BIG DOG SOAKING UP THE EARLY MORNING SUNSHINE...

MICK'S FAVORITE PLACE IN THE MORNINGS 

GIFT OF A SUMMER DAY...

A SWEET SUMMER DAY...
    For me and Big Dog, our brief walk before dawn was quiet this morning... 
    In comfortably cool temps, a lower dew point, a sky full of stars and a bright crescent moon---what more could this day have presented?
    As it turns out, a lot more! We are spending a spectacular daytime, with soft breezes, perpetual sunshine, and a big sky so blue it seems to be adding its color to the creek and reflecting its brightness in the sheen of leaves on the trees...
   Off and on through the morning, I did small segments of work in my gardens while Big Dog stayed on the porch, resting and watching his mama.
   Now with the softness of Mick asleep on my feet, here I am on our porch in the trees, sipping afternoon coffee and reading and enjoying the songs of birds and the creek...
   The gifts of the summer in one gentle, restorative day.

SO BEAUTIFUL THIS SUMMER MORNING...

OH BEAUTIFUL THIS SUMMER MORNING as my dog Mick and I walk slow and peaceful on a woodland path...
The harshness of our heat wave now has ended, and the woodland sparkles with the unaccustomed coolness.
The dew point now is low; the sky is blue; there is no humidity at all. We don't take the beauty and perfection of this newborn day for granted.
Still, we walk here every morning in every kind of weather the seasons serve to us.
I cannot remember: Had Big Dog and I begun this long-term habit because I knew he loved this place; or did he begin to walk this place with me because he noticed it was I who loved it here?
It doesn't matter; the woodlands of our valley property are where we love to walk together.

LOOKING DOWN AT MY CREEK AT THE END OF THE DAY...

PEACE BE WITH YOU...

ENJOYING THE COOL...

It's the Fourth of July. I've been sitting quietly since daybreak reading a compendium of old, old tales of the Great Lakes of yesteryear--many written by the region's early people. 
   I read it many years ago and am revisiting the book, and enjoying it, for in my older years I have more leisure and can dwell more slowly in the details. 
   I hate to say this, but I'm hoping not to be disturbed by invitations I cannot refuse. It's much too hot to be outside, and it is lovely to be dawdling in the quiet, cool inside... with my dog who seems to feel the same.

SOME MEMORIES UNDER GLASS...

  
MASON JAR AND MARBLES.... These were found, one by one, in my childhood home when Bob and I restored it in the mid 1970s. From that point on, these shiny bits of my childhood have sat before my eyes, in one sunny window or another, in my own home. 

(Proof that I haven't lost my marbles? Yet!) ~~Rose M. 

SADNESS IN AN ANGEL'S CONCRETE FACE: IT SEEMS SO REAL ...

WEEPING ANGEL IN THE VALLEY'S MORNING MIST... WHY IS THIS ANGEL ALWAYS WEEPING?  NO ONE SEEMS TO KNOW; AND CERTAINLY NOT ME.