Catching the good in the day

To improve the golden moment of opportunity and catch the good that is within our reach is the great art of life.

Samuel Johnson

Thursday is the only day I don't have to set my alarm clock. It is a delicious feeling to wake up, knowing I have time to sip my coffee slowly and actually clear my mind before I have to start the day. My son has to teach a fencing class just before noon but that gives me plenty of something I have been lacking lately...time.

You know you have been busy when you look forward to cleaning a shelf in the refrigerator. The shelf in the door where jam and jellies are kept has bothered me everytime I opened the refrigerator lately. It only took a couple of minutes to let the tap water get hot enough to wet a Viva towel and clean the shelf. I should have done it long ago. I don't know what it is that makes simple tasks seem overwhelming unless it is procrastination. Who me?

This afternoon, the cool weather put me in a baking mood. I had tacked a recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies, torn from a magazine, on my refrigerator to make today. However, I've made regular whoopie pies before and I know they can be time consuming. Today I needed something quick but I was still craving pumpkin. During an afternoon break, I was viewing some favorite blogs when I came across the new recipes on MorningRamble. Yum...lots of pumpkin recipes there (and if you scroll down a bit, the pumpkin cinnamon rolls are on my mental list to make when I get a free day). I made the pumpkin bars, they are quick and easy. My husband says they taste just like a friend of ours used to bring to every potluck at a church we attended in Iowa. That made him a happy man, he loved those pumpkin rolls.

I have the house decorated with my silk flowers and Autumn decorations that I kept stored in the garage. I have tiny Jonathon apples in the silver bowl on my dining table, with the new mocha colored candles in the candle holders. There are silk, golden mums on a table in the corner of the front porch and a big pot of real mums (rust colored) near my front door. While I was having my morning coffee, I heard a familiar sound this morning. I carefully peeked out of our front window and there was the cutest chipmunk making its' usual "chip, chip, chip" sound. I've never seen more than two at a time so I named them Chip and Dale, even though I know there is an entire extended family living in the area. This cutey was edged up near the pot of mums.

I have my dinner dishes soaking now (this house did not come with a dishwasher but made up for it with the view from my window over the sink). I'm on my way out to the rocker on my front porch and "sit awhile" as the sun begins to go down. I have too many trees between my view and the sunset but it casts its glow behind a barn in the distance many evenings. That's enough for me. I figure a sunset, a delayed quiet time, and a cup of tea...it doesn't get much better than that this side of Heaven.