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  1. I agree about how important it is to be grateful for the things that we have to enjoy that make our lives richer. It’s easy to forget and start focussing on things that we think we are lacking or that seem troublesome to us. I am constantly catching myself with tho’ts of lack or dissatisfaction and reminding myself how lucky I am. Last week and for a while before that I had not been feeling well at all and wasn’t up to doing all the things I enjoy. I didn’t know why I was feeling so sick and awful, but then a change in some medicine I take made a sudden difference and this week I have been feeling so much better with energy to do what I want to do. I was able to get out in the yard and do some weeding and while I was sitting on the deck taking a little break I suddenly felt so lucky to be able to be outdoors and pull weeds. Also that I can live in my house with a yard I love and plant flowers and enjoy the growing things. It was a happy and satisfied feeling. I am grateful that I could feel gratitude for all that I have.

    On another note, I am going to get a hibiscus if I can find one. Yours is so beautiful. Although I wonder if they are hardy up here in Michigan with our cold winters. I guess I’ll have to do some research. If they aren’t hardy maybe they will grow as houseplants when it’s cold. Anyway, I love yours with its deep red blooms.

    Give Charlie dog a pat from me and I hope the rest of your week is pleasant.

    1. Charlie boy is right here sprawled on the left side of his mama, tongue lolling out. I don’t know if the hibiscus would even make it through our winters. I kind of doubt it. To save it I might have to bring it indoors, although I don’t know where I’d put it. Will have to do more research before winter.

  2. Hi, Brenda I donot have a blog of my own but so enjoy reading others. Especially love your blog. You are such an inspiration. May God Bless you and Charlie and please keep your thoughts and photos coming. I look forward to it everyday, especially when I myself feel down and depressed. Many thanks for your common sense and words of wisdom.

    1. Any wisdom I have learned has been from the school of hard knocks, like many folks. I went to college, but learned a lot more from the former!

  3. I have been so busy getting ready for my daughter’s visit tomorrow. She and her husband will be here tomorrow evening and stay until Sunday morning. Although I am excited, it seems like I feel anxious trying to make sure all is just perfect for their visit. After reading your post, I decided that everything is fine as is — just lit a few candles and about to sit and watch the birds fly in for dinner. Time to just chill and enjoy the day. Thank you for such a relaxing post.

    1. I know we all do this, fuss over our home when guests are coming. But if you’re rested up, you’ll enjoy the visit a lot more.

  4. I am jealous you are having rain. It’s hot and humid for us today in So Cal and boy do we need rain. Oddly enough there seems to be leaves falling all over the place. If only fall would come next month but I know it won’t just more heat. I so love the color of your hibiscus plant. After I sprayed mine with Dawn and got rid of the bugs it has sprouted new leaves and blooms. I thought sure it was a goner. Stay cool.

    1. Well congrats on saving your hibiscus plant! Today is very humid and the windows are fogged up. No rain.

  5. It sounds like you are having a lovely day. I do relate to you having cataract surgery down the road; my optometrist told me the same thing this spring. The price of getting older. I’m glad you and Charlie are getting the rain as I hope that is keeping your place a little bit cooler. Enjoy your evening!
    Carol and Molly

    1. I’m comfortable inside. Of course I’m not moving around at the moment. I am having a nice quiet day, Carol and Molly.

  6. Brenda, seemed in your post you are having a better day today. I hope so. Life does go on. I’m a fall/winter girl and I can’t wait for summer to end. These hot days are too much to venture out in.

    1. I’m not a summer person. I hate the heat. Especially the humid heat. Yes, I’m feeling much better.

  7. Brenda, I love the pictures of your apartment, and you are so lucky to have that wonderful patio. I also am trying to practice gratitude, as I find that focusing on what is good in my life makes me more content.

    1. It does make one more content to feel gratitude. I haven’t got as much out in my apartment because it’s so hot when I clean it that I want it to go fast.

  8. your blooms are beautiful and that Charlie is a faithful pal for sure, you have such a soft gentle way of writing, its very relaxing, I hope you soon can have your eyes fixed , take care,

    1. Charlie is faithful. Before I lost Abi, there was always one dog on either side of me.

  9. We have to store up those peaceful, quiet days so we can pull them out of our memory bank when the bad days hit. I’m wishing for you more of these gifts of nice days.

  10. It’s been so dry, hot and ultra-humid here (dew points above 70, makes it very difficult for even young healthy people to breathe normally or not to sweat even when just sitting still and doing absolutely nothing!) but yesterday and today, some relief. It’s still warm but more seasonal and the dew point has dropped down into the low 50s. I was able to walk to the supermarket and back (1 mile round trip) with a lot less huffing and puffing and NO SWEATING! Hooray! I broke down and watered my front lawn. For the amount of water I put on the poor thing I can’t say it looks much better, but I just couldn’t stand it anymore. The lawn moths (sod web worms) are really BAD this year, large swatches of my blue grass lawn that was so gorgeous just 2 months ago are dead or dying rapidly. So frustrating. We are supposed to get one day of rain. I believe it when I see it. Two days ago the forecast was for abundant rainfall on Friday and Saturday. Now – maybe some thunderstorms on Friday. I won’t be surprised if we get zero rain, that’s the way it’s been going around here. To cheer myself up, I bought 2 beautiful deep red mini-potted roses today – $6 ea. for 4 in. pots. I’ve never owned one before so I’ll see if I can manage to keep them alive. They sure are gorgeous. Your hibiscus is gorgeous, too. It has way different leaves than those on my three shrubs, and I don’t have that lovely deep color of yours. I have a pretty pale pink with a dark pink center, a lavender with a slightly darker center, and a really beautiful white with a deep red/burgundy center. They grow like weeds here. I have to cut them back at least 2 feet every year so they don’t grow over 5 feet tall. They LOVE the sun, the more the better. I don’t have to water them or fertilize them either. They won’t be blooming until late next month or even September, though. We also call ours varieties here “Rose of Sharon.” What is so great about being retired is that I sit out on days like this once the sun passes around to the west side of the house, safe from bugs inside my screened “Shezebo,” and just really enjoy the fruits of my labor outdoors. And with the daylilies and the hibiscus shrubs taking up one full bed along the east lot line, I look like an “excellent” gardener even though I only added one shrub when I moved here in 2014, the other two were already here, I just planted the lavender one which was a seedling from a friend about 10 inches tall and a few stems. Four years later except for being a bit narrower than the other two hibiscus, you’d never know it started life as a little pipsqueak
    a relatively short time ago! Except for the topping off every year, I love plants that take care of themselves! You are so dedicated and knowledgeable. I know it is much harder to container garden, especially in your climate.

    1. At a rent house I lived in prior to moving here, I had a big Rose of Sharon. It was white. Enjoy your mini roses!

    1. Isn’t it? I’m very happy that, once planted in a bigger pot, it began to thrive.

  11. It is indeed the small things in life that make up the big picture, like a puzzle. And it is the small comforts and joys to acknowledge and be thankful for.

    I am glad you will soon have your cataract surgery. My dad had it in his eighties and recovered quite nicely, as will you. No worries!

    1. It took me till my fifties to figure out that it is the small things that make us content with our life.

  12. Like you I am so grateful to be in my home with my dogs laying near me and feeling such contentment over the precious times we have. I am going thru some tests right now which could alter my life plans so I am taking each day to make it count and hope for good outcomes when it’s decided on my coarse of treatment. I don’t like talking about myself either so it’s hard. I just never imagined it would be me walking this path when I am the one who makes the comfort quilts for those in need. We never know the shoes we will be walking in.

    1. You’re so right. We never about anything but right now. Keep us updated. We want to be here for you.

  13. Brenda, your wise words are an inspiration! We can find and be joyful!!
    When you have your eye surgery, know that it is the easiest surgery and recovery for the patient. Limitations are few in comparison to most procedures.
    You will need short term support from your daughter, then driving will be restricted awhile but you can manage at home alone.

    Please share, send rain to North Central Texas.
    Take care!

    1. That’s good to hear. I never could even bring myself to put contacts in my eyes. I wish I could share all this rain!

      1. I wasn’t restricted from driving at all. In fact, I drove myself to the next day appointment and haven’t had a bit of trouble. My doc gave me plastic shields to put over my eyes at night to keep from rubbing them in my sleep, just taped them on and it wasn’t anything that kept me from sleeping. This surgery is a breeze!

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