Leap Day

How many times have you wished for more time?  Maybe you could accomplish all of the things on your to-do list if a day had  26 or 30 hours in it instead of just 24.  Imagine the possibilities!

What I actually imagine is adding more things to my to-do list and still not getting them done,  but the idea is fun to ponder for a minute or two.

We can’t add more hours to our day but what do we get, every four years, is an extra day added to our year.  And today was it. This is the day, ladies, that you can propose to that procrastinating man of yours.  I’m sorry if you’re just finding this out as the day is ending.  Then again, some tellings of this tradition say that women get the entire Leap Year to propose, so you may still have time.  And we had an extra day to get all of those end-of-the-month chores done.

Hope it was great!

Good night,

Appreciate the Little Things

My oldest daughter turns 27 today.  27!   I remember the day as clearly as if it was yesterday.  In fact, I remember it better than I remember yesterday!  Can it really have been 27 years ago?  Where did those years go? How did they pass so quickly?

But that is the way of life.  It  speeds by, filled with busyness and to-do lists and all the necessary things of living.  Every once in awhile the ordinary, usual-ness of life is interrupted and punctuated by a Big Event.  The birth of a child, a friend’s wedding, a new house, a new job, a promotion, the vacation to a new locale.  Then we settle back into the usual.  Life goes on and in between Big Events we don’t pay much attention to the small happinesses of life.

Thus was born this blog, my attempt to look for the small happinesses in life.  Others are on to this too, encouraging us to look for and appreciate the little things.  In the January 2012 issue of Family Circle Magazine the article, Be Happy Now,  offers  ideas for finding happinesses in life. Tip Number 1 says,  “Appreciate the little things.  Spend 10 minutes before bedtime writing down three positive outcomes from the day, along with reasons the endeavors were successful….focus on what’s going right–and savor it.”

Today’s three positive outcomes:

1. My elbow and shoulder are paining me.  I think it’s tennis-elbow, or “mouse-elbow” they now call it.  Today I tried sitting in a taller chair to lessen the angle of my arm while on the computer.  And my arm didn’t hurt as much today.  (If you have other ideas for me, I’m open for them!)

3. My Christmas cactus may be having an identity crisis, blooming for Valentine’s Day.  But this encourages me to never stop being myself.

2. I gave birth to my first child 27 years ago today.  Hubby and I and our dog called her and sang (yes, the dog sang too,  albeit not in the same key as either my husband or myself)  a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday.  And daughter politely pretended to appreciate it.

It was a good day.

Pacific Chorus Frogs

I heard them this evening, just a few of them, off in the distance.  My singing frogs.  I suspect the rest of the choir is still out of town but they will be arriving within the next couple of weeks.  And then, about dusk each evening for the next month or so, they will begin singing.

We live in the middle of wetlands, so it seems, which are full of frogs but I’ve only seen one or two of these fellows in the 9 years we’ve lived out here.  They are small, illusive creatures, not much on socializing with us humans but not at all shy about singing.  I didn’t know for sure who they were but I’ve always referred to them as the Spring Peepers.

Today I googled  “Pacific Northwest Spring Peeper” in an effort to correctly identify these singers. And Pacific Chorus Frogs  appeared.  These must be my peepers.  What a perfect name for them!  Pacific Chorus Frog.  That’s exactly who they are.  A wonderful Pacific Northwest chorus.

They are part of the reason I love spring.   When my neighborhood Pacific Frog chorus begins practicing I know spring is not far off.  Soon I will go to sleep to the frogs singing. And then I will wake up to the birds singing.  What a glorious life!

Super Bowl Sunday and a Story of Cows

“A Story of Cows

“Cows are good animals. They give  us milk products.  Some of these are milk, cheese, butter, cream, and ice cream.

“Cows are very gentle animals.  Cows which are the mother cows have calves which are the baby and the bull which is the father.

“Cows eat grass, hay, salt, and they drink water.”

That was my assessment of cows,  written when I was about 9 years old.

While on my Sunday morning walk this past Super Bowl Sunday I passed the farm of my neighbor who has a small herd of cows.  Four calves were born just weeks ago and those adorable brown and black and white creatures were lying near the fence in a patch of sunlight, soaking up the warmth and vitamin D.  One lone adult cow was standing nearby keeping a sleepy eye on the young ‘uns.  The rest of the herd was nowhere to be seen.  I deduced that nanny-cow drew the short (or maybe it was the long) straw and got the assignment to babysit the kids while the rest of the adults went inside to prepare for the Super Bowl.  At least that was my question of nanny-cow as I stopped to chat and she didn’t deny it.

About 20 minutes later on my return trip I found that nanny-cow was nowhere to be seen but the four babies were still there dozing in the sun.  I deduced that nanny-cow had gone inside to check on the making of guacamole, which must have been the case because the calves did not deny this speculation, either.

I doubt that the cows really cared who won the Super Bowl considering the Dallas Cowboys were not in it.  But then, who knows what these “good, gentle animals” really think.

Walkin’ with George Strait

The perfect ending to a perfect day is a walk along a country road.  And even though I walk every day, twice a day, ending a perfect day with a walk is always a treat.

But some days I’m not so much into the ending of a perfect day.  Some days I’m just wanting to get my walk done. So on those days, if I’m walking while it’s still light out, I may mix it up a bit to add some variety.  If I’m into a good book or just received the  latest edition of one of my magazines I may read when I’m walking.  Other times I may  listen to music.  Some Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, John Denver, Toby Keith.

But George Strait singing How ‘Bout Them Cowgirls, is my favorite walking companion. There’s no sauntering now; you gotta walk briskly when George is singing in your ear about cowgirls.   Step it up, move it along, keep with the beat.  It’s the perfect song, for a perfect walk, even  if it’s not the end of a perfect day.   Give it a try.  Betcha can’t saunter when you’re listening to George Stait sing about cowgirls.

The Introvert and the Extrovert

“So, there’s a Super Bowl party at the church we attended 5 years ago,” said  Extrovert, “and everyone’s invited.”  “Are you going?” asked Introvert.  “I’m thinking about it,”  said Extrovert, with a lilt in his voice and a gleam in his eye. “Do you want to go, too?”  “No,” said Introvert with terror in her voice. Don’t make me go to an event I don’t care about and hang out with a bunch of people, most of whom I don’t know, she prayed.

And so it was.  Extrovert went to the Super Bowl Party and spent the better part of 6 or 7 hours reveling in a football game he really didn’t care about, socializing with people he knew and didn’t know, who also really didn’t care about the game, but who enjoyed the coming together of it all.

And Introvert spent 6 or 7 glorious hours at home alone, on a fabulous sunny Sunday afternoon, puttering around the house and yard and reveling in being able to do so and admiring the things she accomplished.

Time Magazine has a great article this week on “shyness” but it’s really more about the differences between us introverts and you extroverts.  And about the “okayness” of being who we are and playing to our strengths and letting others play to theirs. And being able to stay home and do my “introvert-stuff” and letting hubby go out and socialize and do his “extrovert-stuff.”

And each of us got our batteries charged and we are now ready for another week.