God Bless Us Everyone...

I stayed home last night. It was planned, I needed a day to catch up, to breathe, to light a fire in the fireplace, have nothing or no one to keep up with or keep tabs on or owe any time, sweat or attention to... I watched a couple of movies, I read for awhile, the kids were in and out all night, visiting with friends, having some friends over, but me, the living room, the fireplace and the TV were kind of off limits... I just wanted to have time to think, to be, to watch out the window, to stare blankly into space, to enjoy not having to go anywhere or be anywhere or to have to do anything... to snooze for a bit, to have a very minimal presence on the computer... I said a couple of hello's and for the most part, the extent of my computer presence was sending the above picture from my phone to my e-mail and then saving the pic to my hard drive...

Every so often, not often enough, I take one day for me. I spend so much time indulging in my kids, who deserve it, my job, which doesn't - but I am committed to them and so I owe them my best, to four or five volunteer outfits which I truly love, and the efforts that I give them are truly labors of love, so they don't really take from me, as much as they give me energy and joy and much more than they take from me... But to have the opportunity to light the fire in the fireplace, and take some time to myself, once in a great while, is truly a blessing.

It's not all self-indulgence. I do inventory. What have I done well, what needs more work, what deserves more of my time, where would I like to devote more of my time... I give thanks for gestures of kindness and thoughtfulness - that takes some time because I truly, truly have been blessed in so many ways, by so many gracious, kind, generous friends, neighbors and family. I often am reminded of Thornton Wilder's truly insightful quote:

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."

Thank you for all that you have brought to my world, to my life... this 2011. My heart is full, not conscious of all my treasures as they seem too numerous to fully focus upon, but be it known by these presents, I am blessed, beyond measure. May 2012 be of a similar nature for you, in all regards.

One of the reasons that I like it here

Hi there intrepid troupers... lovers of the written word, friends, acquaintances and dilly dallyers of the of the blogosphere... I always talk rather glowingly of how much I love where I live. I do. Nature abounds, fresh air, lots of space, plenty of work, but that is not a bad thing. Here are a few snapshots from off of my deck, this Friday past. I get lots of deer around here, rarely a buck. This one was helping himself to the apples that fall off my apple tree. I throw them in a dead spot on the edge of my property - the apples are not very good to eat, human wise, the deer like them just fine. They recycle them back into my lawn, it's all good - definitely a circle of life thing... He was eating his fill, in no particular hurry. He seemed so at ease - now this is last Friday, day 6 of the open gun hunting season for white tailed deer in Wisconsin. When he left, as he is shown doing in the bottom photo - he ran around the baseball field adjacent to my land, and out into the nature preserve - almost as if he knew that he was safe there - no hunting is allowed there or in the county park that is adjacent to that. We watched each other with about the same interest. I was so glad that he came to visit, and I trust that he was happy that I only shot him with a camera.