Still Grateful

I went out into the backyard this afternoon to pick up the litter that blew into the yard the other day when it was so windy. I walked around picking up trash and putting it into my bag. Then I walked around more picking up fallen twigs and branches and carrying them down to the curb. As I walked back up the hill to come in the patio door I realized that I was walking and breathing and not having to stop every few feet to catch my breath. I know it's been three months since I was in the hospital and got 4 units of red blood cells but I'm still grateful every day that I'm well.

While I was trash picking I had to get really close to the lilac bush to get a piece and noticed that one little sprig of lilacs has started to open. It's not the festival of blooms and fragrance that it will be when it all gets going but it's a start.

The rhubarb is going great guns. The leaves are big and vigorous and I can see that I need to dig out my rhubarb sauce recipe and make some to put over plain Greek yogurt. It's so good.

Today's daily practice painting was this leafy branch that looks like a protea. I felt confident painting it and like the way it turned out. I'm glad I decided to retackle this daily practice class.

The Gratitude Journal for today chronicles the beautiful sunshine, a yellow bird on the feeder, being able to breathe, and my painting. It was an easy one.

And here's a picture of the Goldfinch female on the finch feeder. Some birds have evidently found this feeder because in the last few days the level of seed has visibly diminished. It isn't going down fast but it's going down. Thank heavens. And I heard that Hummingbirds have been sighted in the area so I guess I'd better go downstairs and fetch the nectar feeder and make sure it's clean and get it hung out. It seems like it's still getting too chilly for the little birds but I guess the scouts are showing up.

This afternoon I happened to catch sight of a Robin having a bath. It walked around the rim of the birdbath looking for just the right place to jump in and flutter around in the water. You can see that he'd been flapping around by the disturbed water around him.

I spent time today on a couple critiques then dived into the critique comments from LL, the group facilitator, on the last 200 pages of my manuscript. Some of her comments and suggestions I adopted, others I'm either going to dismiss or think about later. I feel like every time I go back into the manuscript I make it better. I'm determined not to take 15 years to get this sequel ready to be published like the original one did.

And it was Sock Washing Day! I don't wear compression socks every day anymore but I do wear them every once in a while so it was time to hand wash them and hang them on the shower rod. It's so convenient to use the no-rinse wool wash so I can just dunk them, swish them around, wring them out (gently), and flop them over the rod to drip dry.

--Barbara