Jewels in Hidden Places

  With all of the rain we have seen this past winter and now this spring, it is no small wonder that mushrooms have taken over the yard.  A lot of the mushrooms are nondescript, drab-colored and, more or less, unnoticeable.  It was one of those that made me stop in my tracks on my early morning hike.  I had already sidestepped a dozen or so clumps of the flat, brown mushrooms when I found one that a squirrel had obviously upended.  That mushroom cap was simply far too interesting to ignore!  So, down on my knees I went...oblivious of the soggy ground left by yesterday's deluge.  

  What caught my eye about the mushroom was simply the raindrops that had collected between the gills of the cap.  The droplets sparkled in the early morning sun and had the appearance of jewels carefully placed between the gills for safe-keeping.  Diamonds can be found in the most unusual of places!  Even if those diamonds were just dewdrops, they are precious.

  Sometimes we have to forget the worries of the world and simply find beauty where it is.  With humans battering our minds and bodies with foolishness that simply does not need to be, it is highly important to take a step back and look at what is good.  It is there.  Life is good.  The world around us is good.  We have to find harmony within our own hearts to be at harmony with the world.  It has to start with each of us...as individuals.  

Jack Frost Visits the Bayou!

The jaunt to the pier proved to be a mite cold this morning. Some time during the night, Jack Frost had paid a visit and left a dusting of ice crystals on the pier. It was a rather thick dusting at that!! Learning a lesson from previous predawn visits, I toted a blanket to sit on while awaiting the sunrise. Ezzy and I have decided that cold, wet boards do not make a good seat. As long as this nutty dog is roaming about, she is oblivious to the cold, but let her sit for five minutes and she is shivering. She will jump up on the bench to sit beside me on the blanket, begging to get a bit closer. This morning, our blanket would not have done a lot of good. The bench was covered with the thickest frost that I have seen in quite some time. Way too thick to sit on..the bench was rendered entirely useless to us. The frost would have merely melted causing our blanket to be soggy and cold. Not exactly what I had in mind for a seat at 6AM with the temperature hovering around thirty degrees.

The frost did make the pier boards sparkle like diamonds once the sun started to peak above the horizon. It was quite the vision! And later, after rising to brilliance, the water glittered like the diamonds had tumbled from the pier boards into the Bay. The sun itself was a welcome sight after almost three days of never making a entrance into our life. We have had the grey, wintry type days..no snow..but still cold. Days that make you want to stay inside near the woodstove with a cup of hot coffee...and that is exactly where Ez and I spent an hour after the morning walk as we tried to warm ourselves.