The Important Stuff

Clean Water for drinking is very important--
and occasionally highly absorbing to watch, too.
This is John Henry. He's our "work-cat."
He hasn't met you, but he knows you'd like
to spend the rest of your day petting him and cuddling.
Even if your hands are full. He's also very tall.
Taller than the 2-year-old whose stool he's borrowing.

A Nice Place to Relax and Meditate--
That's very important. This is my tiny back patio.
It doesn't take a lot of land to have a retreat.
The dark green leafs at the bottom are my surviving Greens,
and there's another pot to the right of the photo
with a bunch of my herbs growing in it.
I made split pea soup with home-grown
Thai Mint, Basil, and Thyme in it last night.
Yum.

The delicious little pea pods growing below were
a complete surprise to me. This mystery vine
grew out of a group of broken seed packets
in a bowl of spilled water--
and this last one got transplanted outdoors
in the middle of winter
to save it from my cat's voracious appetite.
It lived. And then it got pretty purple flowers on it.
And then it started GROWING.
Lots.
And then the pea pods appeared.
Mystery Solved. Joyfully.

It doesn't take a lot to make an outdoor altar.
I found the black plate on sale at Target for $5, and
picked up the little tea light lamp on a trip to the coast.
Plant some slow-growing ground-cover in a shallow container,
and voila! Instant joy.
I didn't use Chamomile for this-- but I have it elsewhere,
and highly recommend it for this project.
Chamomile has a lot of extra Spirit Energy.
And it smells divine.

Love and positive attention are vital to
every living thing's well-being.
My wonderful cat, Abbigale
gives me unconditional love.
Even when I'm trying to take her picture.
She is one of the most precious gifts
my life has given me so far.
I try to love her just as much back--
but I'm trying to break her of the habit
of playing with the wind chimes in my bedroom
at 3am every morning...

Reasons to celebrate are everywhere.
Just get out your camera and start taking pictures
of the little things that make you smile.
I refer back to these a lot...
It's not the beauty of the picture--
it's the joy involved in the moment the picture remembers.

And with that, my tail is done.
(This is Abbigale, the valiant explorer, under the living room rug.)