So today I am reflecting on the day and my own frustration with the world situation. I needed a boost and that came in the form of changing up my coffee cup. You can laugh but the right words on a cup can boost my mood. Today’s cup was a gift from my daughter awhile back. It’s a simple cup, but the right weight in my hands and it just feels good. Yeah it’s the little things. The words remind me..I am Libra, charming and impatient. All True. I begin my day on a positive note warm coffee, good cup.
I sit at my new desk space (a lovely piece of wood held up by two plant stands) and I love it , it’s always a work in progress but …. I sit in front of a window and I do like looking out and seeing the Mighty Mississippi while I work and I can watch the seasons change outside the window. It’s nice.
Yesterday was Sunday and I spent my day with my grandkids. I got tired of the screen staring so I proclaimed… we are going outside, it its nice out.
We spent the morning traipsing around the local Menard’s store .We bought rocks, flowers, dirt and paint. Every selection came with guidance or a story from Nadia the youngest. The boys 11 & 13 are good sports but less involved in the decision making. As we walked through the flowers, Nadia selected each and every flower, simple placing them in the cart. Her decision factors were important items like: ” I like purple”, “Mom would like this one” and “this one is just pretty” No growing factors or dirt discussions…just visual choice plain and simple.
We came home and lifted bags of rocks from the car to the yard. We came home with some petunias, and a variety of others that I can’t identify other than by the plastic stick thing in each of them and that they were a pretty color.
This little one wants to help with everything. The boys helped with the rocks and were both eager to paint the pots we brought home . Phoenix chose the bigger pot and opted to use spray paint versus paint brush. As we watched him tackle the spray paint we encouraged him to not get it on his face in the process, he did pretty well. As it dried he chose to paint a dragon ball on the front in bright orange and red which really looks great on the turquoise pot. His younger brother chose turquoise as well and not to be outdone by his cool older brother he also painted a smaller dragon ball on the pot… now we have a theme.
Nadia travels to a different drummer, and knew before we left the store that hers would contain all the colors, a rainbow pot. As soon as we got home she set to work. She used every color we bought and there was no guidance, just have fun and they did. Then we planted the flowers and spread the rocks and enjoyed the beautiful day.
In the course of the planting, Nadia who is very independent says ” I want to do this myself so when am a grownup I can be a planter” I responded “Yes, it is fun isn’t it?” then she shared “You could be a planter Gma if you just got rid of that job you do” Truer words could not be spoken. She has a lot of wisdom for 5. If only we could all retain that simple thought process through life.
They capped off their afternoon with a round of “the floor is lava” while I cleaned up the yard and positioned the pots on the newly spread pebbles. Then we sprayed them with the hose to make them shiny. We replaced our worn flamingos into the rocks, one has one leg but we just pretend the other is hiding and hung our new summer flag that proclaims “Enjoy the Ride”. Our work here is done.
We tapped off the day with the late evening trip to the park which is located at a campground, so that means on Sunday everyone goes home. It’s part of our ritual to visit the playground right at dusk. Nadia had made a friend the day before and was hoping she would still be there and was disappointed for a second when she wasn’t and immediately joined her brothers in a quick game of tetherball and then proceeded to own the playground…because it was empty.
All in all just another day in the Midwest.
Until Next Time,
Jeany
Eclectic Energy 