Peace, and Life's Choices

Quiet is
a bird in flight,
a smile,
in the blink of eyes.

Quiet can be
found -
alone,
or in many faces.
It
is centered on the
choices we make.

Vacations Instantly!

Times away from home are always lovely. They give time to look at where you are in life and sometimes how to make changes that are needed. But, it also is a time to escape the ordinary things of life and give a taste of something different.

If you are a history buff, you can visit a museum or local historical places. Places that take you back and help you learn something new are a great escape. If you're a gardener during the spring, summer and fall there are always gardens to explore, even garden centers are fun! Whatever turns you on is a way to have fun on that break from your normal week.

How about a weekly vacation, is that a possibility? You bet! An escape to a meal with friends, or a trip to the library can make personal time great. I am a library fanatic and enjoy wandering the rows of books looking at what is available to read. Taking time to read can be a vacation in itself! How many of you have gotten to read a book all night and finished it in the morning? That can be a real luxury. Anything can be that vacation for me. A walk along the woods with my dog or simply a little nap when you first get home from work can be an instant break from the world. You know something, I SIMPLY love vacations!

Fall in My Garden

This cooler weather is inspiring for me. I often sit on the patio and enjoy most mornings, now. The birds are flocking and along the fence every morning there is a line of sparrows waiting their turn to dip and drink from our bird bath. It reminds me of kids waiting for the bathroom.

Though the garden isn't as pretty as in the spring and early summer some flowers are still blossoming. The cosmos look great, and the asters are beginning to bloom. But I must admit there is much in the garden that looks quite ragged. But that too gives a beauty of its own. The tall brown stems of long dead lilies are now the perches for the goldfinches and sparrows.

The sweet autumn clematis is beginning at the very top to break out in lovely small white blossoms. It covers the trellis at the back of the garden and has often been called the garden "ice cream cone" by neighbors because the blossoms seem to balloon from the top down. There the littlest of my garden birds congregate under the leaves and flowers safe from the local cooper's hawk as it makes its daily pass over the yard.

The fall can be so restive and quiet here in my garden world. It's truly a place to escape as the days speed by. Here I can almost stop my world and take time to inhale the garden that nature creates all around me.

Our Neighbors Both Feathery and Furry

Friday evenings are great in the summer. I sit out on the patio, and watch the birds and listen to their songs until the swallows and bats make their entrance to the early evening sky. Tonight with little humidity was a great evening for sitting and simply being. The cardinals were, "Cheer, cheer, cheering," to the sky and the contrails that crisscrossed my view gave an image much like a game of tic tac toe.

It's funny to think that our modern age and the ever-present natural life around us actually coexisting, but they do...never quite in harmony, but always on an almost equal footing in our daily life. I found out how true that was one evening a few years ago when I was finding myself deep in inner city Grand Rapids on the 3rd deck of a parking garage. Walking to my car I crossed paths with a rather large raccoon. It ambled past and I stopped to watch thinking that in this urban setting there are still the soft features of nature brushing up against our lives.

I'm awfully glad I see the critters that surround us! I can be setting in the car at a stop light and enjoy the flight of a hawk, or see rabbits both big and small in the field behind our home and remember that this is really a shared space and not exclusively our own in this modern world.