What a World

I’m sitting here on my porch watching two mourning doves take turns drinking from our bird bath and listening to chickadees and house finches as they vie for spots on the feeder.  Their flitting and flying make me smile.  

Flowers, too—peonies, sunflowers, Gerber daisies—are providing uplifting gifts of color and beauty.  With all that is going on in the world right now, I am so thankful for all these little hits of joy.

I’m thankful, too, for art and words that uplift. I just rediscovered a lovely children’s picture book called Sidewalk Flowers by Jon Arno Lawson and Sydney Smith.  The book speaks to the beauty and power of gifting flowers and is “an ode to the importance of small things, small people and small gestures.”  If you get a chance to see it in a library or bookstore, I think you’d enjoy it.  Though wordless, it says a lot.

And I recently opened a box of “Thoughtfulls,” quote cards from Compendium.com.au. Each box has 30 pop-open cards with messages inside.  I’ve been reading one a day and can see them as little gifts at the table for guests or in a card for someone who needs a lift.  My current box’s theme is “Be Strong.” Ah, yes…

I am also reading a book that is fun and comforting—Italy Anywhere: Living an Italian Culinary Life Wherever You Call Home by Lori De Mori (with Jean-Louis De Mori and Antonio Tommasi).  It’s a cookbook but it also includes sweet vignettes of life in Italy. I’m learning, enjoying, and feeling good.  And I have a couple of new recipes I want to try—like how about Risotto Al Prosecco? 

And so…as we approach summer, may we all be filled with new light, hope and little bits of joy and uplift. 

“Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the singing bird will come.”

                                                     Chinese proverb