The Small Things In Life

  Music.   It has been one of the constants in my life. It can give you many feelings. The feeling to sway, the feeling of remembrance, of happiness, of sadness, and the connection to someone; someone living or someone who has passed on.  I love good music; music with the right harmony and the right rhythm. I do not consider 'Rap', music. Good music should have the power to emotionally lift your spirits and touch your soul with the lyrics and with the melody.
  A good book.   I dearly love to read.  Reading can transport your mind into a different era, or into another dimension, whether it be fantasy, mystery, history, fiction or fact. I hate to finish a good book and there are some novels that I've read more than once. If I don't have another book to read before I finish the one I'm currently on I start getting anxious and have to go out looking for a new novel that will ' take me to another place.'  That's bad....but....when I have problems, reading takes my mind off of them.
  Art.   Rembrandt's and Picasso's are breathtakingly beautiful, but my most favorite art works by far, are the ones that my children and grandchildren my first husband and my Mother drew or painted. Those, I cherish.  I also have letters and notes that I've kept through the years from my family.  What fun it is to go through one of my scrapbooks or to delve into my 'special letters' place and re-read those notes, or look at the precious hand drawn pictures  from so many years ago.
  Crafting and Sewing.   I come from a family of women whose sewing was a big part of their lives. My Granny who did drawn work on a plain piece of linen turning it into a treasured tablecloth, napkin or towel, sitting there patiently pulling small threads one at a time and creating beautiful artwork of the threads that remained in the material.  My great Aunt who could make beautiful tatting and lace from fine thread. The neat and colorful embroidery, crochet and knitting that my Mother did; the bedspreads that she made from cotton thread, the quilts, clothes, draperies and slip covers that she stitched.  My aunt, who loved doing needlepoint.
Some of these types of sewing and crafting have been passed down through generations, others lost by the wayside.
  Gardening.  Oh how I love to watch something I've planted come spurting up from the ground in spring. Not sure where my love for gardening came from. Mother loved her rose bushes and gardenias, and she sometimes took shoots from outside plants to root at the back porch window in the sunshine. But I never remember seeing her outside digging in the dirt planting flowers.  I love playing in the dirt. Potting a plant, or just buying seeds to see if they'll make it through.  I don't have the energy now that I once had to 'play' in the dirt for long periods.  I used to go outside and work for hours, planting, tending. pruning, mowing (well I still mow, but with a riding mower now). I've gone out many a time and talked to my plants. I've loved them all.

   There are many small things in life that I appreciate and am grateful for....a good hot shower, clean sheets, ice, (yes, ice) air conditioning, pillows, a good mattress, comfortable shoes, sea shells, butterflies, birds,  etc..etc.. I could keep going...but I'll quit.
   Above pics.-side yard at beach w/butterflies on zinnias. Seashells on one of our excursions. An apple that I made & painted from a gourd, hanging in backyard 'bottle' tree. Stephanie statue in part of back yard. Seagull on beach.  One of my front yard gardens.