A Good Saturday

After over a week of just freezing temps here on the Monterey Peninsula, today was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  The sun was shining brightly, there was no fog and it was just a beautiful day. It was colder in the house than it was outside, so I opted for the out of doors.  I got two large flower beds weeded and deadheaded.  They look rather lovely again.  I pruned my rose bush for the first time in a couple of years.   The last few winters have been a bit warm, so it never really got cold enough for it to go dormant.  I wanted to get it done this year since it was taller than me and kind of scraggly.  It was a bit shocking to see it cut back so dramatically.  

It felt so nice to have the sun warming my back as I kind of puttered for a little while.  I did not do any heavy duty gardening.  At one point I just sat down in my Adirondack chair and enjoyed the sunshine.   It was really quiet so I looked around to see what Liesl was doing.  I did not see her by her gopher holes and I did not think she went back in the house.  All of the sudden I saw her sitting in the middle of a huge area filled with oxalis.  She was just sitting there right in the middle of those yellow flowers, enjoying the sun and just smiling away.  She looked so full of joy that it made me happy.  I started to go inside to get my camera but, alas, the spell was broken.  She followed me inside in hopes that it was cookie time.  

It is so hard when one has more than one fun activity that they love.  My love of stitching unfortunately competes with my love of books.  Today a book won and I spent the rest of the afternoon reading.  Fellow stitchers have suggested that I try listening to a recorded book while I stitch.  Unfortunately, I am a visual person.  I can listen to a book in the car, however, listening to a book while I am stitching either makes my mind wander or makes me sleepy.  I can be stitching merrily along and then think to myself that I have no idea what I am listening to.  

So tonight after I had played sufficiently with the furgirl and given her the daily puppy massage, I sat down to finish the back of that gosh darn heart.  I have about two inches to go and then I will be ready to assemble it to the front.  I had thought about working on the bell pull, but the guilt of being so close to finishing this piece was just getting to me.  I hope to finish it tomorrow and be done with it.  The back has made me not enjoy this piece so much.  

So I am feeling content that I got some nice things accomplished today.  The highlight of the day was seeing that little happy face on my sweet little schnauzer.  Maybe the lesson in there for all of us is to be in bliss, sitting in the sunshine and taking the time to smell the flowers.