Pleasures of living in Georgia

My life has kind of gotten in the way of my blogging.  Sunday was actually kind of wonderful.  I got to go to church, counsel with my bishop to get my head back on straight, and spend the rest of the day with my family setting wedding plans.  Just one of those pleasant days. Until.... late that night and Felicity started throwing up what she ate the night before. OH YUK!!  That wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't continued till noon Monday.  They say having a dog is like having a 2 year old and that's what it felt like.  Sleeping lightly listening for her. Getting up when I heard her, cleaning up, checking her to see if she was still hydrated.  Like most 2 year olds it's the mommy who gets to do this but unlike most 2 year olds Felicity weighs 100#.  We've had dogs with stomach problems (Akita's are notorious for it) for so long our family cookbook has a recipe in it called Dog Soup and when those outside our family see it they think it is a joke, but it is not it is what we feed our dogs when they get sick. Anyway I am no longer a young mother so the rest of Monday was shot,  I was one tired Grammie.  Tuesday I had cataract surgery, for a secondary cataract which is only a short office surgery, but still requires some recoup time.  Wow Wednesday I got up and what a difference the surgery made, everything was so much more detailed.

On the way to the pharmacy I was reminded of one of the many pleasures of living in Georgia.  I quite often make fun of living in Georgia and having a sense of humor does help no matter where you live as each place has it's own idiosyncrasies.  Every place also has it's own pleasures.  In Georgia being a temperate rain forest there are flowers and trees everywhere.  There are wild spaces and some surprising cultivated spaces.  I take an alley to the pharmacy and the back doors to the stores are landscaped.  There is even a couple of small parks and sitting areas right there on the alley.  All the photos today are from that alley yesterday.  Parking lots tend to be landscaped also.  Almost everywhere you go in Georgia there are flowers, trees, birds, and little critters.  And gardeners abound.  There are garden tours and shows.  Georgia is a beautiful place to live.

ENJOY

☺☺☺Johnina ☺☺☺

Now living fearlessly - Excuses Begone!

I just started reading Dr. Wayne Dyer's book Excuses Begone! for the third time.  Each time I get more and more out of it and more and more determined not to let excuses get in the way of my becoming the full and complete person I am supposed to be.  My Mom died at Easter time with so much left to give, with so much talent still left bottled up inside.  She was still so much afraid of life and what she had to give.  Dad gave her a necklace for her birthday that said "live, love, laugh" something I think she was learning it was missing from her life and was trying to put that philosophy into her life.  She made my sister, Pam, promise to give it to me when she died because she felt that of all her children I was the one missing that philosophy the most.  Mom received the necklace in January and died in April, not much time for her to use it.  I wore it for a long time, then put it up and only recently got it back out again.  It's time for me to use it to the fullest; to "live, love, laugh" to become the person I am supposed to be; to fearlessly live to leave the excuse behind so I don't die afraid of life with all my talents left bottled up inside.  This message seems to be coming from all sides, finding the necklace, finding the book, a receptionist who reminded me that I didn't want to die with my talent bottled up inside, to the unexpected death of a friend my age, to the anniversary of my mother's death. Serendipity coming into my life once again.
I edited and will print up this photo to remind me to live life fearlessly, to keep up my current zest for life.  The clouds are exploding out from behind the dark trees that had been hiding them and lighting them up on the way.  The clouds also remind me of the Pheonix's flames from which I can burst forth reborn.  (PLEASE CLICK ON PHOTO TO SEE MESSAGE MORE CLEARLY)