It's the little things... Summer

Ah.... Summer is here.

Having once read that you ought to stop and smell the roses, I am taking that advice literally.  As I walk the doggie around the neighborhood, I stop and smell roses, tulips, any flower that's blooming and hanging over a fence or planted in a bed next to the sidewalk.  It's glorious.

I have seen two butterflies this summer so far.  One huge orange one that flitted over my head, and a white and pale green one that landed on our lavender.

I love this time of year.

Now if only I could get a job so I'd have something to complain about!

It's the Little Things - To do list = Zero

This morning I woke up very late, got up to find the sun shining and knew that the only commitment I had for the day was a massage appointment.

Ahhhhhhh

Life is good.

It's the little things - Hippie dippy

Saturday was Earth Hour. Switch off all your lights and electronics for an hour, let Mother Earth have a break.

At first we thought we'd light candles and have a long bath but, when it came down to it, we settled for tealights in the lounge, all other lights off and watching TV.

We also decided running the dishwasher didn't count.

I guess we weren't really 100% hippie, but at least we tried.

I found two things interesting.

First, no one on our street seemed to know or care about Earth Hour. Everyone's lights were on.

Second, it's amazing how, when you turn the lights out, you realize how little you actually need them, even at night.

If you just open up the blinds, the houses next door are so close that you can take a lot from their light.

If you aren't actually in the room, and you don't plan to be going in it much (e.g. the toilet), you can turn out the light.

If you're watching TV, all you really need is one light to balance the glow.

It's 7pm now and we have no lights on in the lounge, corridor or bathroom. There's one on in the kitchen, but I'm about to cook.

So, although we didn't go full hippie last night, something has shifted. And I guess that's the point.

It's the little things - Kitty come home

BFF has two cats that she adores.

A year or so ago, moved house and, soon after, one of the kitties disappeared.

She was freaking out, crazy with worry, but refused to just give in. She made a kazillion Lost Cat posters and put them up all over the neighborhood.

She began to get calls from people, asking her if she was OK and whether she had found her cat yet. She had long conversations with total strangers about her love and her loss.

But then the all important call came. Someone had seen the cat hanging around in the bushes a few streets away and they had left food out for it.

BFF went to the spot and called for her cat. I think she had to go there more than once. She called and called and eventually cajoled her emaciated little baby out of the plants and back into her arms.

She was overjoyed and decided to let everyone know that the cat had come home. She went around to all her posters and put a "Found!" sign on them.

And then the local paper called.

A journalist was looking for a story that was good news, so BFF, the people who called her and the now famous cat ended up on the front page.

Sometimes there are happy endings!

It's the little things - Sleepytime

I am often the last to fall asleep at my house.

Puppy Dog is gone within seconds of his muzzle hitting the cushion, and Fluffy Bear is often so exhausted from work that he is in cloudland before his head hits the pillow.

And then they start to snore.

It builds in volume, like a tide coming in and then, by some strange twist of fate, they start to harmonize.

It doesn't irritate me - quite the opposite.

It's a sweet moment that I treasure because this is the sound of my family, and it's my very own...

Snoranade....

It's the little things - Barista blessing

The other day I went to get an unncessesarily expensive designer coffee and was chatting away to the Barista.

She was from somewhere in the Asia-Pacific region and we talked about her country's history, how long she'd been in the States, and so on.

As I took my coffee I thanked her, wished her a lovely day, smiled and turned to leave.

She beamed back at me and said:

"God bless you!"

And I was strangely touched by that.