Morning

Morning

Salt shining behind its glass cylinder
Milk in a blue bowl. The yellow linoleum.
The cat stretching her black body from the pillow.
The way she makes her curvacceous response to the small, kind gesture.
Then laps the bowl clean.
Then wants to go out into the world
where she leaps lightly and for no apparent reason across the lawn,
then sits, perfectly still, in the grass.
I watch her a little while, thinking:
what more could I do with wild words?
I stand in the cold kitchen, bowing down to her.
I stand in the cold kitchen, everything wonderful around me.

by Mary Oliver

Enjoy the morning light.

Is this the face of a Stranger?

I was sitting in a restaurant waiting for my food when a
little girl sitting in the next booth turned and looked at me.
She said, "Are you a stranger?".
I asked her if she knew me and she said, "no".
I said I must then be a stranger.
Her mama had told her not to talk to strangers, but
she wanted to talk to me. She was trying so hard
to figure out what a stranger looked like.

I have thought many times since then, how do we
teach our children to be safe, but still be able
to talk to strangers? I had gotten so I didn't
talk to strangers either and it narrowed my world.
Many of you I have not met, does that mean you
are a stranger to me? There are many people out there
that I want to know. Blogging has helped me to meet some
beautiful people and has opened my world. I find I am also
talking to people more at the market or when I am out and about.
For the most part I am finding people want to interact.
So how do we know who the stranger is?
And how do we teach our children to know, but still
be open to the people that have beautiful hearts?

Monday Linen Days

Vintage pillowcases are a luxury I use everyday, but
sometimes they wear out. So when they wear out, I make
small pillowcases with the embroidery. They are pockets
to wrap a special gift in.

Here are some of my pillowcases. The one with the yellow
flower is my favorite, but it is beginning to wear out.
Have you thought of this? When you make the bed, do
the ends of the pillowcase over lap to the next or are they
facing away from each other? Are they communicating or
ignoring each other? Maybe it is just me, but I always
think that when I place the pretty pillowcases with
the pillows inside on my bed.

Next week is the last day for Monday Linen Days.
Please make sure to visit, as there will be a give away.
I still am not sure what it will be, but it will come
from my linens. I will be out of town; so my post will
be later in the day on Monday.

Whisper in the Air

An edible chrysanthemum in my garden.

The only pumpkin in my garden.

There is a whisper in the air,
seasons are changing.
It is a time for gathering in,
taking in the end of the summer warmth.
A time for harvesting,
soaking in the last rays of sunshine.
Preparing for the winter time.
What are you doing to prepare?
Are you harvesting from the garden?
Sitting in the afternoon sun?
Take in the memory of how the sun feels.
Remembering also the warm tomato,
eating the warmth of the sunshine.
Remember how it feels as we step forward
into fall.

Are you rich?

Recently I was asked, "are you rich?"
It took my breathe away.
"Oh no, I am not rich" I said.
We had planned for joy.
We intended to take joy, but rich - oh no.
But, yes I am rich.
I am rich in joy and love.
I am rich in friendship and family.
I am rich in home and a world of beauty.
Yes, I am rich.

The Library - Concordia University

Saturday I traveled to the library. It wasn't a very long journey,
as I only had to walk two city blocks to arrive there.
It is a new library, just built this summer on the campus
of Concordia University. You can see the new grassy amphitheater
from inside the library. They were playing Shakespeare out
on the lawn.

Isn't it beautiful? I am so excited, as the library will be open to
the neighborhood too. There is a coffee shop at the far end.

The new bell tower on the other side of the lawn.
What a wonderful addition to our neighborhood.
****
I wonder if you love libraries?
What are your memories of your first visit to a library?
Can you still imagine the smell of all those books?
Did you ever go there for story hour?
***
I love libraries.
It is so exciting to wander through the aisles and see all
the words that are available at no cost to me, but time well spent.
As a young girl, when I learned to ride my bike further than just on
my street, my mom would let me ride to the library.
I would explore for hours and come home with
books of adventures of all kinds, but mostly about
women in history. They were my favorites.
If you can't find me sometime and you wonder where I am,
I will be off to the library.

Friendship Reflections over Tea

Reflections in my cup of tea last week with a friend.

"There are volumes to speak of the friends who have
chosen me. For is that not what our friends do? Is it not
that choosing that makes friendship the divine gift that
it is? And there is no pantheon among these chums who make
our journeys with us. I have heard friends described as pillars
on a porch, always needed, but also silently standing by,
supporting our lives with understanding. Oh, my dear
friends, how often I have felt unworthy of you all.
But thank goodness you looked beyond my bluster
and foibles to make my journey so much more beautiful.
What a pure thing friendship is."

This paragraph was taken from Jenny Walton's Packing
for a Woman's Journey by Nancy Lindemeyer.
I thoroughly enjoyed the description of a friendship.
Thanks for being my friends.