The rain was welcome, but it’s too bad it had to come when this group was having a picnic. At least they were dry and could use the grills under the roof.
Some of them didn’t leave until after 9 p.m., so it must have been a success in spite of the weather.
June 30, 2024
Beate, Tim and Andy took another walk Tuesday.
After they finished I received an email from Beate:
no bloodshed
We had a good Las Conchas outing, no accidents and the rain waited until we were nearly home.
Pictures on Dropbox after lunch.
Beate
That was nice to hear.
There are a lot more pictures in this Flickr album.
Thanks again, Beate!
June 29, 2024
Guess what we saw yesterday afternoon?
It didn’t rain for very long, but it was enough to cool things off and make us happy.
June 28, 2024
Andy brought this picture home yesterday:
We have peonies! Two of them and more coming. 🙂
June 27, 2024
Brenda Ueland’s quote in yesterday’s post reminds me of Hugh Prather’s book, How to Live in the World and Still Be Happy. He talks about concrete things we can do to be happier, but I don’t remember the details. The part that stuck for me was “Is it selfish to be happy given all the problems and suffering in the world?” That was a problem I wrestled with in high school, so Prather’s answer resonated with me. He said for him personally, that was the only way he knew to be kind.
That sentiment still resonates with me. It reminds me of the Dalai Lama’s,
My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
That works for me.
June 26, 2024
In yesterday’s post we talked about creating/playing with art, but it doesn’t have to be that. It can be any activity that feeds our soul. It can be decorating our living space, taking and sharing photographs, writing blog posts, knitting, crocheting, cooking, gardening, etc. Even a hobby like stamp collecting counts:
All stamp collectors agree (even if not everyone admits it) that what motivates them to collect stamps is the pure simple joy they feel when collecting. The process of searching, locating and buying common stamps, new stamps, old stamps, rare stamps, or any other types of stamps which are needed in order to complete a specific type of stamp collection gives the stamp collector a sense of pride, success and accomplishment. For some people, just the simple and pure fun of the hunt (similar to treasure hunting), and the moment of actually finding and successfully acquiring a particular stamp is a good enough reason to collect stamps.
—Why People Collect Stamps
What works for you? (Blogging is one of the ones at the top of my list.)
June 26, 2024
I just came from Sandra’s and Ann’s posts and they remind me of Brenda Ueland’s,
Why should we all use our creative power….? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money.
Hurray for creativity and play! And for sharing.
PS I’m glad you’re starting to feel better, Catherine, and can do some art making again. And for sharing it.
June 25, 2024
This brings back wonderful memories. Years ago I used to go over to the Animal Shelter every day to interact with with the pups and help get them adopted. It still warms my heart to think of it.
June 24, 2024
.
I was intrigued by the little tree from Etsy, so when it came I ordered another one directly from the sender. It looked a bit more bedraggled than the first one, but I planted it in a big peat pot.
Then when it started to put out new leaves Andy planted in the greenhouse for a while. So far it looks happy there.
Eventually he wants to plant it down in our orchard. As usual, fingers crossed.
June 23, 2024
Andy’s glasses came:
They seem to be what we were looking for.
On the subject of climate change, one of the blogs I follow wrote this yesterday:
I moved to Newfoundland for a few reasons. A primary one was climate change. Newfoundland was deemed one of the safest places in the world in which to live.
Apparently that’s because Newfoundland is close to water that’s cooler than the land. Even so she talks about the changes she’s seeing. Not for the better even there.
June 22, 2024
