Sunday’s Seven 7 April 2024

Another birthday in the books last week, and gratitude for family and friends who honored the day with special moments. 🎂

Granddaughters who are currently enamored with the magician’s code and how one keeps pulling all manner of objects from my ear. The best part is her reaction to my reaction…is there anything more joyful than a child’s laugh? Listen for that in your comings and goings this week. Notice it as the gift it is. 🪄 🎩

Wildflower bouquets. Receiving one and knowing these moments are simply a window of time. Children grow and become busy with so much; when someone offers a wildflower bouquet, I hope you recognize the gift of that. Added bonus: a child who agrees to a picture. That sometimes is fleeting, too. 🌸

Beautiful offering

Funny stories told and shared… 🤭

Daily routines and rituals…and freedom to choose how our days will run in the background of life… 📝

Spring’s gifts of puddles and purple irises this week. 🌧️ 💜

Knowing how to prepare a meal and realizing that, too, is worthy of praise. 🍽️

I hope in this month of April (oh, it’s National Poetry Month…I’ll add one as a bonus 😊 below), you’ll honor the gifts of your life. I hope, like me, you’ll never exhaust the list. The more you notice, the more arrive. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

                                    A Gift

By Czeslaw Milosz

A day so happy.
Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.

—-

And, as all things are connected it seems, this poem reminds me of a young man who read the poetry of Milosz to me in Prague…and how that moment’s memory has always stayed with me.

This is one of the many gifts of poetry. ❤️

✌️

                              

Sunday’s Seven 21January 2024

I know it’s not really Sunday or the 21st, but here I am bringing seven good moments from last week, and maybe the day-date isn’t that big of a deal. 😉

Birdfeeders. Aren’t they glorious inventions ? The backyard was busy all week with eager visitors, and it was lovely to sit and watch. I had picked up an extra bag of seed before our little winter event that ended up being mostly sleet, and the birds were grateful. ✅

Parchment paper that one bakes bacon upon. Or slides cookies off of. ✅

Little handwritten notes on their way to people near and far. I know postage is going up again, but I still think finding real mail in one’s box is a lovely gift. Holding out hope more of us make a return to the writing of the letter. ✅

Stillness—I know being at home for several days might sound like punishment for some, but I adjusted to waking to no alarm, checking on the animals, feeding the fire. One of the days—lost track now of which—I read most of the day away. Little luxuries/no regrets. ✅

Speaking of reading… A Book of Luminous Things, edited by Czeslaw Milosz (his introduction and collection of selected poems make this a keeper of a book)…easy and accessible to dip in and out of. If you like poetry, I highly recommend this one.✅

Glass jars of my homemade vegetable soup in the fridge which brought my Aunt Mary to mind…and how she would bring jars of vegetable soup to her sister, and we would all enjoy it so much. Traditions/rituals/the carrying on of good simple acts. ✅

Waterproof boots—because the ice is gone, but rains have arrived. ✅

See you next time. Be good to yourself.

✌️ 💐❤️