Susan Frampton titled: “Circling the Sun” and under the title…it read: “The number of trips around the sun may still indicate the years of your life, but who says they have to determine the life in your years.”

Bingo! Exactly what I think…these words couldn’t have appeared at a better time with hope now for some more time “to determine the life in my years.” My hope is that my time is spent well, justifying the oxygen I consume on this earth. My hope and prayer is that I will be ready to follow new paths as instructed by our Creator (Tour Guide)…that I allow myself acceptance to the inevitability of change instead of hiding from it, and stay open to new possibilities and adventures. Now that is a life well-lived.

One constant that I know will never change is my love of reading. It can always take me on new adventures in exotic countries I can only dream about…but most importantly books always hide secret gems inside….one phrase in one passage can change my outlook on life forever.

During this recent (trying waiting period)…it was reading that saved me from my over-active imagination involving the whole gamut of possible outcomes from the surgery… scenarios depicting the worst to the best. Reading is my closest friend and has been since I was young. I can’t imagine going through life without it.

“Well, in Whoville they say – that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day. And then – the true meaning of Christmas came through, and the Grinch found the strength of *ten*Grinches, plus two! “

Well, if the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes in a day….then mine must have grown 300 yesterday. Never in my life have I received so many messages of gratitude and thankfulness and joy for the “Clear Margins” surgery report. I was completely overwhelmed all day and evening. I feel stronger today (ten grinches plus two) than ever!

Like the Grinch’s heart stretching…the graph on the number of views (comments) just kept climbing and climbing and climbing. So who says people aren’t interested in good things that happen in life… Or that in order to sell books, movies, newscasts bad things must happen. I agree to disagree because I have seen it happen to me. Thank you, everyone, from the bottom of my heart…I have never felt such love!

So until tomorrow…Love, love, love you back!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Happy 9 Months Birthday to Caleb…Bee’s (Brooke) little “Boogie Boy! Nine months….time is flying!

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With summer waning and summer flowers following suit…the garden is definitely in a transition stage….but, also, because of this rather barren state… every flower that does bloom gets its 15 minutes of fame all by itself…and more. The hybrid morning glories are still glorifying the mornings, afternoons and early evenings….just beautiful!

My moon flowers have hung it up I think… but Anne caught the last of the season of her moon flowers over the weekend.