THERE ARE "FRIENDS" AND THEN THERE ARE FRIENDS....

Wow. Where has time gone? There is snow on the ground, it is almost Christmans andady and I'm not done all the things I was supposed to get done for summer!!!! I've been thinking a lot about friendship lately. Does it exist? Sometimes people who consider themselves friends confuse me and then out of the blue a new friend makes my day. A couple of weekends ago, an aquaintance stopped by and made my day. The  compliments I received from her about my style, talent and the way my brain works have given me a confidence that should last quite some time and feel like I'm soaring. I needed a boost. I am raring to go. I feel so creative once again. This has been put on hold for a while and in particular since I started my job at the Financial Institution a couple of months back. I felt defeated since I chose to operate my store on a part-time and/or online basis and return to a "real" job so I could have a steady income and pay my bills. I even overheard one of my "friends" tell a potential customer outside my store that she felt really sorry for me that I had "failed" and HAD to close my store. Funny, she didn't talk to me, to ask what I was doing and why, and she certainly didn't express her sadness over my circumstances. But then just as you think no one can just be kind... in walks someone who makes your day. Friends can be found in the oddest places. That's why I like exploring. I always try to make everyone I meet in a day feel like I enjoyed my moment with them. I hope I give people a reason to soar. Thank you for your kind words today Sandy, I needed to hear them.

The guy on the left....feel blessed if you can count Donnie Dodge among your friends. 

LOVE, FORGIVENESS AND KINDNESS

It's been an interesting week. The sudden death of a close friend, surgery on my boyfriend and the interactions of family, friends, animals and co-workers (you'll notice animals came before co-workers) have given me a lot to think about. My boyfriend has always said that love, forgiveness and kindness is the only way he can be and all of us should be. We've had quite a few "discussions" about that but I think he might be right. Does anything else really matter? Does it matter what religion you are? Does it matter what species you are? Does it matter what your relationship is to one another? No. All that matters is that you be the best (and I mean really your best) that you can be. I don't believe necessarily that blood is thicker than water because for us this week there were some nice long drinks of water refreshment. Thank you friends for all your concern and offers to help. 

And as far as animals go I think they are better at this than us.  A couple of weeks ago my old cat Remnant passed away and Falka the Rottweiler who lives behind me saw me get into my truck with a bundle and was very concerned. This is the same Rottweiler that startled Remant out of a sleep and got a huge slash across her nose. Falka didn't even growl. She just looked at me with those beautiful eyes. The next day I watched her deliberately make noise as she approached Remnant so she wouldn't startle her. Her owner (who's a bit of a wild thing himself but is always the first to offer to help unload stuff from my truck) went off to work for the next couple of weeks. Today was Falka's first day back. As I was sitting in my office I heard tap tap of feet and I peeked around the door and there was Falka tiptoeing through my store looking behind and under things for her friend Remnant. Every room. She didn't give up until she was convinced she wasn't there and then she slowly walked out. This was the first time she has ever entered the store. It was so sweet and so sad. Love, forgiveness and kindness... 

Please come back Mr. Robin....

Mr. Robin

Well, Spring is supposed to be here. I saw a robin the other day. I even found him some plumped up raisins which he really liked. He was hopping all over the ground enjoying his feast when from across the yard a VERY short legged Mule deer crashed his party and stole the offerings!!! Alas, after the ruckus subsided and the VERY short legged Mule deer was contained, the robin was no where to be found. The next day a foot and a half of snow fell (this was A LOT of snow for the little robin and the VERY short legged Mule deer to maneuver around in) and the poor little robin was hop hop hopp'in on top of those snowbanks scouting around for his raisins (and probably on the lookout for that very greedy VERY short legged Mule deer too!) Hmm, I thought. What could I do to aid this lovely creature and keep him and his raisins safe from that VERY short legged greedy Mule deer? I will give him his very own feeder. And because he has to deal with the snow (and we're all sick of it) I will make it look like the lovely spring sunshine. I think it does. Hope he likes it. As for the VERY short legged Mule deer, I will give him some raisins too, in a very special feeder just for him.

Very short legged Mule Deer

New bird feeder

Plotting and planning...

Raisins for royalty

Hello there. I've been cooped up for a very long winter and have a slight case of cabin fever. Hoping the weather will break and we will get some big blue skies and sunshine. Been kind of chilly to be out exploring so I've been rediscovering some of my stashes within my own home. It was somewhat frightful to discover I've accumulated a fair amount of everything. So it was time to put them to use because if you're not using something, someone else could be useing it. So, I decided to redo my bathroom and since it is a rental that doesn't allow for much creativity or maybe it forces oneself to be resourceful and VERY creative. It's very me, I like it. The silver plates catch the light (almost like a flash of sunshine) and with the furnace blowing warm air it's almost like spring.