A Gorgeous Tuesday

1. That beautiful January weather that makes you love north central FL - 70's, low humidity, not a cloud in the sky! Just makes you smile!
2. Seeing 6 species of birds - king-fisher, great blue heron, hooded merganser duck, white ibis, night heron and white egret in the retention pond down the road & running home to get the telephoto lens and getting photos of all of them! (also being asked about my photos by a nice neighbor later). Then heading into the woods for an evening stroll with Sadie. Seeing a flock of huge migratory buzzards (golden in  the evening light) soaring and coming into roast. Hearing them break down the branches on a 50 foot tree old dead snag tree as they crowd the top (must of been at least 10 trying to roost on the same tree!). Continuing to wander down my pine needled trail in the evening light and hearing a barred owl calling Ho-hoo..Hoooo-hooooo... Oh then I also saw this huge snake curled into a ball in a bush about 3' off the ground right next to the trail - just watching me! Didn't know they liked to do that? So wild! I think he'll get kind of cold tonight! Love those evening walks!
3. Finally getting 3 packages off to Ally in Rwanda full of goodies - cost $136 just to mail them! That's some expensive granola bars, chocolate and hot sauce - Ally!! :) Happy Valentines Day - they might get there a week or so after the holiday!!

Lynn

A day behind

Yesterday was a holiday but I'm on a permanent holiday right now so it really wasn't any different from any other day.

3 things yesterday -

1. Talking to both Amelia and Emily on the phone and hearing that they had a nice weekend and even hung out together on Saturday thrift shopping etc...And hearing that Em is excited about living with Am next year!
2. Finding out that our new health insurance makes my monthly prescription $10 cheaper. We'll see if that applies to both ($20 a month x 12 = $240!!! a year!)
3. Getting a compliment from both Linda and Terri on my art efforts - encouragement always helps!!

L

Don't you love Sundays?!

Too easy making a list today. I enjoyed my day so much I had to catch up on my Blog post the next day.

3 positive things:

1. Talking to my eldest daughter in Rwanda on the phone for 1 1/2 hours!
2. Getting back in the studio and finally painting again.
3. Eating a delicious stir-fry made by my hubby and watching the Golden Globes with as we enjoyed it.

Oops - Forgot Saturday!

1. Good to be back home with everyone.
2. Studio is finally ready to use - cleaned and organized everything today - time to paint!
3. Cold fronts in Florida - love the cool temps, low humidity and even the light in the spanish moss is better.

L

Lucky Friday the 13th!

1. Returning home after a 3 day absence. Missed G'ville and my kitties.
2. Talking to Amelia on the phone several times this evening and hearing that she misses home.
3. Discovering Royal Orchid Thai restaurant in Ocala (thanks to the Yelp app) - with Allan on the return trip. Yummy!!

lynn

3 good things - Thursday

1. A compliment and a smile from a stranger in the hotel elevator 1st thing in the morning is always a nice way to start a day!
2. Free upgrade to a suite at the hotel & a pay-for-view movie on the house cause HBO isn't working.
3. An afternoon out in the town center shopping and seeing a movie - perfect weather, IMAX 3-d movie (Steven Spielberg - Tin Tin), nice stores. top that with dinner with the hubby; a pretty nice day.

:) Lynn

Change of Scenery

I was able to escape and go out of town today on a mini-break with my hubby. Here's my list of 3 good things:

1. Good interview this morning. I looked nice and (I hope) suitably impressed all with resumé, references and credentials. Everyone was very nice.
2. Nice visit to Allan's new office. He has a lake view - a large sliding glass door and deck right behind his desk - nice. And everyone is so nice and polite in this part of the state!! I like the south and country folks!
3. Nice hotel and dinner out. We walked around the shops and fountains from the hotel to the restaurant tonight here at the Lakeside village. Even browsed books and magazines at Borders after our excellent meal. So nice around here!

Ok - this is working for me. Nothing but good thoughts - oh and I got a really sweet email from my youngest daughter tonight! Thanks, I'll write back tomorrow!

Lynn

One Really Good Thing & 2 others

Okay - I'm sure I can come up with 3 good things today, but one really stands out. I got a called for an interview! Yeah! I've got to scramble to get the resume and references all in order so I can leave the house at 7:00 AM tomorrow morning to get to Tampa in time.

Here's the quick list:

1. Scheduled for an interview for a Hydrology position tomorrow AM.
2. Ran all of my errands and crossed off most of Ally's wish list in less than 2 hours time. Nice folks in all of the stores. Sorry Ally - still packing your box & it won't be mailed off until this weekend.
3. Planning to take a mini-break out of town with my hubby in South Florida for the next 3 days! Time to pack our bags.

Lynn

A New Week

3 things today -

1. Christmas lights in January! Almost everyone on our block has elected to keep their lights up a little longer for all to enjoy! Is it laziness or not wanting the holidays to end? :)
2. Crossing off those "to-do" items and chores early on a Monday Morning! And then continuing to get things done all day! Yeah!
3. Watching Bella kitty steal kibbles from Luna's bowl by fishing them out with her paw one by one. Luna didn't seem to mind.

Lynn

Pretty Luna kitty in my studio

Last Week and Catching Up

Ok - Don't know how to post date entries so I'm going to catch up today on last weeks positive thoughts.

Sunday, January 1st - New Years Day

1. Waking up in a nice hotel in Jacksonville on New Years morning without a hangover! (this is after our New Years Eve celebration -  watching fireworks over the river at midnight while drinking Champagne and playing with sparklers with the girls!!) And Allan bringing me a coffee from Starbucks and then going out to Einstein Brothers Bagels for a good breakfast.
2. Waking around Jacksonville River Walk and finding a toy store with Playmobil - buying surprise figures with the girls and opening and assembling them in the mall.
3. A gorgeous sunset on the drive home (see the blog background photo).

Monday, January 2nd - A Holiday!

1. Getting another day around the house with Allan and the girls (until 2:00 - when the girls left to go back to school).
2. Making Christmas sugar cookies with Amelia in the morning. She made me a special Mom Christmas cookie (see photo below).
3. Walking in the woods with Allan and Sadie in the late afternoon.

Skip a few days..... 

Saturday, January 7th

1. Walking in the woods with Allan and Sadie at dusk. Perfect crisp fall air - low humidity and beautiful light. We saw a huge Barred Owl. He swooped down and checked out the dog and then sat on a branch watching us - so Cool!! I wish we had our camera with us - - can you say mental picture?!
2. Getting a big package in the mail from my Dad. He sent me some of Mom's things a nice trench coat, jewelry, and some of her porcelain jewlery boxes - thanks Dad!
3. Oh - finding the long lost piece of the Playmobil nursery train! Yeah! (If my girls are reading this they will understand our Christmas project of assembling their old childhood toys - it was fun digging out all of the old boxes and going through their old stuff. We played Playmobil, Barbies and Bratz dolls for hours over the holidays!!) 

Ok - I'm going to consider this caught up! Expect much shorter posts from now on.

Thanks for reading!

Lynn

A Beautiful Lazy Sunday in Florida

3 Positive Things Today - Gosh it's hard to limit it to 3!!

1.            Buttermilk blueberry pancakes for breakfast made from scratch by my wonderful hubby, Allan and staying in PJs until 11:30 without any guilt!!!

2.          Talking to my beautiful daughter Ally for over an hour on the phone and hearing that she is happy and dating a wonderful man named Jacques! (For those of you who don't know, Ally is serving in the US Peace Corps in Rwanda in East Africa and loves it there.)

3.            Perfect Florida weather (mid-70's & blue skies and no humidity) and fantastic company (Allan & Sadie). We wondered the trails of the Kanapaha botanical gardens at dusk watching birds and snapping photos. We saw a Small Blue Heron, Hooded Merganser Duck, Great Blue Heron, and a King Fisher. We also purchased our annual garden member pass so we will have unlimited access to the gardens all year!!

Ok - I've got to add a 4th good thing for this evening!!

4.            Heart's Dreamboat Annie on the stereo (from an old LP from our local Friend's of the Library book sale), a glass of red wine and yummy steaks on the grill with grilled asparagus and a baked potato!! So good!!! Oh and the PBS Masterpiece Theater starting up again with Season 2 of Downton Abbey!


Here's a photo from our evening walk!
Lynn

Hooded Merganser Duck

Inspiration comes from the strangest places!

This Blog is my New Years resolution to focus on all of the wonderful things in my life and to appreciate how lucky I am! For those of you who know me or my family, you may know that last year was a particularly tough one for us.

My inspiration for this Blog came to me today (kind of out of the blue) as I was cleaning and listening to NPR. A story came on the radio about a new program that military psychologists are starting with the troops in Afghanistan. (Ok, when you hear something about our military - Positive is not the first word that comes to mind - right?!). The military psychologists are trying to boost troop moral by getting everyone to write down 3 positive things that have happened to them each day. They interviewed some soldiers and it seems to be helping.

As I listened, it occurred to me that this might be a really good thing for me to focus on and do and that a Blog would be the perfect way to document this and share it with my family and friends. Get the Positive energy flowing - good karma, right?!

But I will make one promise to myself as I embark upon this Blog. I vow that I will not visit the darkside - no Ying/Yang! No comparisons of the light to the dark. No backhanded positive reflections that could tend towards the negative - like it wasn't really that bad... This Blog is an outlet to focus on the good ONLY. You know, those small random acts of kindness and moments that bring joy into your life or a smile to your face. This may bore the pants off of all of those who read it. But guess what??!! - that doesn't matter because this is just for me!

I want to start this Blog on Day #1 of 2012 - Can you retro date Blog entries?? I'll try to see if I can. If not, I guess I'll have to play catch for a day or two.

Thanks for reading! Smile - It does make you feel better!

Lynn