treasure the moments...

After an incredibly windy day in the garden it has finally gotten very still and calm.  The sky is a deep inky black tonight, I can only see a few stars, I'm savoring the peace and stillness.  Middle of the afternoon brought pure chaos and the opportunity to look for a new large umbrella next spring. Hubs and I enjoyed lunch in the garden with the pups, there was the slightest breeze and it was absolutely beautiful.  

We definitely didn't expect the wind to surge to the point that it lifted the umbrella and removed it from the garden.  In fact it lifted it and left it high in a tree beside the garden. The sound was unreal and we were fairly positive a rail had been ripped off the deck or worse.  After getting the umbrella down and repairing the damage done to the garden itself, it's all good.  I'm thankful it's at the end of the season, for both the temperatures and the garden.  Definitely a shot of adrenaline though.  The pups were terrified, especially when we made them go inside while dealing with it. 

It was an abrupt shift to a lazy Sunday spent relaxing, watching a few shows and just being still.  It's been that kind of a weekend.  I assure you we rapidly slid back into the day, watching a movie.  Father Stu, is definitely a good one.  

I think some of our "laziness" has to do with the changing of the seasons.  The temps are cooler, for the most part the shorts are tucked away, long pants and sweatshirts have returned.  The nights are creeping in earlier and the sunshine is arriving a bit later.  I guess tomorrow I will start to shift from summer window coverings to allowing the sunshine to come into the sitting room.  I've been avoiding it, as it was depressing to not get to enjoy my favorite view. 

So much seems to be shifting in this crazy world of ours.  I'm thankful that all of the doomsday folks were wrong and things didn't go "kerplunk/kerpoey" to quote one of my favorite childhood shows.  I'm not saying that there isn't terrible things looming in the distance.  There very well might be. I was disheartened to see the fire at one of the largest fresh food markets in the world in Paris this morning.  There is more than enough going wrong in Europe and around the world right now with food insecurity for that to be a good thing.  I have to keep believing that good will triumph.  I have to. 

As I sit here relaxing, listening to Hubs watch yet another movie (if I have seen it once, I find I cannot watch it again) and watching Belle chasing moths and night bugs I am strangely at peace.  I have a cross that hangs in my hallway, it used to always hang in my offices, it says "I may not know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow".  It has always brought me peace and calmness. 

There is a storm moving up towards the gulf coast, looks like Florida will be the primary victim, I have friends and family that live there, I am praying that the storm doesn't develop into the hurricane that some forecasters are predicting, it's frightening.  I am deeply in prayer for them. I have lived in hurricane prone areas before, it is such a terrifying uncertainty.  Here in the mid-west we have our tornadoes and floods, I guess we also live on the New Madrid fault line, so I am guessing that no place is particularly safe, all we can do is place it in God's hands.

I've been lost in a lot of thought lately.  Pondering the things that are going on in the world, I long ago stopped thinking about it simply in terms of our country.  There is absolutely so much.  Sometimes it is simply easier to stop worrying and fretting and to simply go quiet.  I think that is where I am right now.  I'm sitting quietly, listening to my heart and acting when it feels right.  If it doesn't feel right, then I am staying still.  

finding a hag stone is a good omen

I feel like the entire world is simply holding it's breath.  Waiting to see if the next shoe drops and if it does is it a sigh of relief or and immense intake of a fear filled breath. 

I don't know what you are doing to stay balanced.  A lot of the world seems filled with untapped rage and anger.  I am spending a lot of time in nature, probably why the sun has set and I am sitting out in the garden.  Oh how I will more the loss of privacy when my beautiful garden needs put to bed for the winter, it is one of my favorite places. Thankfully, I have also found so many local parks that are secluded and private, where I can walk my babies and simply soak up the beauty that surrounds me. 

Hubs and I have often discussed the fact that I feel so much closer to God when I am in nature.  The calmness is indescribable. There is nothing that compares to walking your puppies "free range" down a mostly dried creek bed, watching the frolic in the shallow pools, chasing leaves and each other while walking with your favorite person. 

Whatever you need, please find the time for it.  Find the place that brings you peace and calm.  The world is crazy, we each need a place of refuge and respite.  

It's time for me to go to bed I think.  My eyes are blurry and I am very weary, my fingers are tired from knitting and my mind doesn't want to be connected to anything.... 

love and prayers...