Unexpected gifts

I had a tough day yesterday, but that's another story, and one that isn't going to be written.  What I am going to mention, very briefly, is what happened in the evening.

I was at a square dance with Chir, and an older man I know slightly came up to me and handed me a medium- sized box.  When I opened it, I discovered that it contained an enormous, extremely double orange hibiscus flower and a white, polished, heart-shaped stone.  The flower was stunning, and the stone like a precious talisman; as I held it in my hand I rubbed its smooth surface and felt a warming reminder of appreciation.

I thanked the man for his gifts, and for the propitiousness of the timing of which he could not have been aware.  How nice, even for a few moments, to feel a sense of being valued.  And how important to remember that we also can do this type of thing for others, that even the smallest positive thing we do for another person may come at just the moment to make a big difference.

Soaring with the gulls

This afternoon, I drove over to a nearby shopping mall to pick up craft supplies for my art classes tomorrow.  I eased into the parking space, put on the brake before turning the car off, and casually looked up through the windshield to behold a magical sight.

Above me, around me, wheeling and whirling through the air, were a dozen seagulls.  They swooped, they hovered, they dived to grab a bit of food in their beaks before taking off again, and they circled - they circled around my car.  I was surrounded by them.  It was as though they had gathered there to herald my arrival and then perform their aerial feats of wonder for me.


It was a supernatural experience.  I felt as though I were briefly in some magical realm, with time and reality suspended while the seagulls soared and dipped around me.  Finally, the gulls flew away one by one, circling further and further out until they were gone.I regretfully wrenched myself back to the real world, still filled with awe at the beauty and mystery of the experience.


I have been trying to design a banner with a dove, fretting about which view of the dove, how should it be flying, where are its wings spread, and here, all around me, were examples of every possible position I could have dreamed of.

Thanks, God, for the reminder of the wonder that exists all around us everyday, just beneath the veil of the ordinary.

Construction Blues

I am having much-needed work done on my house, and I feel like a squatter in some derelict tenement at this point.  No privacy, and sharing my bathroom with up to six grubby construction workers.  Not my idea of heaven.

Actually, the situation reminds me of various colorful curses - may you grown like an onion with your head in the ground; may you be like a chandelier, hang by day and burn by night, and the obscurely intellectual, may you live in interesting times.  To that I would add:  may you have construction work that is never completed, and frequently billed for, done in your house until the end of time, your money, or your sanity, whichever comes first.

This too shall pass!