June 20th, 2012

This and that on the first day of summer!!

We wakened early to a morning sky blue as the inside of an old fashioned mixing bowl

 not a cloud to be seen!

Charles went to shower, and I rushed outside to turn off the overnight sprinklers 

to bring up the water pressure in the house - quickly, quickly!!

The air was so clear and the morning so beautiful! 

Immediately after turning the coffee on

Callie the cat, the camera, and I went outside, - all three of us.

Long shadows and the roses still glistened with sprinkler water.

I took a picture of the new steps David laboured over yesterday -

much wider and more hospitable and welcoming.

And I thought how fitting it was that someone came and snatched away all the grey clouds

and left this  gorgeous summer morning in their stead!!

We breakfasted.  Dorothy came for coffee and we examined carefully

the dinosaur egg that Charles got for Father's Day and which has been sitting

in a punch bowl full of water for the last 48 hours, incubating.

Charles was all for smacking it gently to start the process

but Dorothy pointed out that if a dinosaur egg has no other purpose

it could at least teach one patience.

Later in the day, when Charles had gone over town to gossip with the Barber

and get his hair cut,  I passed by the table and the egg had begun to crack open, but there is still just 

a small portion of the 'dinosaur' poking what looks like one small foot outside the shell.

I whiled away the morning at the computer, editing pictures of a stack of books whose spines spoke of a poem - of sorts. I see I was so enthusiastic that it is now pretty well impossible to read what the 'poem' says, thus defeating the whole endeavour!

words on calm

at knit's end

dropped threads.

the stress of life

I am resting my hip, which now seems to be getting better, making the use of the cane

a temporary nuisance (but very helpful I hasten to add, in case the cane has tender feelings).

And besides, I still need it to help me rise up and get mobile!!

While resting  I knit a bit and read a lot.

Thomas Firbank's wonderful account of his trek through Wales after World War Two,

'A Country of Memorable Honour'.

The back cover says 'this book is more than an account of walking through Wales.  It is an account of the exploration into the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life".  And indeed it is.

Nicola and David popped in on their way home to the Chilcotin, and Dorothy came 

to lend encouragement to the baby dinosaur, and so this lovely first day of summer has passed.

Time for bed, and I look at the prayer I have posted on the door of the computer desk;

to my left, and close to my heart.

God.  It is night.

The night is for stillness.

Let us be still in the presence of God.

It is night after a long day.

What has been done has been done;

let it be.

The night is dark.

Let our fears of the darkness of the world

and of our own lives rest in you.

The night is quiet.

Let the quietness of your peace enfold,

all dear to us, and all who have no peace.

The night heralds the dawn.

Let us look expectantly to a new day,

new joys, new possibilities.

In your name we pray.

Amen.