Nothing but that Joy

 I thought I would open with a song this week. I think if we all paid heed to this message it might make finding our joy so much easier. I was totally unfamiliar with this song until a Facebook friend posted this last week.

In a former life we went to elementary school together, then my family moved and I lost touch with him until about 2 months ago when we reacquainted through a mutual Facebook friend, who I also went to elementary school with, and whom I had also reacquainted with about 2 weeks prior to that. 

I hear everyone gripe about Facebook and it is not my favorite medium, but I can control what I choose to read or not, plus I can still be very good friends with people who have totally different beliefs than I do, because my criteria for friendship does not demand my friends share my thoughts or ideals. Plus, if not for Facebook how the heck would I ever have been reunited, even virtually, with L and J?

As usual for the year, I am listing the joys I find each day. Some days are chock full of joyous things and some days they hide and I have to hunt for them. But they are there every single day, even when things looks bleak. 

My intent is to re-read each week  on New Year's Eve starting with Jan 1, 202 and realize that even for a difficult year, joy could and was found every single day. I might even add to the joy while re-reading with a glass of wine or an adult beverage and some chocolate. 

So here is my list of joys for then 36th week of the year.

Wednesday: Chocolate__delicious chocolate brownies!

Thursday: My kitchen table sits in a bay window overlooking the back yard. I am not a big fan of curtains, so my windows there are bare. We also keep the light over the table on until I go to sleep each night. Bright lights through a window at night means lots of flying bugs gather on the windows. Bugs gathering on the windows brings a lot of spiders to catch said bugs attracted to the light. If I know I knock the webs off in the morning, they are back before afternoon.

I have been seeing hummingbirds flitting around the potato plants and on the lantana and marigolds in the back, but Thursday morning about 10 inches from my face I saw a hummingbird dive bombing the spider webs then feasting on bugs that had been caught in them. Next they returned to catch and eat the spiders. I had no idea they were omnivores. What a joy to see those murderous little critters up close and personal!

Friday: We decided to go to the lake for part of the weekend., TheHub thought he would get off of work early and we could scoot down mid-afternoon. No dice on that front! By the time we finally pulled out of the driveway it was rush hour so we made the decision to take our time and do a few errands instead of busting our tails to hurry up and sit in traffic most of the way down.  4 stops and a shared order of French fries later we were actually almost halfway there., We pulled in the driveway there just at sundown, but we had talked a lot, listened to some really good music and knocked 4 tasks off of our to-do list.

Saturday: I woke early when the sky was still gray to watch the sunrise over the lake. It was gorgeous, again and because I woke so dang early, I had breakfast ready butt early. TheHub and I got dressed and went out to do a few errands in a town about 20 minutes away. After finishing we stopped by a joint famous for their fried pies and each got one. (We saved them for dinner) When we got back to the lake  we had lunch then I took a nap. I never take naps and it felt great! Unfortunately after the naps I had some chores outside to do, but was rewarded with a completely clean deck and screened porch. Perfect timing to watch the moon. It was a gorgeous and huge amber moon and when it was rising it left an amber trail across the water diagonally on  the eastern part of the lake. Sometimes looking at something so beautiful moves me to happy tears.

Sunday: I woke early Sunday and was standing in front of the picture window looking at the lake while I drank a cup of coffee. As I stood 

there another hummingbird decided it would like a spider for breakfast. The bird was no farther than 4 inches from my face. I brush all the webs down when we get to the lake but the kitchen windows are too far from the ground for me to reach with my spider web getter, so they stay webbed. I am thrilled they do. About mid day we bailed on the lake, ran some more errands then visited Son2 and DIL2. I loved seeing them, but Shelby the dog was thrilled to see TheHub and me and ran in circles around us until we would pet her, then she would begin all over again finally sitting as close to me as possible so I could give her belly rubs. Because in her dog mind she knew we came to see her, not Son2 and DIL2.

Monday: TheHub and I planned a lazy Labor Day and just ran a couple of errands before puttering around the house while watching the FedEx golf championship. I have never watched it before and honestly still just like to watch the leaders on the last few holes. I had never thought of it in terms of dollars and cents, but one errant putt on the 18th cost one golfer 500k.  

Tuesday: My cousin's son came to Mom's to gather things for his new home. I am sorry for the reasons he needs a new house, when he had a wonderful home before, but life throws curveballs at all of us some time or another. All we wanted him to do was claim them, but he actually moved most of it. Until it was bare I did not realize how large Mom's den is.

Woo hoo! He did ask us not get rid of several more things because he will not know exactly what else he needs until he gets better situated.