We have all played board games with our children.
Sitting cross legged on the floor, we teach rules, patience, and how to lose with grace.

Candyland and Chutes and Ladders were favorite first games.
I always dreaded turning the cards over as I got closer to the Candy Castle.
It was so frustrating to get a character that required me to go back to the beginning.
The children would laugh since they would inevitably win the game.

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It is my morning routine from May to October.
Talk my morning walk.
Come back home and water my plants.

There is something soothing in the routine.
The hanging begonias on my shady side porch.
The hibiscus on my sunny back deck.

Pull a weed here.
Dead head the hanging basket there.
Enjoy the daily growth I see.

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It caught my eye as I drove down the narrow road.
It looked out of place in this rural setting.
In fact, I don’t even know how I saw it because the road was so curvy.

It was a stone fountain with a lion’s head perfectly intact.
The fountain had a stone basin to collect the water.
I wondered if the fountain even worked anymore.
The weeds were overgrown around it.

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I can hear the scrape of the spoon against the water ice.
My son got his wisdom teeth extracted.
For the first four hours after oral surgery, he can only have cold, soft foods.
Cool broth, juice, Gatorade, applesauce, jello…
Water ice.

Watermelon is the flavor he requested.
Watermelon it is!
The coldness of the water ice must feel very soothing going down.
Delicious therapy.

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We have all seen the sign as we drive.
Share the road.
It usually has a picture of a bike on it.
It is intended to remind us that there are others traveling along with us.

I almost wish I had a sign for my front yard.
Share the lawn.
My sign would have a picture of a mole on it.

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Years ago, there was a morning radio show on a local station.
The DJ’s name was Harvey and his show was known as Harvey in the Morning.
Harvey was down to earth, funny, and he also played great music.
I would listen each day as I commuted to my college classes.

You could always tell who else was listening to Harvey.
You would glance over at the other driver as you both were at the red light.
The person next to you would be laughing at the same time!

Harvey did something very clever, yet so simple.
Harvey would have a segment of his show that he called Misconstrued Lyrics.

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I sit here before a blank computer screen.
The whiteness of it.
The newness of it.
The challenge to put my heart in words.
The surprise of finding HIM at every turn.

I was thinking of Charles Dickens…writer of, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist…to name a few.
It was always believed that Dickens was paid per word for his writing.
That would explain why he was so pedantic.
In actuality, Dickens was paid in installments.

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My oldest daughter is a web designer.
She designed this blog site for me.
She knows me well and somehow captured my personality in her design.

She has been asked by the firm she works for to learn other types of design.
Types of design that she knows nothing about.
Thankfully, she is a self learner and can teach herself just about anything through books.

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My neighbor called this morning.
She was having some outside work done yesterday.
One of the workers discovered a hunter’s tree stand in her woods.
She was upset since there are No Hunting signs posted throughout the woods.
When she walked back into the woods, she noticed the No Hunting signs were gone.

The signs are going to be replaced today.
She graciously notified the unknown hunter with her own sign.
They had twenty four hours to remove the tree stand.

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Do you ever watch a mother feeding her baby solid food?
She patiently puts the pureed mixture on the spoon.
She ever so carefully touches the lip and the baby automatically opens his mouth.

If it is sweet, like certain fruits, there will be a smile…licking lips…flailing arms.
If is is bland, like certain vegetables, there will be a slight grimace…and locked lips.

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