Laundry Line Divine

Daily Happinesses Day Five:

1. Waking knowing I am collaboration with the Divine all day.
2. Posting brags to my circles.
3. Having a really busy day with pockets of unexpected ease time.
4. Hanging wash on the line on a sunny day. Really people, it is one of my truest pleasures.
5. Making this book for Ben which is perfect just the way it is.

This started as a flip book, but to do it right I would have had to start last year. And I am not so good at that kind of planning. Especially in July.

6. My girl making floral bouquets for the party tonight and our guests bedrooms.
7. A new bar of soap.
8. Baking cobbler for Ben’s birthday cake.
9. Having people around the table for cobbler who have celebrated with us since Ben was 2 years old- Lydi, Will and Bob- what gifts of friends you are.
10. Curfew at 11.
11. Ben calling me.
12. The eve of his birthday and him surrounded by new kids and his best friend Seth and his sister. And us.
13. Getting mail from my angel step-sister Jeanene. One of the many blessings of my Mom marrying my step-Dad is growing a new sister.
14. Jeanene’s collage.

This is made with photos by my wonderful step-sister, Jeanene.

15. Aunt Benita’s note.

There really is a circus in my attic. Or maybe the better part of the contents of Circus Smirkus, who perform here tomorrow and Sunday.
They are a great bunch of teen circus artists. We see them every year and now our school is hosting them for a fund raiser. Check out the circus on the web at www.circussmirkus.org.

Sending you large fans blowing cool cucumber breezes your way,
S

Daily Happinesses Day Four

1. The prospect of picking with Janet.
2. Dancing with JNB at the Pulse and not arguing about the toilet functioning (or not).
3. Dancing with other men at the Pulse and getting the hang of the East Coast Lindy, almost.
4. Plums.
5. Apricots.
6. The way the scent of the preserved chutney waltzes around the house.
7. How I can hear my neighbor’s radio on their back porch gliding over the lawn.
8. Getting over my cranky ass mood. Whew.
9. Cheese. Fresh mozzarella with peach salsa, especially.
10. Having a phone conversation in the basement where it was cool and very very quiet except for the water heater.

I am deep in to creating something special for our son who turns 16 this Saturday. Seems to be a watershed waltz for us all.
First he is this:

Ben and me in Hillsdale it in the winter. Can you tell?

Then he is this:

Whew. No wonder I was cranky today.
Strong winds of change blowing in.
See you in the blackberries, S

waves of tomato pleasure

Daily Happinesses Day Three:

1. Juice of a white peach running down my arm while leaning over the sink to eat it.
2. My abs.
3. My girl and her new haircut.
4. A full summer day and no tourist traffic because I know the backroads.
5. Blueberries on salad with cucumbers and homemade dressing.

6. Clouds over Mount Greylock.
7. My trusty Fe-Mail Sister Karen and how quickly we fall in to conversation the moment we get in the car.

8. A FB note from our German exchange student signed “Your German Son”.
9. My own son bursting the seams of 15 years of age.
10. How different I looked when he was a tiny mite.
Okay, I must go on a bit.
11. The bear in our backyard going away.
12. Feeling the tug of heartstrings in friendship.
13. Having a family meeting when I am overwhelmed.
14. Now, cool breeze.
15. Peach apricot chutney cooling on the stove.
16. Fe-Mail moving towards a fall exhibit and events.

What daily happiness, big and small…and the center is my heart…this tender heart. How about you? Any twangs of the utter joy and grief of living? Peach juice and all?

Love to each of you readers,
Thank you so much for stopping in at the Laundry Line,
S

Tuesday:

1. Waking up with a quiet house to write and sketch.

Rumi and the River in my sketchbook.

6. White peaches from Loveapple are in now.
7. Picking red currants with CBB.
8. Rain.
9. Dinner with KAS and our families.
10. This new addition to the Toast Archive:

Bonus Daily Happiness for Kathy Drue from your Playmate:

I just read this as I was waiting for my scanner to work. It is from a yoga magazine from which I tore this quote to use in a collage that is here on my desk:

Reflections of Inner Joy
If you make a habit of this practice, you’ll probably notice how it begins to refine your perceptions, so that over time you find yourself experiencing the life around you with much greater pleasure.

How perfect is that?
Daily Happinesses day two.
How about you?

With affection and red currants, S