Nature in two aspects

I have planted flowers in this double planter every year for quite a while.

This year I especially love the colors of this collection.

However, nature can also have her own ideas and timing and in the

second photo, you see the top of a very long branch that landed on

the deck.

Nature does her thing and we continue to seek to

put in order.

It was a day's work with a chain saw.

Enough said.

The planter and contents just sat there continuing to look beautiful and orderly.

That is, after all, what I am seeking to do in life!

Bella and Jann

I sit staring at the keyboard trying to think of what to say, what to write, what to do.

Bella is my friend Jann's pet - so well loved by her.

Jann left us suddenly last week in her sleep and all of us who love her are trying to

absorb the un-absorbable.

I think of Bella now and then, knowing that Jann rescued her from a shelter

and made a wonderful life for this luxurious kitty who was afraid

of everything when Jann first got her.

I remember one story Jann told me of Bella wanting to be outside so badly (Jann would be gardening and Bella would be on an upper porch watching) that Bella actually

leapt off that porch a full story up from the ground! Seemed to be no worse for it either!

Then Jann started letting Bella roam about her garden, making sure that Miss B didn't wander off somewhere. That would happen, but Jann kept a tight line of affinity and control on Bella.

I am trusting that Jann, though not here in the physical world, still has a tight line of

affinity on Bella

and on all of us who love her so.

We certainly do have that loveline on her now more than ever.

Gifts that grow

My sister, who is a wonderful gardener, brought me iris from her garden some half dozen years ago.

They have bloomed each year, but this year they really took off and I was

able to cut them and enjoy them in this arrangement. And still there were

plenty to grace the garden.

This is one gift that gets better every year.

Thanks Sis.

Attention to detail and 'modern' life

I trust that you will take the time to look at the three photographs I've taken

of this ivory netsuke.

It is 2 inches tall.

I am showing you several angles, because you can't see it in all its marvelous detaill unless you look carefully, turning it in your hand.

There is no part of it that was done in a glib tossed-off manner.

Every single side of it was fully worked out and carved.

The artist had a complete idea and then carried it out for the delight of the user and the viewer.

Netsukes were fashioned to be worn as weights holding the sash in place on the robes of Japanese men in the 17th century.

What I think, as I have admired these tiny exquisitely carved treasures, is that such work in the cultures of the world has been usurped by the relentless march of technology.

It is what we have allowed to happen.

And yet, I think we lose a great deal of needed personal attention to things when we can just fire off an email or watch mindless TV.

I am guilty as anyone, but what I seek to do is to find some balance so that the treasures that can be created and the time to admire and contemplate in the entire 'picture' of life instead of watching it tear by....

Well I think it matters in the short run and the long run.

It is about being present and truly being responsible for

the quality of life that makes it worth living.

Posing

Recently a friend of mine said that Lucy was like a person. Then he asked me if I knew why that was so. When I said no, he said it is because I treat her like a person.

OK. So here she is posing for me on the sofa...at her best angle.

Hmmm.....

Seems I've got others cooperating to make everything around me look good.

Cool, huh?

Spring at last!

Spring has finally made up her mind and has shown up to stay!

We had a lot of back and forth days of warmth and coolth and so today we are now fully in the Spring Zone of action!

This is a shot from my home of the lake with a fisherman walking the path to find

the perfect spot.

Care for yourself

I am using this photo from my local beauty shop as a symbol of caring for yourself and

your appearance.

That which we present to the world (regardless of how we look first thing in the morning!) is a responsibility. Our personal aesthetic enhances the lives of everyone we meet each day.

I appreciate those I know and those I don't know who look wonderful and "put together".

There is a larger purpose to looking good than just showing off!

It actually makes the lives of others a bit better, even if just for a moment in passing on the street.

Have you not passed a woman in a lovely dress, or a man in a handsome leather jacket and noticed? That is an enhancement to your day!

Here's to looking good and enjoying it in ourselves and others!