Mud Mouse?

   It is not uncommon to find mice just about anywhere.  The critters seem to have an adaptable lifestyle that allows them to move right into a spot and call it home. For a while, the area was kept quite clear of the little rascals due to the fact that the old Bayou Queen had a "liking" for them.  The old cat made it hard to find evidence of any rodent, not only in our yard, but the neighbor's as well.  She often would present them with "headless critters" as a token of her love.  The Bayou Princess, Ms. Nycto, thought she was high above such menial labor and the Bayou Prince, Bat (the cat) is too busy chasing feral cats and squirrels.  The mice are having a heyday!  Thankfully, they stay outside and have not ventured into the Little Bayou House...yet.  

  My "Mud Mouse" is of a different sort.  It has been rainy, drizzly, foggy...you name it...for the past week.  I love this weather but it does make hiking a bit difficult.  Mark and I did venture down to the pier through the drippiness and found that the north wind had pushed the tide far out from the shoreline.  This exposed the soft mud for about a good thirty feet.  It was upon those mudflats that I found my mouse!  There, as perfect as you wish to see, was the most adorable critter complete with big ears and beady eyes!  Oh, my goodness!  A mud mouse had decided to come to visit!  I just had to get a photograph.

  Pareidolia is a weird thing.  Years ago, Granddad taught me to "see faces" in everything in nature.  That spilled over to seeing "things" in just about any mundane discovery.  My mud mouse was a pure bit of happenstance.  Two clam shells were perfectly aligned by the waves to allow me to see a critter..not a live mouse, at all, but the reasonable facsimile of one!  A sealed clam as the head, an open one as the ears and an ideally placed barnacle as an eye.  Yep...a MOUSE!

 Ok, so I have always admitted to having a wild imagination and I guess this is as wild as it can get.  Most folks would probably see clam shells in the mud and not much more.  My sighting, however, tickled me and brightened the day tremendously...therefore, it cannot all be bad.  Folks, when things are a bit boring or not to your liking, look for something...anything...that can bring a smile.  Do not focus on the drear...make the sunshine...even if it is a mud mouse!

Healing Rains

    The other day, I was surprised by a sudden rain shower.   While in the garden, everything was bright and sunshiny, then a few moments later, I was being drenched.  Raindrops fell with a delightful burst of energy cooling the afternoon heat...but...that sun just kept on shining!  I was caught in the midst of a sun shower.  It felt good.  It felt refreshing.  I felt as happy as the raindrops seemed to be.

  There are a lot of weird little folktales or myths attached to sun showers.  The most commonly heard is that the devil is beating his wife.  That sounds just about right for the devil but why would it be attached to such a lovely sight as the sun shower?  Nope.  Don't like that one.  Another is that a witch is getting married.  Hmmm?  Well, I guess if she wanted to spend the time to conjure up a weather phenomenon just to be crafty on her wedding day, this would suffice but that is purely up to her, I guess.  Then, there is the belief that a sun shower is the harbinger of severe weather to come the next day at the same time of day.  Since we did not receive a bad storm the next day...rain showers...but not severe, that one is discredited, I suppose.  Most of the other tales were all connected to animals getting married...huh...especially fox.  Alrighty, then.  After digging around in the wonderful world of the internet, I finally came across a "good" thing connected to sun showers.  The rains are supposedly healing.  This...I like!

  To be honest, all rains are healing.  The water heals the earth and allows for life to continue.  Without rainfall, all would soon wither and die.  It does not take a phenomenon such as a sun shower to prove this.  There is a scientific explanation, however.  It seems that sun showers occur when a single cloud jumps the gun and moves ahead of the crowd and drops some rain. The angle of the sun is not blocked by the single cloud allowing for a sun shower.  While this is all well and good, it is not as fun as being all magical and stuff!  I think I shall keep with the healing raindrops.

Seeking the Baby Otters

   Today warmed enough for me to work the gardens a bit.  This was a long time coming since the combination of rain and cold is not exactly to my liking when it comes to being outside.  I have a tendency to hole up inside the Little Bayou House and hover around the old cast-iron stove or head to the kitchen to bake.  Son is the recipient of all of those baked goods so he, too, was happy for me to be outside.  After everything in the greenhouse received a nice dousing of water from the rain barrel and the cabbages, spinach and broccoli were weeded, my thoughts turned to the pier...as usual.  

  Earlier, I had noticed some baby otters playing near the boat cut and a few hooded mergansers out by the end of the pier.  I would try to find the otters and, then, I would try to get a few photographs of the hoodies.  Perhaps SOMETHING of interest could be found.  Slipping silently down the pier planks, I could hear the tiny squeaks of baby otters but never got to see them.  Mama Otter had them well hidden under the marsh mats.  Their playtime in the cold water was over and it was time for them to snuggle down in the den again.  Neither did I find the mergansers.  They had skittered across to the other side of the Bayou far out of reach of the camera lens.  Well, now!  That was boring!

  I did find the remnants of the otters' meal.  Several mollusk shells were on the mudflats.  These had been pried loose from the clusters at the base of the marsh clumps and opened with the skillful "hands" of Mama Otter.  She had demonstrated the method to her little ones and let them have their first taste of the delightful shellfish.  This was a life lesson that would help the little otters survive.  

  As I was about to leave the pier, the winds shifted from the southeast.  My warm day had ended as the winds picked up the chill from the water and made it highly uncomfortable to be outside.  I am getting old.  This never used to bother me.  Now it does.  Time to head back and stoke the fires for the evening.  Brrr!

Basking in the Sun

   After another cold night, more firewood was needed.  The old wood-burning stoves can put out lots of heat but only if you constantly feed them their favorite food...wood.  I was happy that what I had hauled in last night did carry me through the cold morning.  While our "cold" may not seem like much to others, it does seem bitterly cold to us down here in the Deep South.  We are so accustomed to winter being more like a late fall than anything else that when the temperature does drop into the 20s, we are COLD!  Like I said, though, I had enough wood to see me through until almost 9am.  Then, it was out to cut more wood.  This is all working out well since it cleans the yard.  After the last few tropical systems blew through, there are enough stacks of logs needing cut to see us through the entire winter.  So...out to the stacks, I went.

  At one point, I stopped to stare at the Bay.  The sun was out beaming with brilliance making me want to be on the pier instead of cutting firewood.  Pier??  What is that on the pier??  Down toward the outer end of the pier was a dark blob.  From the distance, I could not make out any distinguishing marks to tell if this was a bird, an otter or just some debris that blew onto the planks.  There was only one thing to do.  Time to take a break, grab the camera and stroll down the hill.

  With the first step on the pier, my mystery blob came to life!  A long neck stretched up and wings flared out.  Ahh, Gus, the brown pelican was basking in the warm sunshine!  He had his head tucked beneath his wing when I first noticed him so there was no way of telling just who was there!  Ole Gus was probably just like me.  We want to be warm!  At least, I have the Little Bayou House and the cast iron stoves to keep me warm at night.  Gus sits on the pier with the north wind making things miserable.  Thinking of this, I eased back off the pier and let Ole Gus bask in the sunshine undisturbed.

Mr. Sun, Mothballs and Winter Blues

   Oh, the sun came out this morning! (Being sung instead of said!)  after a couple of hours of thick fog again, the sun did, indeed, pop out to brighten the day and warm the place to the mid 80s.  It felt like spring...no summer.  

  It was not an easy task for old Mr. Sun, however, as the fog was thicker than yesterday!  Several times, I caught sight of a big, round ball of white trying to push through the fog only to see it be covered over again.  Then, along about 10am, poof!  Fog gone...sun out...sky blue...and we were busy as bees.  There is ever so much to do to get the place ready for spring.  

  To me, the sun appeared to be a giant ball of ice or maybe one of the old naphthalene mothballs that Mom used in the steamer trunks that held our winter clothes during summer.  Those things smelled terrible!  I actually hated wearing anything that had been stored there unless it had been washed several times.  While the mothballs were a not-so-pleasant memory, seeing the sunshine was just what we needed!  Nothing like it to chase away any winter blues!

Pelican Day

   Today could not have been any more perfect.  Not that anything special happened yet everything special happened.  It was perfectly lovely.  The day started with sunshine (freezing but sunny) and brightened from there.  Things just got better and better.  Of course, having a good attitude can go a long ways in making every day perfect but, in today's case, life was just good.  Early in the afternoon, it got even better.

  Looking up from my chores, I noticed a lot of white birds out on the Bay.  Oh, my!!  White Pelicans! Why in the world White Pelicans bring such a reaction is beyond me but they always thrill me.  The birds are not a "rare" sighting but, then again, they are not common on our waters.  We see far more of the Brown Pelicans than the Whites.  

  Today's sighting led me to the pier for a better view.  The sun was shining warm, the waters were sparkly and more pelicans were making their way into the area.  Could things get any better?  Nope.  This, perhaps, was one of the best days in a long, long time.  I will take it.  Smile, folks.  Life is good.

Cold and Colorful!

   Yesterday was gray.  The sun never made even an attempt to show its face.  We had a winter storm pass through with all the trimmings.  The day started cold, ended cold and had cold in between.  Sleet was the precipitation that came with the storm so a nice coating of ice ruled.  The day was gray...just gray.

  Today, however, started cold with the temperatures in the teens but it did not matter.  Mr. Sun was in all his glory!  The bright sunrays chased away thoughts of cold even though the thermometer said it did not want to participate.  So, what did I do with this abundance of sunshine?  I uncovered the garden. The cabbages that I did not cover fared well so I figured that the entire garden needed sunshine as much as I did.  Everything is now out in the open even though we are expected to have a few more days of cold.  

  While I was toting an armload of kindling for the old woodstoves, I noticed the sun making pretty with the window panes in the french doors.  The floor was covered with rainbows from the prisms.  What a happy, colorful sight after the gray of yesterday.  Today was colorful!  In fact, it was every color splashed all over the floor!  Oh, Mr. Sun!  Thank you ever so much.  It is too bad you have to disappear again tomorrow.  

  Yep, we are in for yet more storms complete with high winds, possible hail and tornadoes.  Then...more cold.  The Bayou just cannot catch a break from storms!  At least, these are winter storms and not hurricanes!  Oh, please....NOT YET!

Cold and Gray

   I was out at daybreak trying to cover and secure things for the hard freeze tonight.  I knew I had to get it in gear and get it done before the rains set in for the day.  After covering the garden the best I could, filling the woodbins with a hefty supply of logs and cutting enough kindling to keep those fires going, I felt that my tasks were about complete.  I headed inside to bake.  To me, there is nothing more satisfying than baking on a cold, rainy/sleeting day.  The rain did turn to sleet for a good bit of the time but the oven going was a happy thought.  Cream cheese croissants and broccoli/mozzarella rolls were being turned out like clockwork!  Amazing aromas were wafting from the kitchen!

  Along about midafternoon, I noticed something strange.  The "quiet noise" of the sleet stopped and the windows started brightening.  Aha!  Perhaps the nastiness was just going to turn to cold now!  Wandering into the living room, I noticed the crystals hanging in the window.  There were no "rainbows" shooting around the room.  In fact, there was gray.  Things looked gray just like outside.  It looked cold.  Well, time to close the curtains, turn on the lamps and make things at least look cozy!  Stay warm, folks.  Mother Nature wants to see you wear your heavy coats!

Shadows on my mind...

   Since winter presents us with a variety of weather here, it is always a good idea to "make hay while the sun shines",  In other words, get busy.  The words chimed through the head in Pop's voice this morning when I first stepped out the door.  He used the phrase more than once when I was a kid back on the farm and it was not always about cutting hay (even though we did our share of that).  The phrase was applicable for anything from farm work to fishing.  Today, I think Pop was probably telling me to get in that garden.  I followed the directive and enjoyed a good day's work in the warm sunshine.

  That same sunshine cast a lot of shadows around the hillside.  On my early morning hike, I was enthralled by how vivid the shadows of palmetto fronds were.  With the usual overcast skies blocking such a sight, it was grand to see.   This all got me to thinking about how we take things for granted.  It is not hard to appreciate the huge, warming sun but how many of us take the time and effort to appreciate shadows?  I do.  Here lately, I am even more thankful for each and every thing that I come across.  Each is a gift and is there for my enjoyment.  

  Actually, shadows have been a huge inspiration to me in my artwork.  It seems that I am entering a phase where shadowy art appeals to me far more than my usual bright and happy pieces.  Perhaps, I am entering an entirely different phase of life and not just art.  Shadowy art, dark pathways, dusty, dark rooms all have an appeal to me.  It is as if something there is hidden.  Something lures me to investigate.  I NEED to find what is concealed in the shadows.  I may never know.  I may never know but it is fun to let the imagination run amok.    

Ahhh, That Is Better!

  For over a week now, fog has ruled the Bayou.  Basically, everything was blocked from view.  At times, the stuff was so thick that it felt more like rain than fog.  While the temperatures were warm enough for short sleeve shirts, a jacket was required just to stay dry.  The nighttime jaunts out with the old dog were interesting to say the least.  With the fog hanging densely around you, sounds were muffled.  Nary a footstep could have been heard even at a few feet away.  Mr. PJ was nervous and refused to step foot outside without me by his side.  This fog was not only present at night and early in the morning but lingered throughout the day.  The sun did not shine.  It was covered over so that not even a hint of it could be seen.  It was almost as if we were shut off from the world!

  Then along about 3pm today....a happy miracle occurred!  The sun broke through the dense fog and shone brightly for a little while!  Most of the time, I am fine with fog, rainstorms and gales.  Why even a tropical storm or hurricane does little to ruffle the feathers but seeing that sunshine today made me smile!  I needed it.  Things have been dark around here long enough and this was enough to give me a much needed boost.  Also, after seeing the sun pouring through the french doors, I am glad that I listened to friends and kept the (left over from clue hunt) "stained glass" look intact.  It was just another "happy" added to the day.

Frogs Need Friends, Too!

  Every now and again, it is sort of amusing to pull a fast one on your friends.  A simple prank can lead to a lot of laughs.  Today, I sort of did just that.  While in the garden early this morning, I found a tiny critter friend trying its best to find a warm spot to spend the day.  A tad of cooler weather had hit the Bayou and the summertime critters were finding it hard to cope.  A little green tree frog had climbed up on the ruby lily leaves to bask in the warm sunshine. 

  About the same time I found the little frog, a friend came calling.  Darlene has not been to the Bayou in a few weeks and she needed a little "fishing therapy", as she calls it.  That sounded like a good idea but, first, I wanted to show her the frog.  "Watch this!" I told her. "I have a little friend!"  I eased my hand down to where the frog was resting.  As soon as I placed it near the frog, it climbed into my open hand.. "Oh, my gosh.  Now you are making friends with the frogs!" she exclaimed. 

  Yep, the little frog and I had an understanding.  I would not hurt it and it would keep the garden free from pests.  Nope, I had not trained the frog to climb on my hand.  In fact, I cannot even be sure that I had ever seen this particular frog before.  Other than the frog trusting me, there was a bit of "magic" in the incident.

  The little tree frog was cold.  While the sun was warming it some, the leaves were still holding the coldness from the night before.  My hand was warm and the tiny frog knew that, by climbing aboard, it would warm faster and could escape quicker if need be.  My body heat was being transferred to the little critter.  After a few seconds, I tried to put the frog back on the leaf.  It was having no part of this action and climbed back onto my hand immediately.  Ok, my little prank was backfiring!  I now was stuck holding the frog!  It took a good five minutes before the frog was willing to leave my hand and go back to basking.   By this time, it had warmed itself grandly and was now able to purely enjoy the sunshine.  Its good to help a friend.....even critter friends.

Soaking Up The Sunshine!

  So winter in the Deep South is doing its fickle best to keep us confused.  For the past few days, it has been feeling a lot more like summer than winter.  Two days of sunshine and temperatures in the high 70s makes me feel like doing yard work!  I pulled all of the plants out of the greenhouse and let them feel "spring" only to shove them back inside so they would not have to feel "winter" again tonight.  I am not the only one dealing with the moody Old Man Winter.  The critters of the Bayou are baffled, as well.  

  This afternoon's walk to the pier brought me face to face with a lovely, little lizard.  The little critter was sunning itself on the warm pier boards and had no intentions of vacating its comfy spot because I wanted to pass.  This lizard seems to live on the pier and has done little to protect itself from winter save going beneath the boards and down into the marsh.  There, it can burrow under some of the dead reeds and be quite snug.  Unlike its "landlubber" cousins up the hill, this little lizard can take full advantage of the warm sunshine.  The open area around the pier allows the sun to warm the place much faster than the mulch-filled areas of the shady woods.  There, the ground is still rather cold and the lizards are all still snug in their dens.  Several times, I have been cleaning the yard only to uncover a poor, cold lizard.  Whatever I moved is gently returned to its resting spot on top of the lizard that chose that place as its overwintering spot.  In contrast, my friend on the pier has been active almost all winter.

  One has to wonder if the pier-dwelling lizard had any idea how brilliant it was to choose the marsh as its habitat.  Other than an occasional high tide, this smart, little guy can live the good life.  There is plenty to eat, nice snug places to sleep and its on "tanning bed" also known as the pier.  Smart critter!

Shadows of Doubt

  Between the rains today, there were bursts of bright sunshine.  I took advantage of those brief moments to do a few outdoor chores.  It seems that either we have frigid temperatures or drizzly rain so any sunshine means time to scurry around and get things done.  While out, I noticed that the brilliant sunshine was casting a rather impressive shadow of a spindle on the canvas window coverings on the greenhouse.  Although the canvas is a dark gray, the shadow was quite strong.  A stiff easterly wind was fluttering the canvas enough to make the shadow change shapes at times. I thought of how that shadow was a lot like things in life.

  We all have "shadows" that slip into our days at times.  Whether it be a bit of the blues from missing family, a surge of angst over an upcoming event or just some unforeseen bit of gloom that strikes at a moment's notice.  These things, and those like them, can all seem overpowering at times.  If in our darkest hours, the shadows of doubt start shaking us to the core, it may be helpful to take a different perspective.  Without light, there can be no shadows.  In the pitch black, no shadows are cast. A source of light has to there to strike an object to make the shadow.  Just like in our lives, somewhere there is a light beaming brightly. When we think things are at their darkest, it will help to find the light. That beam may be casting shadows but it should also remind us that things are not all bad.  There are good points in our lives.  Perhaps, we need to focus more on that light than the shadows that seem foreboding.  

  I try to concentrate on the good in all things but it seems to be getting harder and harder to do so.  Sometimes it seems almost impossible to find the "happy" thought when we are struck with things out of our control.  Those shadows can become distorted enough to seem massive and all-consuming.  Just like the shadow on the greenhouse window.  Without light, there would have been no shadow but, throw in that breeze and the shadow became distorted enough to almost be unrecognizable.  It would twist and turn and become grotesque just like the turmoil in our minds.  However, let the wind settle down a bit and the shadow would return to its smooth self.  Then, if I turned in the opposite direction, I could see the bright sunshine...the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.  Focusing on that light instead of the darkness....my new goal for the year.

Looking for Rainbows on a Cloudy Day

  As of late, the weather here on the Bayou has presented us with more than our share of rain, clouds and fog.  It seems that even though we are not experiencing winter-like cold, we are having plenty of gray days of the season.  It suits me fine.  Give me a good foggy or stormy day and I am plumb happy.  Occasionally, however, I need that sun to pop through the gloom and shine brightly.  This desire is for one, and only one, reason.  

  In one of the living room windows of the Little Bayou House, there sits a oddly made frame that is the home of a dozen or so prisms and crystals.  They dangle from tiny chains and, when the sunshine hits them just so, the entire room is filled with rainbows.  Today when I saw the sunshine beaming through the curtains, I threw them back to reveal the crystals.  Immediately, the room was dancing with rainbows!  I felt a little like Pollyanna and her prisms. I smiled. 

  Sometimes in our darkest hours, we are sent rainbows to let us know that everything will be right again soon.  In my case, I needed to see the rainbows filling the living room.  I needed to see them dancing on the walls, the ceiling and the floor.  I needed to find the rainbows. Occasionally, we all do.  Keep looking.  When you need them the most, they will be there.

 

Dastardly Devil and Water Witches

  The Bayou has seen its share of precipitation over the past few days and it seems that we are in for a few more days of such sogginess.  The sky stayed dark gray except for one fleeting moment when the sun actually poked its head out to check on things.  Strange thing was that moment happened right in the middle of a heavy downpour!  To get an idea of  just how fleeting it was, by the time I grabbed my camera to get a picture, the clouds had blocked out the sun once again.  Drats! (A photographic attempt was taken through the screen door but did not show the weather phenomenon accurately.  It was that moment of brightness that struck a memory.  "The devil is beating his wife!"  Yep, it is a Southern thing.  In Deep South Mississippi, this has long been the "reasoning" behind the phenomenon of the sun shining while it is raining.  The logic behind the saying is that the evil devil was angry at God for creating beautiful, sunshiny days and, as the devil would do, he took out his anger on his wife.  Her tears fell in the form of raindrops.  So, any time the sun would shine while it was raining, folks would say "The devil is beating his wife again."  The devil's wife must suffer terribly and should consider leaving that abusive marriage!  

  The rain could not keep my cousin and me from the pier, though.  She and I went down between thunderstorms so she could fish a little before heading back to Georgia.  Her weekend here was far too short but she did end it with the catch of a fine redfish.  After she left, I made a last quick trip to the pier to check the old skiff.  It was then that I spied the Water Witches.  A whole water dance of grebes had flown into the Bayou and were hanging out for the drab day.  (Yes, a group of grebes is a water dance!)  Horned Grebes have the unfortunate nickname of "water witches" which, as far as I can tell, stems from the fact that they have red eyes.  To my way of thinking, this is a sad nickname to slap on such a sweet bird.  

  So between the rainstorms, dastardly devil and water witches, it has been one interesting, albeit drab, day.  Come the weekend, I might be wishing this weather was back as we are to see our first bout of cold air hitting the Bayou.  Brr!  Better stock up the woodpile!

Seeing? Or Merely Looking?

  It was a bright, sunshiny day here on the Bayou.  It was one of those days were the sun beams down upon you and causes sweat to run down your face in tiny rivulets.  It was hot.  It was one of those days where it was best to work in the shade if you had a desire to be outside at all.  I chose to repaint the wicker chairs.  This could be done in the shade of the old oak tree and allow me to at least avoid much of the heat.  All was good.

  While out, I decided that the garden needed the aid of the sprinkler so I dragged the garden hose about the place and set the sprinkler in motion. Well, that was not the brightest move!  The sprinkler was blocking my exit.  I would have to walk the long way around the house to get back to my painting job.  As I did, I noticed that the Gloriosa Lilies were blooming.  Ahh, what is a few extra steps when you can observe such beauty?   I admired the lilies' bright hues and then noticed that the brilliant sun was making me "see" much more than I observed.  While the lilies were highly colorful with their yellows, oranges and reds, it was the shadows that actually made me see the shapes of the flowers and leaves.  Wow!  I was looking at something I have seen a thousand times in an entirely different way;  

  I am always stressing to folks that they need to see and not just look. This action takes things to a higher level.  Seeing the minuscule, the obscure or the overlooked sometimes can enlighten you to new thoughts, new ideas and a new way of seeing things.  The beauty enthralled me to the point that for the rest of this sunshiny day, I chased shadows.

Hot Peppers!

  Our weather has been absolutely perfect, if you ask me.  It warms nicely during the day but the nighttime sees temperatures near freezing.  I love it!  While that might be so, I am not too sure that my garden shares my sentiments.  So, feeling sorry for the bell pepper plants, I was nice and covered them with blankets.  So far, this has worked.  I am still picking bell peppers in mid January!  At this time of year, I am delighted to have any fresh produce so the pepper plants are treated with kid gloves, so to speak.  

  I was upstairs doing a bit of painting near the window on the south side.  The warm sunshine was streaming through the glass making it the perfect spot to paint yet take advantage of a gorgeous view.  This window overlooks the garden and beyond that...the Bayou and Bay.  It makes for quicker work if I am happy while doing it.  I made the remark to Son (who was cutting trim boards for the windows) that I needed to remove the blankets covering the peppers.  "Tonight is probably going to be the last of cold nights, so the blankets can be stored back in the greenhouse," I reminded him.  At that very moment, he pointed out at the garden. "You have hot peppers," he said.  This made me giggle.  Sure enough, though, the peppers were probably quite warm just not "hot" as usually used in connection with peppers.  They were warm from having a "heater" near them! 

  Some time after I let Ms. Nycto, the Bayou Princess Cat, out for the morning, she had decided that the blanket covering the peppers was her bed.  She had snuggled up to take a nap in the warm sunshine.  While this is all fine and dandy for the cat, I suppose my pepper plants were feeling a tad squished! Ms. Nycto is quite a hefty princess!  Oh well, it could be worse, I suppose.  She could have been smashing the spinach!

Its the Little Things

  Every now and again, I am awestruck by such a simple thing as the view from the pier.  While most every time I am on the pier, the view is spectacular, sometimes it is simply breathtaking.  A few days ago, Son and I headed to the pier to check the small skiff.  It had rained all night and we needed to make sure the pump was still working. While there, the sun popped through the clouds just long enough to bring a bit of a smile to my face.  This, my friends, was a harbinger of good things.  I am one that truly believes when we find something that brings a bit of joy, it can only increase during the day.  

  My day proceeded and with no ill happenings occurring during the entire day.  My sister-in-law came to spend the day and we caught up on everything between then and her last visit.  A tasty cup of herbal tea, good conversation and best friends can never make for a blah day.  Of course, nothing was accomplished other than a bit of serenity.  

  Look for your own bit of joy early in the morning.  Feel it throughout your body and soul.  Breathe it deep within you.  Then, when this joy consumes you, share it.  Let it multiply during the day and bestow it on those around you.  It will come back to you and bloom, filling your day with complete happiness.  Try it!  It does, indeed, work!