* Thursday to Endeavour: " something that the darkness couldn't take from you."
* Two new posts in the ground that will help me up the step and hold up my laundry line.
* I was in a quandary about a table half painted. A talented fellow rescued me. (I do not want to put anything on the masterpiece!) He did the posts, too.
* The drive to the post office never disappoints. Today, the chickens are bottoms up fluffy into their grub.
* Giving a project to a competent person and saying, "Surprise me."
* A visitor who invigorates me, challenges me, gives me much laughter, and rewards me with a feeling that the decisions I made in the past were correct and worth any pain I encountered.
* Cool mornings. Suffocating noons. Monsoon late afternoons. Cool sunsets.
* Camp chairs that can be moved, repositioned, folded up, stored, washed.
* Listening to exciting tales of his life.
* Preparing for a visitor, I wash the dogs although the humidity will slow their drying. When my room mate comes upstairs (in his flannel robe which always makes me giggle): "I washed the dogs." "Yeah. I could smell them as soon as I came upstairs." Much dashing to find fans and direct air onto soggy dogs.
* A cartoon: Tips to become a better conversationalist. Lesson #1. Ask people questions that give them an opportunity to talk about themselves. "What the hell is wrong with you?" (artist's name illegible)
* I fill the bird feeders and water troughs then go about my work. Later, at my desk, I hear much chirping and splashing.
* To work outside in the early cool of the day.
* The dogs recline full length on the cold floor, sometimes right under my desk chair. "Watch out! I'm moving" is a constant refrain.
* Remembering the root beer ice cube tray popsicles of long ago.
* The county has repainted road markings which enable me to escape hitting bicyclists.
* The coolness created by the fan I put (finally!) in the window is remarkable.
* The paint colors I used in my office compliment the view through my window--I wallow in the visual joy.
* I arrange a bird replenishing place--food and water. Each morning still in my nightgown I carry a hot, steaming pitcher of water to the watering hole. I dump out the ice onto an already established mound and empty the pitcher. Back inside with quilt curtains open I watch the birds congregate and dart around the feeders. The water continues to steam, gradually cooling, until in four hours time it is frozen. I read an article recently about how to keep sparrows from bird feeders. Why would I want to do that? 'His Eye Is On the Sparrow'
* I finally settled on a color for the frames put 3 years ago around the new (then) windows of my office. Now 'desert glow' is beside my mandarin orange walls.
* Finding an actor I had never heard of and viewing his movies in chronological order to understand his development.
* How to clear a room of sleeping dogs...arrange an easel too near an open door so that when closed it bumps the leg and sends the easel and bulletin board flying.
* Tall stalks of eucalyptus dispersing aroma throughout the room.
* The genius of a show runner who limits the number of episodes filmed which helps concentrate on the quality. We all want more of good things. Years ago a friend advised me that one drink is enough--a person thinks they want more but with more the enjoyment and satisfaction diminishes. Restraint.
