Day 14 :: Things That Make Me Happy

1. :: Frogs singing to tip off the advent of spring ::

It happens in late February or early March:
the frogs start up their racket on a sunny day, and we all step outside the door to make sure we heard right.

2. :: Freak coincidences ::

You want to know something about coincedences? When you tell someone about the coincidence, they don't think it's that interesting. (I heard that factoid on some podcast). Only the people involved in the coincidence are blown away. Everyone else is a shoulder shrug about it. 

Example:

Today we were getting ready to go on a walk, and Jim said "text Lindsay and see if we can take Juno for a walk."

This is not something we do, ever.
We have zero times asked the Dicksons if we could borrow their dogs.

I said "no, that seems weird" and I didn't text her.

THEN we walked out the door, and here is Juno running full speed at us. No Dicksons are around, just their dog on the loose.

Zero times has Juno ever been running around on the loose.

BUT here she is, running over to Jim, rolling at his feet, making the happy/crying dog noise.

So I knocked on the Dicksons door and told them Juno is on the loose, and they had NO idea. 

So I asked if we can take her for a walk? and yep we can. 

Isn't that a great coincidence? 

You don't think so, but me and Jim do.

3. :: Being outside, wandering around ::

 Especially in the forest. Especially with friends. 

I know that's not a novel thing, but this past week with anxiety levels on high...getting outside and being at the beach or on a trail makes everything feel right and normal. My brain can see that things are going to be ok.

4. :: Reading good stuff ::

There is this website/blog called "Brain Pickings" that always has great poems and ideas and links to things.
This particular post just really hit the sweet spot for me today. We are just a speck of time on this Earth. This current history we are making will come and go "first noisily, then just another silence".
The best part about reading good stuff is the discussing with Lisa later. haha

TODAY, ANOTHER UNIVERSE 

by Jane Hirshfield

The arborist has determined:

senescence beetles canker

quickened by drought

 but in any case

not prunable   

not treatable   

not to be propped.

And so.

The branch from which the sharp-shinned hawks and their mate-cries.

The trunk where the ant.

The red squirrels’ eighty-foot playground.

The bark cambium pine-sap cluster of needles.

The Japanese patterns the ink-net.

The dapple on certain fish.

Today, for some, a universe will vanish.

First noisily,

then just another silence.

The silence of after, once the theater has emptied.

Of bewilderment after the glacier,

the species, the star.

Something else, in the scale of quickening things,

will replace it,

this hole of light in the light, the puzzled birds swerving around it.

5. :: Playing games with my family ::

Lately BOGGLE is super fun.

5 years ago