Beautiful Morning

I am thrilled to report this post is the first ever written on the picnic table on the front deck where my view includes the silhouetted hills of Bandera, the rising of a pinkish gold sun and I am being serenaded by the dueling crows of roosters in stereo. The wind is from the north east and is blowing enough to sing through the trees and move my hair into my face but not so much to drive me back inside. This is the second day in a row I've been able to once again enjoy breakfast on the deck, one of my favorite things to do! It is a morning full of promise and blessings. God dances on the wind and covers my home and life completely!

Most of the time the blog posts are written in the wee hours of darkness, making an outdoor writing experience difficult. It is later than my usual writing time and I am taking full advantage of this glorious morning. My deck is not covered and, for the most part, sadly unusable during the summer months that end up rolling into fall. This makes this time even more special. So I want to share it with you when I can.

The vast number of birds songs gracing my ears is amazing! The cooing of several types of doves and the gobbles from a neighbor's turkeys carry on the wind from near and far. The playful sounds of the three pups next door makes me smile. The buzzing of something large flying behind my head is not cause for concern because I've decided it must be a dragonfly.....no, no, do not try to tell me differently, it is a dragonfly. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

The feral cats were fed before I brought out my food in self-defense. They are a hungry lot and think each time the front door is opened it surely must be time to be fed. I want them to depend more on their hunting skills and less on my dispensing of food, so they are only fed in the mornings now. I see evidence of their skills, so I know it must be working. While still not friendly pets, they clamor at the front door when they hear the lock turn each morning and make walking to the food bowl tricky but I prefer that to the instantaneous scattering like fearful babes they used to be. At this moment, they are spread out all over the deck, some perched on a bench, the others taking their favorite lofty spots to watch life pass below us. Our treetop perspective gives a feeling of being above it all.

Being in the country during dove season, there is the occasional gunshot, not a sound I relish but my hope is that any dove falling to the sound will make its way onto someone's table. God did give us dominion over the animals for food, even if we don't like the path they have to take to get there.

As the sun gets higher in the sky and the pink fades to a more brilliant gold, the gunshots are coming more frequently. Fly, little doves, fly!!

I have new neighbors in the village. A family moved in across the street to that pretty rock house. I haven't met them yet but I have enjoyed the sound of their young children playing. Yesterday they were imitating the roosters. Apparently said roosters can't tell time and crow randomly throughout the day.

This time of day, 7:32, usually finds me in my office working on some literary masterpiece....(picture me laughing hysterically)...but this morning is so beautiful and pleasant (and it is holiday after all), I just cannot bring myself to go back inside. The long months of unbearable heat have left me longing for such a time as this. Early morning sun is the only kind I can be in anyway, so I am making the most of it.

Life is starting to make its presence known in the village now. Cars revving up, the golf cart puttering down the street bearing the man that reads our water meters and dogs communication on the canine hotline compete with the birds for the airwaves. I'll drink down the last sip of my now cold coffee, gather up my computer and head inside to face whatever this day brings. Having been restored in the masterpiece of God's morning, I am more able to cope with the unknown to come. His mercies are new everyday!

Thanks for stopping in and sharing my morning!

Here's a Kiss for You!

This is a busy time of year for everyone. You can see in their faces as they scurry about from point to point with a list in their hand of things they hope not to forget. I stopped by a friend's house to drop off a mixer she wanted to borrow and she was in a complete frenzy over making candy for the holidays. Seriously, she was moving and talking at the speed of light, dashing about like the house was on fire. I asked why...she didn't know. We sat down to visit for a bit and her breathing slowed to normal, her voice lost the manic pitch and we had the best visit we've had in years! We talked about why she felt such stress over making candy...I might point out that she already had several kinds made and was a week away from leaving on the trip to see the family she was making candy for. She's retired...no time hindrance there, no kids at home needing her time and attention...nothing apparent to cause such panic about making candy at all.

The sad part to me was that she was so stressed, she was getting no joy from making all the goodies to share with family on the trip. She used to love holiday baking. What happened? She'd already hired me to bake her pies and cake to help her out. She wanted to make cookies to take, too. Yesterday, she mixed all the various cookie doughs, today she bakes those. She has 5 more days before they leave on the trip. Why the panic?

Listening to her talk, I discovered she was trying to make sure she did all her usual stuff AND the things her mother used to make for the gatherings. A nephew asked last year where a certain candy was that he wanted...her mother used to make that candy but she's with Jesus now. My friend felt the self-imposed pressure of filling her mother's shoes. She didn't say all that, I just put the pieces together from her conversation. She was driving herself to distraction to carry on a family tradition no one asked her carry.

I'm all for traditions, I tried to give my kids family traditions to look back on. I made a special gingerbread, timed to be in the oven filling the house with its aroma while the kids were finding what Santa brought. What could smell better? Then, after all the gifts were opened, we would sit down to a Christmas breakfast of quiche, gingerbread and sparkling white grape juice in wine glasses. A kid friendly bubbly for the special occasion. Now, one daughter makes the Christmas Morning Gingerbread I made, tho not early Christmas morning but they have it Christmas day and the other daughter makes quiche for her family. They've tweaked my traditions to become their own. 

I guess the key is finding what works for you without making you nuts! I enjoy cooking, so listening to my kids laugh and play as I made our Christmas breakfast was a joy to me. I didn't spend all my time in the kitchen, I hung out with the kids while things were in the oven, so I didn't have the pressure or mentality of slaving away while everyone else had fun. Memories of those days still warm my heart and the kid's laughter still rings in my hears. My friend will not look back on this holiday baking and candy making with joy, she'll remember the stress, that is NOT a good memory. She will have one funny memory to recall. In her 'hurry, hurry' mode she knocked over a full open bottle of peppermint extract and did not realize it till later. She called me laughing to say her entire house smelled like a giant peppermint stick! 

In our quest to live a more simple life, Friends, we need to declutter all the things that stress us and steal our joy. NO, that does not mean you declutter your spouse and kids...just the busy work that isn't going to be remembered later as joyful. A happy and relaxed parent/spouse/companion is a far better gift to your family than a plate of anything you might slave over! KISS, KISS...Keep It Simple, Silly!