I Wonder

Is there anything finer than watching a black Lab swim his way across a pond on a lazy summer day?

I think not.

A Simple Picture Today

Harmony

On a highway in Maryland a few days ago a car with New Jersey license plates passed us and the man sitting in the passenger seat gave my husband the finger.

We weren't speeding. The traffic wasn't heavy at that time. We were puzzled.

I really do not want to believe this was his reaction to the peace signs we have on our car.

Where My Shoes Will Be Again Soon

Leaving Friday for Chincoteague Island and I'll be leaving my water shoes on the back deck again to dry.

I'm ready for some down time.

Anger Management?

Sitting in the sun with a writing friend last week watching folks strolling by on the street; a couple walks by and they are fighting, yelling and screaming at one another and not caring who hears them call each other names or accuse one other of doing each other wrong.

I shake my head and mutter, "I hope I'm never that angry."

He shakes his finger at me, "Oh my dear, but you can be that sarcastic."

"Am I?"

"Yes," he smiles,"and you know what they say about sarcasm?"

"No," I say, "please tell me what they say about sarcasm."

"Sarcasm is simply anger in pajamas, too lazy to get up and be really mad."

Hmmm. Something to think about.

And the Wild Wind Blows

Forty mile an hour winds....at least....blow through the neighborhood today. Car alarms are sounding up and down the street. Lights are flickering. My "tough as nails" pit bull mix dog is huddled in a corner as tree branches smash against the windows. I'm wondering where my "safe room" is, actually.

We have bamboo in our backyard. It completely shields me from the ruckus the neighbors on Gertrude tend to make in the summer, and I'm grateful for that, truly. The bamboo really takes over the yard, though....nothing seems to kill it. Today it's bending to the ground with the force of the wind, sometimes flat to the ground. I watch it, wondering if it's ever going to stand up again, and then the next time I look out, there it stands, tall and green and bending into the wind.

Guess there's a lesson there. No matter what tries to knock us down in life, maybe we all need to be more like the bamboo in my back yard. I'm trying hard to do that today, hanging on tight.

The Neighborhood

We're a neighborhood of gardeners and dog walkers. We wave to one another from our porches. Our corner market has a butcher who saves marrow bones for the dog. Coffee shops and restaurants know us as regulars, call us by name, give me a corner to write in when I'm tired of staying at home. The cardinals that nest in our trees sing to us early in the morning, sometimes too early. Crocus bulbs planted by the neighborhood committee are beginning to bloom. Spring has come to Hawley-Green.