Drinking in the Sunshine

I mentioned I was drinking in the sunshine during lunch with my gal pals and it set off a series of clarifying questions: Drinking, in the sunshine? Or drinking in the sunshine? I admitted to both. It’s been that kind of week with sunshine and warm temps for plenty of lake afternoons, dipping into the chilly water, and relaxing afterwards until night calls us home. Vermont the past weeks has been the summer that never really happened, with sunny heat for days on end, which led to a plethora of lingering outdoors, our chairs facing the slanting rays and our chatter staying right in the present, boat watching, commenting on ducks, foliage. I found myself calmer and able to deal with all the day to day stuff with a level head just from being outside in such a pleasant manner. Certainly is easier when the sky is blue blue and the breeze is southerly, don’t you agree? October arrived with a splash of color making itself known on every deciduous tree and late blooming gardens, and that too elevated my mood. I know there are disasters down every avenue, but today, actually the whole string of todays that made this week, are magnificent. Perhaps for you too? As so often is the case on this small planet where we roll about as one.

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Change is Around

In steady measured steps we move upward,
foot hitting root and rock,
a layer of orange, red, and yellow leaves swept along too.
Markers painted on the tree truck show us the way,
but just as often our eye is drawn to another less worn path,
to another possibility, and another.
This journey calls us.

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Subjectivity

Call me modernist if you wish, but I really don’t know how to inhabit life without my own personal interests, memories, and desires, all working together to create my perception. Yesterday my daughter wrote, You love luck. She’s a perceptive one, but that is hardly a secret. I am obsessed with lucky objects, from a penny found on the road to any number of things that seem to ignite good fortune. I am equally obsessed with avoiding bad luck or drifting into that storyline. Not like I play the lottery, but if I am able to wrap up my work day with enough time to enjoy the outdoors under a moving canopy, I consider my fortune to be worthwhile. This week I’ve had a string of days with such luck. Hiking, running, biking and even a woods walk, all skirted between rain bursts.

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