WE WERE HAPPILY IN HARNESS...

WHAT FUN TO RUN ACROSS THIS PHOTO I TOOK SOME YEARS AGO AT A FRIEND'S MAPLE SUGAR HOUSE. 

At the time, Bob told me he liked that photo very much because it was US! ... happily in harness together for work or play, for many years.

AH, YES.... What a memory and what a blessing among so many blessings for so many years.😊W

ZINNIAS & SUNFLOWERS FOR MY BOB...

 

My Bob always loved zinnias and sunflowers.

For the last five summers of his life, zinnias and sunflowers grew in large containers on our deck, where we could see them from almost anywhere in the house. 

It was an accidental flower garden, actually meant for vegetables. A few years before the flowers occupied that deck, Bob had worked all winter making large, self-watering containers. He placed them on the deck, in hopes of having a summer-long vegetable garden convenient to our kitchen.

A great idea, but the vegetables didn't thrive in the containers. Bob was disappointed. 

One day I looked out at the deck and those useless containers, still filled with dirt and nothing else, and I had a brainstorm.  Zinnias and sunflowers! 
After all, Bob loved them; and they weren't picky growers--just plant the seeds and give them sunshine!
The flowers thrived and grew like they were meant to be there.

Bob loved them! So did I!

REAL MEN DO LOVE FLOWERS!

  

A LONG, SLOW SUNSET: POSTED AT BEDTIME LAST NIGHT

I've been lying in my bed, wide awake. 

What is keeping me awake? A long, slow sunset, echoing its glowing, rosy color all around the valley in what I call a "ring-around-the-valley" sunset... rare and lovely and most often seen in valleys like my own.

I didn't want to miss a bit of it, and it went on and on and never lost a bit of depth and color.

Now suddenly it's gone. I can close my eyes and sleep. Good night again.

THE MAMA MOURNING DOVE HAS SWITCHED HER NURSERY FROM THE HEMLOCK TO MY HOUSE...

MAMA MOURNING DOVE ON THIS MAY MORNING IS NESTING CALMLY IN MY EAVES...

SHE SITS COOL AND CALM UPON HER NEST; UPON THE EGGS WHICH SOON WILL HATCH...

SHE DOES NOT SEEM TO BE A BIT CONCERNED ABOUT THE WEATHER...

PERHAPS SHE THINKS WE HUMANS WORRY WAY TOO MUCH.

STEREOSCOPIC VIEWS OF MY OUTDOORS...

The out-of-doors this morning is like an old-fashioned stereoscope I recall from childhood.

One moment I see bright sunshine and blue skies.
Then the clouds move in.
Then my valley's green and vivid underneath a spooky sky.
The next view is surprising when a blue spot opens in dark sky and tosses blue into my creek...

And it goes on... The swiftly changing skies will bring up really interesting views this day, I think!

OUT IN THE COLD IN BIG DOG...

The stars were spectacular when Big Dog & I walked out-of-doors this morning at 4.

It was chilly, and Big Dog did his duty, then hurried back to the warmth of his bed.

I took my time with the stars, and I silently thanked my dog for arranging for me to be present at the right time to see such things. 

Though truthfully on such early hours, when I leave my warm bed to accompany my dog to the cold world outside, I am never sure what I'll see and I'll feel... until I am actually OUT THERE!

MUSIC OF THE DAWN...

Finally the avian music is back, at the crack of dawn! How could I not greet the day with good cheer!