Looking through the storms...

  Ok, so being limited in where and when I can go is about as bad as being fully quarantined, as far as I can see.  I feel tethered to the Little Bayou House, and while I love my place, I am about to go stir crazy!  I want the freedom to roam the marshes, creek bed and woods.  I want to watch the sunrise from the pier.  I want to feed my heron friend.  I want to traipse the hillside.  But...that is not happening, at least for the next two months.  Folks, stop your whining about having your actions a bit curbed by the pandemic.  What freedoms you have can very quickly come to a halt.  

  At daybreak, I was in the kitchen making coffee when I noticed that it was not raining (yet).  Thinking that the sun might just be trying to give us a glorious horizon, I peeped out the back door.  Well, it was NOT raining...but the sun struggled amongst the clouds.  Then!  It peeped through just enough to set the world aglow!  And....I was stuck to the confines of the Small Gardens.  Well, there was nothing to do but make the best of it.  

  The pathway that wanders on the north side of the house was fully overgrown by the citrus trees, nandina bushes and a few errant wisteria vines.   Since all yard work has come to a screeching stop, everything is vastly different than just three weeks ago.  Still, this leafy bower was gorgeously lit with the sunbeams that filtered through the oak trees.  This gave even the darkest green leaves a golden hue.  I could not help but wander here.  (Yes, this is allowed in my list of rules.)  A slight rain started to drizzle down upon me but it mattered not.  I could not pry myself from the path.  Going back indoors seemed to be a horrible fate at the moment when such mystique was surrounding me!  I ventured onward and soon came to the deteriorating vegetable garden.  It saddened me to see it in such condition.  Had I only the strength...

  From the southern most corner of the vegetable plot, I was able to peep over the grapevines to view a small portion of the Bayou.  The sun was doing its best to provide me with my much sought after sunrise.  The golden glow from the citrus trees had spilled over onto the calm waters.  My mind drifted off to other sunrises...other morns...seemingly eons ago.  Will I ever be able to return to those days?  Hopefully, hopefully.  In the meantime, I shall continue to find happiness wherever it may be.  

The "Art" of Being Thankful

  The holiday known as Thanksgiving is all but forgotten in our lives. Sure, we all expect to overstuff ourselves with turkey and trimmings on the big day and we have a tendency to spout how grateful we are for material things but just how much do we really celebrate this day?  It is sort of just wedged in between two other days that are a bit more popular...Halloween and Christmas.  Halloween is exciting!  It is the up and rising holiday of the age. With costumes, decorations, trick or treating and parties galore, it keeps us occupied for a month.  Then, there is Christmas!  Trees, decorations, gifts, plays, carols, manger scenes and glad tidings to all...it is no wonder that we can hardly await the big day! The festivities start the day after Halloween and continue for nigh on two months.  In between the two, we wish to rest....not celebrate.  My thought on the matter is this.  Do we really even know how to be thankful? Are any of us really adept at the art of being thankful?  Probably not.

  This calls for some restructuring of our thoughts.  Thanksgiving is just as important as any other holiday sandwiched into the calendar of events but it is that art of being thankful that many of us have forgotten. Do we know how to appreciate whatever we have been given?  Mark's grandmother taught me something long ago.  She would wake in the morning giving thanks for another day, she would sing praises all day long and then give thanks again at night before retiring to bed.  Her day was spent being thankful.  Not that she had a lot...she did not.  She lived close to poverty level by her choice.  She had earned her way through life and was truly appreciative of what she had even though it was meager at times.  She had learned the art of thankfulness.  It seems that some folks are forever wanting more.  They need a bigger car, fancier house, nicer clothes, flashy jewelry and such to make them feel important.  Our society sees that as success.  This is so wrong. Happiness is success...the other is nothing more than "bling" used to cover our insecurities

  To be truly thankful, we each need to do a bit of soul-searching and realize that no matter what we have, it can disappear in a blink of an eye. None of us are promised a single day, a next meal or even another breath.  Life is fleeting...happiness is even more elusive.  To be truly happy, one must be at peace with oneself and see that no matter what life hands us, we should give thanks.  Our very existence is a gift and for THAT, my friends, we should be thankful.  So look inside of yourself and find that deep feeling of gratitude for life, for love, for daylight, for darkness and for everything in between...not just for one day or even for one month but for a lifetime.