Redux: To be good and happy today

The quote from Sydney Smith: “We know nothing of tomorrow; our business is to be good and happy today” keeps coming to the forefront of my thoughts today. When that happens there is usually a reason. It is a good mantra when worry about tomorrow threatens or even when today feels difficult. I say the words, breathe deeply, exhale fully, smile, look on Karl, Bob, the woods – whatever is at hand that is good.

The words keep coming to me. Maybe I am meant to throw them back out into the Universe so here they are with the original post from September 27, 2007.

“We know nothing of tomorrow; our business is to be good and happy today”. –Sydney Smith

I woke up this morning feeling overwhelmingly thankful…for everything – for the laughter, the joy, the beauty of my days as well as for the challenges, sorrows and disappointments – for everything! It is all part of my life and I’m grateful for all of it.

If life were one smooth, flat ride the view would be lousy – and boring!! It takes a couple of trips to the valley floor to really appreciate the climb up and the beauty of the grand mountain view. And it is on those tumbles down that we often learn who we are, what we are made of, our strengths and weaknesses – and what we don’t want or who we don’t want to be which helps to clarify what we DO want.

A favorite mystery series I read features Amelia Peabody Emerson, wife of a famous Egyptologist and no slouch herself in that department. It is a fun romp of the Errol Flynn sort with the good guys always coming out on top. Amelia’s catch line when things are on the challenging side is biblical: the last line of Matthew 6:34: “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (King James Version). The more current translation is “Each day has enough trouble of it’s own” – but the first lines are “Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself”. Sometimes, when I find myself distracted by fretting about some future worry I picture Amelia and say the words and laugh – because, it is true and – “our business is to be good and happy today”!

And for today’s “illustration” – this photo is Karl on the right and Sparky, an 11 month old Border Collie belonging to Bob and Inez Love. Bob logged my property this spring and Sparky was normally along. Sparky and Karl bonded immediately and played, wrestled, chased and napped together. I don’t claim to know what really goes on in their little doggie brains but it seems pretty clear that they do not worry about any tomorrows.

Sparky and Karl

Wrapping up the week

Thursday afternoon, before the sun dipped behind the clouds, the sky and lake from Wayfarer’s park looked very different.


Temperature was right at 50F.

…and the above photos are from my newest electronic gadget thingy…

YOWZA! It is the HTC Thunderbolt, Verizon’s first 4g smartphone. I jumped the BlackBerry ship about 10 days ago and have been having more fun and giggles than a 55 1/2 year old person “should” (***) from a new toy :)!

Here it is connected to my laptop syncing contacts and calendar. When I get some music, it will sync that as well. It guesses words I’m trying to type, has animation for weather including windshield wipers and raindrops, falling snow and rolling clouds…. I’m sure the thunderstorm animation is spectacular as if you’ve seen the tv add, the start up is a thunderbolt complete with sound.

I have barely scratched the surface of what the thing can do, but my favorites so far are the flashlight – it uses the camera flash and has 3 beam intensities, and the Kindle app. I have a Kindle, but the 4.3 inch screen on this phone is actually not that much smaller, has great resolution and is very readable. And….the phone and the Kindle stay synced, automagically, so I can go back and forth and each finds my place.

I’m late to the touch gadget thing – friends have iTouch, iPad, iPhone and I’ve seen them and played a bit, but this is the first of my very own and I am amazed at the technology – FUN!!!

It was a good week in every way. The forecast for today is 100% rain which it is doing. I have a humongous pot of split pea soup complete with a ham bone, simmering on the stove. A fire is laid just waiting a match. A thermal air pot is full of my favorite hot tea. Karl and I are off to Whitefish – I have a hair appointment after which we will visit with Karl’s Auntie Kris and Uncle Hal and then home again, home again to light the fire, have a bowl of soup and a mug of tea and listen to the sound of spring rain on the roof.

Bob says he will wait in the nice, dry, warm house for us and to say “Hi” to Uncle and Auntie for him…

***The word “should” is mostly banished from my vocabulary…used here for effect :)!

By the lake

As it has so often these past days, the sky cleared late afternoon and the evening is beautiful. Karl and I walked along the shore until the sun dropped back into the clouds.

State of the snow

On seeing the photo from the last post of the field and lake, Marge asked if the snow was mostly gone.

March 31…it seems like it was just early January and I was looking at the two and a half months of winter to go – thinking that spring seemed a long way off. And now, only hours until April 1.

In the valley and even at my house, 100 feet above the valley floor, there is more bare ground than snow.

On our loop walk, there are plenty of spots for a snow loving dog to walk and roll in…

The home woods ground and the driveway are clear with only the piles of snow from plowing and shovelling.

It has been mostly rainy and dreary – good weather for cozying up inside with a small fire going in the woodstove. It is not done snowing here, but it will snow and melt and snow and melt and the day is not far off when I may have to get out a rake and do something about pine needles, pine cones and sticks.

Two things

Yesterday was Karl’s 10th birthday! We zipped into town at lunchtime to pick up a couple of pig’s ears for a birthday treat. He had one yesterday and the other is being saved for later this week.

A quick walk in rain, snow and sleet and then we were on our way home.

This photo shows it all: dark clouds to the right, sunshine from behind and to the left, squalls around the lake and a flock of birds overhead.

The sun won out for a beautiful evening and Karl had a very happy birthday.