The Happy Book Club - April 9

Happy Friday, everyone!  It's rainy and cool after a gorgeous, warm week - and it's ok.  The little changeups in weather keep me appreciating the special aspects each day.
I have to tell you about a few notable happy times.
First, though many people I know ask me "Why on earth do you bother with Twitter, etc., I have made some wonderful acquaintances through those networks.  The picture above illustrates this point.  These lemons are from Quinn McDonald's tree in Phoenix, Arizona.  We've been in contact for over a year and recently someone in the group was commenting on the scent of lime blossoms in their yard.  I remarked how I used to love having a lime tree when we lived in Mexico when I was young.  And Quinn wrote back adking if I wanted some lemons.  Her tree had an abundance and she'd be glad to send me a box.  That package came just before Easter - and it was like unpacking sunshine!  The lemons were huge, juicy, delicious.  She'd left some of the leaves on them so they were also gorgeous.  I have had fun sharing them with special friends, making sauces, putting zest in my coffee. On this rainy morning I have a ginger cake in the oven to serve later with a warm lemon custard that I made a couple of days ago.  Boy, everytime I walk into my kitchen and see those lemons, I smile.

Second, through my connecting here with Valli, I found my way to the blog Five Orange Potatoes.  This woman writes a lot about sharing her love of nature with her daughters and since this month has been declared Children and Nature Awareness month she's got a challenge going - each day people take their kids, grandchildren, friends or neighbors' children - and go outside.  And then write about it.  I started doing it with one of my grandsons whom I see regularly, and we've been having a wonderful time finding new ways to look at our surroundings. You can see a couple of things we did on an earlier post on my blog this week. Valerie's own blog on children's books instigated a flurry of buying some new additions for our little library, too.

And third, with a small push from one of my friends, I ended up painting out of my comfort zone, and have discovered that I do like painting larger than I thought I could/would.

As I sit in my studio and listen to the birds, watch the bright colors of blossoms and new leaves against the gray day and smell the ginger cake baking, I am experiencing a few moments of bliss.  That is a wonderful way to start this day.  I so hope that you, too, can make room for something precious today.