Every walk is covered in nature’s confetti right now. Which is wholly appropriate for this guy — who turns ONE tomorrow! Woo hoo, let’s celebrate!
Category: favorite things
Here we go
The trees atop Art Hill seem to have gotten the memo and are really starting to show their colorful stuff – and the rest of the park is trying to follow their lead. So the next week or two should be really fun.
Twofer
Yesterday I fell asleep before I had a chance to post day #6 of the “7 ways to be more kind to your mind” exercise/self-reflections from @laurajaneillustrations. So today I’ll post the thoughts/reflections for both Friday and Saturday. Twofer! For Friday: “Check in with your feelings. What are you feeling today? Why are you feeling this way? What…
Fun Fall finds with Finn
This week’s walks are brought to you by the letter “F” — fun fall finds with Finn. Above: A house along our route knocks it out of the park every year, but this year’s skeleton scene actually made me gasp out loud. Below: Finn cannot understand why I cannot walk and pick up leaves at…
Life lately through the iPhone
This was the sunrise before an ill-advised half-marathon I completed recently — my first in-person race in two years. I wasn’t even vaguely prepared, but I helped a friend cross the finish line of her first half. Totally worth it, but I will never go into an event without properly training ever again. And here…
Neighbors
“We didn’t realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun.” – Winnie the Pooh My Monday morning started out with this note on my doorstep, a darling portrait of me, my dog and my sweet little neighbor. The sentiment had me smiling all day. When I talked to my mom about…
As we are
“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” – Anais Nin May we always be able to see and be love.
Musings on a Monday
“The breath that you just took…that’s a gift.” – Rob Bell What a wonderful weekend filled with lots of celebrations with family and friends, including a gender reveal (my brother is going to be a grandpa!) and a bridal shower (my son is tying the knot!). And the best kind of exhaustion you can feel…
I spy…
You know, I always thought I was a fairly observant person — until I got a puppy. Everything is brand new to this guy. And I do mean everything. A crow’s cackle, a firetruck’s siren, a squirrel’s chatter…everything requires a pause and thorough investigation. And he doesn’t miss a thing. He forces me to slow…
Intentions
“It’s amazing how much you can learn if your intentions are truly earnest.” — Chuck Berry I’d mentioned yesterday that I wasn’t really up to much in the way of resolutions for 2021. I did, however, see something on Instagram (@theshineapp) today that I think will better fit the bill — intentions. There are just…
Soul
Today I put up my favorite Christmas decoration — my grampa’s chapel that he made for my grandma more than 100 years ago. He modeled it after the first church they attended together, also shown above. It’s one of the most cherished things I own — and not just because it’s adorable. It’s because of…
Truly
“I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful — an endless prospect of magic and wonder.” – Ansel Adams What started as a bit of exercise in the park turned into more than two hours of wandering, exploring and savoring the colors, shapes and textures of the season. What a beautiful day on so many levels….
Believe
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” – Roald Dahl
Wasn’t expecting that
I took a stroll through the Botanical Garden today and saw a number of blooms that surprised me. And here I thought that all of the fall colors had faded!
Color my world
“Anyone can love a rose, but it takes a lot to love a leaf. It’s ordinary to love the beautiful, but it’s beautiful to love the ordinary.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it takes much to love these colors — and there’s nothing ordinary about any of them. But wow, aren’t…
This and That
Just a quick mix of fun finds. The fluffiest ranunculus I’ve seen. Random sidewalk chalk wisdom in the neighborhood. A feline photobomb…with my fluffy ranunculus. More random sidewalk chalk wisdom in the neighborhood. A beautiful bundle of late-summer blooms from our kind neighbors. And still more random sidewalk chalk wisdom in the neighborhood. And a…
Butterflies and Baking
During this whole social distancing thing we’ve had going on since March, I really haven’t had many opportunities to go all-out on the cookie making front. I love to bake, but I don’t need dozens of baked goods sitting around the house with no one to eat them but me. But I got to see…
Goals
I tried to guess what was going through this adorable dog’s mind long after the car drove away. Possibilities included: What’s that smell? I think I smell food. I can’t see very well. I wish she would scratch my ears. I wonder if that person over there would play with me. I finally settled on:…
More than enough
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – anonymous The universal challenge to cultivate happiness is to list three things from each day for which we are grateful. Heck, I don’t even need a full day to generate that list; I just need a run in the park.
Just Humming Right Along
Earlier this summer, our neighbors gave me a hummingbird feeder for my “birthday.” And it has been one of my greatest sources of joy this summer. It hangs right outside our glass patio door, just a few feet away from where I’ve set up my home “office.” I have loved watching every single tiny whirring…
Jewel Box
You’d never guess by looking around at the beauty in our world that anything is remotely amiss right now. Sunsets still glow. Flowers still bloom. And Forest Park is still perfect. One of my favorite places in the park is the Jewel Box — and one of my favorite times to visit is when her…
Surprise!
It’s Resurrection Lily or Surprise Lily season! My heart. I learned something new about this flower this week, thanks to the Botanical Garden’s Instagram feed: “Surprise lilies’ foliage sprouts in the springtime, only to die back around June. Then, later in the summer, their flowers spring suddenly from the ground.” I love them even more.
Gratefully
“If you must look back, …do so forgivingly. If you must look forward, …do so prayerfully. However, the wisest thing you can do is be present in the present… …Gratefully.” – Maya Angelou Today I’m grateful for my first trip to the Botanical Garden in months.
Iris Season
Spring has so many seasons all of its own. And this Iris season has been a doozy.
hey there, friends 