Sunday, April 19, 2015

Sunday Gratitude

"Every moment is a gift" - I just read this yesterday evening in a book, and I thought this is so true. When I look back at the past week I can see many moments that were a gift.

Our friend D, who has cancer and just finished her chemo, joined us for dinner one evening. We spent a wonderful time together, laughing a lot. I admire her attitude, she is so inspiring. Her surgery is in May and we all hope that things will look so much better for her afterward.


I spent a few hours with my friend K. We meet every Wednesday and just do some creative stuff together. She usually works on albums for one member in her family, and I brought my knitting this time. I'm currently knitting a summer sweater for Kaefer for her 17th birthday later this week. She chose the yellow sparkly yarn and I chose the pattern that I found on Ravelry. My "moment" was when I arrived at K's home and her dogs just stormed to the door to greet me. So heart warming!

When I came back home around 2:30pm that day I found a deer lounging in the shade below my kitchen window! That was a surprise. I am used to them coming into my garden and fill their bellies, but settling down for a siesta? That was a first. It then occurred to me that this actually meant I had achieved with my front garden what I wanted - a wildlife habitat!


The garden gives me many beautiful moments - butterflies twirling from flower to flower, scrub jays nesting, hummingbirds feeding on the nectar, orioles chatting, California towhees hopping through the plants, bees buzzing around the Spanish lavender. It provides many, many moments of gratitude.


And I'm happily planning my backyard. The past three years I mainly focused on the front garden, but now I will also work on my backyard. I want to change it into a beautiful garden as well, also a wildlife habitat where birds, bees, and butterflies find food, water and shelter. It will certainly take some years. At the moment it just has a dead lawn, some border beds, a few trees and raised beds. I love to spend lazy Sunday mornings searching Pinterest for ideas - so much inspiration to find there.

One morning I also managed to walk around my lake and I saw one of my beloved Black-crowned night herons. He was just a few feet away and thankfully stayed long enough for me to take a couple pictures before he took off. It was so beautiful to walk the trails around the lake. It always feeds my
soul.


So much to be grateful for. What about you?


11 comments:

Monika + Bente said...

Was für ein schönes Strickteil - ich mag das Muster sehr (Perlmuster? ) und die warme Farbe, obwohl Gelb sonst nicht mein Ton ist :-)

Der Vogel ist aus dem Paradies !

Liebe Grüße - Monika

Pamela Gordon said...

As you know, we've had deer in our yard as well and now that they have moved on we have lots of deer droppings everywhere!! No going barefoot! Is that Spanish Lavender in the photo? I've never seen it before but it's certainly a beautiful plant. I wish you a beautiful week.
Pam

Unknown said...

Ach wie süß! Ein Bambi im Garten! :))
Und der große Vogel ganz unten ist ja super getroffen!
Am allermeisten mag ich den Lavendel - boah, hat der eine tolle Farbe! :))
Wünsche Dir einen schönen Sonntag!

Liebe Grüße
Sigi

Elephant's Child said...

I do love my weekly reminders about the gift of gratitude. Thank you.
I am so very grateful for beauty. All of it. The tangible, the visible and the beauty that epitomises some people.

Michelle said...

How sweet that the deer was there :)

John's Island said...

That is a wonderful picture of the Black-crowned night heron. And the Spanish lavender is beautiful. Your blog presentation is very well done.

GlorV1 said...

Love the deer just relaxing. Awesome. It is always good to be grateful for everything we have. Sounds like you are enjoying your yard. Take care. Great photos.

Darla said...

The sweater is going to be great for our summers when fog frequently means layers. Such a pretty color and I checked out the pattern. Great. Deer in the yard are a treat even if they eat things.

Darla

Magic Love Crow said...

Every moment truly is a gift! Beautiful post my friend ;o) Hugs ;o)

alp said...

Curiosas y bonitas imagenes...un abrazo desde Murcia....

Debbie said...

so very much to be grateful for. mostly my loving family and friends and this week, for 2 knitting class!!

your project looks lovely!!!