A day of rest...

  Didn't do a thing today.  Nope, no sirree. Nary a thing.  Spent the entire day doing things that sounded like fun for a change. Took the dog kennel back to the friends that loaned it to me. Then went to my sisters house to see her new little tea cup Yorkie...a tiny adorable thing that I could easily have taken out of there in my pocket.  Then she and I headed out into the world...first to lunch, where I had a breakfast skillet of potatoes, eggs and cheese and onions.  We had a nice time and chatted about lots of family stuff.  Then we made a decision to go to the casino...the big boat that sits on the Mississippi at Alton.  I used the valet parking to make things easier and we went in.  We played slot machines for about an hour, I'd guess, and I came out a little richer than I went in. That's always a good thing, and it made it fun.  Not too much, but enough to make it okay.

  Then we came out, shopped a little and I took her home and I came home by way of the Homestead Flea market. There I found a little salt and pepper shaker set that was just like the one the cat knocked off the counter and broke the lid. I also got a small trivet that says: MY HOUSE IS CLEAN ENOUGH TO BE HEALTHY AND DIRTY ENOUGH TO BE HAPPY.

  I spent the evening at home with the dogs, watching Tom Selleck in a Jesse Stone marathon.  I love that guy. I think I watched 4 of them in a row...

  lol

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Found out today that one of our local old timers passed away. Jack will be missed. He was a sweetheart of a guy whose wife just died last year...when I met him 7 years ago he was her sole care giver...she had Altzheimers and MS...and I remember being very impressed with his commitment. RIP, Jack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Going to to go to the Sunday morning meeting with the Irishman tomorrow at 10.  I think. Which of course means that I need to get in bed and get some sleep. It's been a lovely day and I think I am, ready to lay my head down. I was up at about 7 this morning...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  I was out putting up the chickens tonight and looking up at the sky...it's so clear and unpolluted here. The stars were like diamonds and it's about a half moon...hanging there in all its splendor. I was thinking how lucky I am to get to live out here in the country, and especially here on Honeysuckle Hill.  The night was crisp and clean and I could hear the coyotes in the distance, their pups yipping that symphony of theirs. Do you know they're called song dogs? Legend has it when the world was born, the coyotes were howling at the Universe and so they were called song dogs...  

  Anyways...there's a pasture way back behind us somewhere and you can hear the cattle softly mooing...the owls are hooting in the distance and all the night sounds are amplified in the dark.  Looking around at the gardens all in their hibernating states, the new branches that came down in the storm the other night, the destruction wreaked on the greenhouse plastic...the light coming from the chicken coop door--keeping them all cozy and warm in there on these cold nights. I will be glad when it warms up enough that I can get out there and get some work done....I've been picking chickweed to feed the chickens and they are loving it, but I'll be glad when the other greens start coming up. I did see that the daffodils are about 6 inches high and lots of the lilies are up as well.

  It's a good life that we are carving out for ourselves here, on this little piece of dirt. I really need to be more grateful for it...more focused on what we have than on what we don't.  More focused on love and less on fear. That's really it, isn't it? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Alrighty then. I'm ready to hit the pillow.  Dreaming of song dogs and honeysuckle...daffodils and  starlight.

Namaste.