a sunny morning

It is a nice morning in my house. Quiet, and a sunny day for a change! I have at least sixteen things on my To Do list on any given day, but the morning light always captivates me, so I stopped to take a few photos.

If I could paint, I would do things like this. I like how the light and shadow make for kind of a joyful stillness.

 Malaika left these on the ledge outside and forgot about them. They came back to life nicely with a little trim and some water.

 

These pictures of Malaika and Ben were taken about two years ago. I really am blessed with good kids.

Here is my grandson before he got to be all grown up. (He is three now. I am attempting to get out to Michigan to visit them, but the airfares! yow~)

 

Colors just look better in the cool light. Fresher, somehow.  The afternoon has a warmer tone.

I am excited to plant something in the planter out front. I am waiting for the nights to quit getting so cold! The hyacinths out back are still plugging along, they are in a pretty sheltered spot. I even thought I smelled them a little earlier when I was out there! I can see that one is purple. So exciting! I am easily amused. I make the whole family go and look whenever anything blooms out there. I also see the mint popping back up. We can have mint tea this summer...if I were a little more adventurous, I would try mojitos.They are too expensive to buy. I guess I could watch a you tube video to see how to make one...you know you can find a you tube for just about anything, right? Bob fixed our garbage disposal that way. I also saw one for how to get Sarah Palin's hairdo.

Well, I know this was a tad rambly. But I find these kinds of moments are gifts from God, that help still and settle me, and remind me of all the good in my life, and I can give Him thanks.

keep it down to a dull roar!

I am blessed to be at home today, and alone for a few hours. I am sitting here doing this because I have sixty-four  (or was it seventy eight?)  things to do before my daughter and her family arrive here Sunday for a short but much looked forward to Thanksgiving visit. Rest assured that the blog following that will be loaded with pictures.

But before that happens.........(drum roll).............I am finally going to start receiving spiritual direction again! It's been since Father Terry was still with us. Wow. And along with that, a bit of an overdue confession. (since Father Check left us, but in a different way.) Yes, I know we are not supposed to have favorites when it comes to confession, but..really now...fess up, you know we all do. It wasn't the only reason I haven't gone, but it was a pretty big part. So today I was sitting before the Blessed Sacrament, doing some preparation for the confession, and realized a couple things. One is that it has been six months since I have gone. That's the longest stretch since I have been Catholic. another is that it is significantly harder to examine a six month conscience. Oh, yes, of course I have been "keeping track", but it's the nuances that escape me after a certain period of time goes by.  That time period is pretty short. So after this, boy, every two weeks? Well at least once a month.

Something else became pretty clear, or unclear really. As I was praying and sitting quietly, the racket in my mind was just deafening! So to speak. If there could be silent decibels, these were on the hearing loss scale. If the Lord spoke to me, I sure didn't hear Him!  Think along the lines of a train passing two feet away. I am accustomed to my usual wandering mind, but this was something else. I even sat a little extra long (for me) to try and wait it out. No.








I am sure God did whatever work He wanted anyway. I have always found that if I take steps to progress in my spiritual life, I experience opposition. Hopefully, the step I am about to take will bear fruit.