Just Keeping it Simple

Life has been busy for me in the past few months. I am used to just staying low key, but with all the events leading up to and after our precious grandchild being born, there are few days that are uneventful. I don't think of this as bad at all, just a change from the in-between years of having grown children and now another generation to play with.

I love the excitement this sweet one has brought into our lives, its invigorating, and makes us mindful of the things that really count in life. Moments spent with children are moments that can never be redone, so sit and rock that little one, sit and read to your young children, talk to your teens, enjoy long leisurely meals as a family, and never think that parenthood ends when your children reach adulthood. They always need a listening ear and the sharing of wisdom that we should have for them, only when they ask though : )

In all the busy-ness of life right now, I find such contentment and an endless source of peace from the land. The ever changing plants and wildlife. The sky's magnificent backdrop for butterflies and birds. Clouds that take you back to childhood, imagining bears and dragons in the fluffy shapes. I need that sort of grounding, that take me back to the simple things kind of moments.

You miss these things driving in the car, or can't appreciate the sounds and smells, or the tiny movements and changes in all of life around you. Walking among the sights and sounds of nature is like taking a stroll through a museum of intense beauty, that gets better at each turn.

Masterpieces in colors of a butterfly or the shading on a fuzzy peach.

When I was doing Tai Chi today, it felt as though my whole body was in tune with the breeze and the bending and waving of the tree branches, as though my breath was part of the life all around me. It just helped me keep things simple, when there was nothing simple about my day.

home

morning glories

Echinacea

tomatoes, not yet ripe

soapwort in bloom

hungry baby birds

yellow weeds

a blue weed

the herb garden