hhireno, a gentle breeze on a nice day is a simple pleasure. A howling wind makes me want to bite something. ;)

I call my simple things my silver linings. I look for unexpected little bits of joy every day. Even when I'm down, and concerned...if I try hard enough, I can always find something.

For me, it's starting my day with a good cup of coffee, walking my dogs outside on a nice day (and they behave so we can all enjoy it!), stopping to chat with happy neighbors and chit chat about pleasantries. The beauty of nature, watching animals in the ponds, listening to the birds chirping and tweeting...I can feel my blood pressure going down just thinking about it.

Tea, in one of my favourite traditional tea cups.

Right now it is knowing I am one day closer to retirement. No firm date (trying to be nice and negotiate with my company), but it's coming.

Bunny, that garden is amazing. I would love having that in my yard. Alas, the deer would eat it all.

As soon as I find time to power wash my deck and purchase plants and flowers, it will be sitting out there in the mornings with my coffee.

I love that teacup l i a it's ruffle scallopy and here's what brightens my day

I have two grandchildren. One will be five in July, the little guy will be three in September.

My husband and I watch them three days a week. I pick up the older grandson from pre-k. We have really nice talks on the drive back. It’s nice, it it’s just us.

I’ll sound like a cookie-cutter grandma, and say he’s so smart…. but he really is.

He starts with ”what will we talk about today?” We have covered all sorts of things. I share the photo topic (Annie’s) with him…. last time around the alphabet… that was fun. Thinking of words that start with a particular letter…. this time it‘s colors. He asked yesterday what did I pick for yellow.

I told him about this topic, and that I had mentioned the beauty of nature… people that I love, Charlie the cat, music etc…

I said I forgot to mention, that a bright spot in my life is the talks he and I have together. He said it’s a bright spot for him too….❤️

Aw Michele, thank you for this. Our chats here go out into the world and come back better than ever.

Sue, is that one at the top an oriole? We don't think we have anything like that around here.

I’m so enjoying looking through this thread, everyone — beautiful pictures and thoughts. Thanks for starting it, Bunny. :)

I could list so many, but will share the lovely Amaryllis one of my best friends (lives in another state) sent me two years ago for Christmas. It came as a bulb and bloomed beautifully that year.

This past Christmas, no blooms. I cut it down and babied it inside the house, and thought I must have done something wrong.

But then — see below. Wow! She sprouted back up and bloomed wonderfully …. and also had a baby. :D

As much as I love gardening, I’m not experienced with bulbs AT ALL, so this is very exciting for me. I put her outside so the neighborhood could enjoy her beauty, too. But the best part is that she helps me feel closer to my BFF, who I miss dearly. I wish we lived closer.

It’s rainy and dark out, these pics don’t do her justice!

Look how perfect the blooms are! Amazing.

ETA: Here she was as a baby:

After spectacular blooms a few weeks later, I took off the wax coating and planted her. Again, a miracle to me, as I’ve had no experience with these!

A tree went through my cheap greenhouse a few years ago. I finished a tv stand to hold my house plants. I still have to put up the hanging planters.

Bunny — yes. I am not a bird enthusiast at all, but from what I half listened to when DH was going on about them, they only stop here briefly. (On their way to Baltimore? IDK)

One of the people in my travel club is a birder, and just saw her ... I think it was 7,000th species. Another list person. I know there is some controversy about how many there are but she saw her final species on some app they all seemed to know about.

That one did not even tempt me! But I do think we should get a bird feeder!

The Merlin app?

Sue - what's the bird in the last photo. I have 6 bird feeders in my back yard and I've never noticed that one. I'm guessing a warbler of some kind - a Myrtle yellow warbler?

Love the Merlin app, especially the sound recognition.

Yellow Rumped Warbler, according to my resident bird nerd.

Yellow rumped or myrtle warbler. lovely pic Mr-Sueb20

Sue, I love that you can get good photos of the birds. I wish I had enough of a lens to get them clearly. I started to reply before that post was up, but I kept getting interrupted here at home and at some point it isn't worth it, but our blooms and birds are definitely on my list -- and helping today. I was about to head upstairs when I looked out the side window and saw a baby bluebird looking down at the mealworm cup - staring and seeming to be asking, "How do I make them appear? Staring seemed to work yesterday." Then another appeared and bent down to stare, then 2 were at the tray under the larger feeder. That means we had 4 of the 5 survive (DH found one that didn't may have been fledging when I saw a great horned owl swoop across our yard one cloudy afternoon). This was the first time we'd seen more than 2 at a time, and we were happy for at least two. The last 2 years have been very hard on the bluebirds, especially last year when they lost of of 2 nests and then moved on. This afternoon I saw the adults flying in and out of the nest box -- they are starting on a new nest.

We had chickadees in another nest box and wrens, cardinals and robins all nesting somewhere. We have hummingbirds visiting daily too. We've got peaches, plums, lemons and tomatoes and peppers all ripening and it looks like the main water supply line between our meter and the house will be repaired without having to dig up my 35 year azaleas. And we will have water tonight.

Sharing the beauty in your lives, whether nature, animals or people, brings warmth to my heart and a smile on my lips. Wonderful thread! This: ”He starts with ”what will we talk about today?” (Michele)

And ”She doesn't walk for long, actually she doesn't walk at all, but rather she just runs with such unbridled joy and picks up rocks and passes them onto her grandfather and wiping her dirty hands on his pants.” (blfenton) Yes, Mtn., a poem. Sue, your dh is a wonderful photographer! I’m loving so many/all. Only my dislike of typing on ipad keeps me from praising each one ! Of course our dogs… 5 now as we dog sit for dd. My home, which is 5 minutes from city things , yet with a backyard view that keeps me from deeply envying you with true country surroundings. We ” Bloom where we’re planted ” .

TY, Bunny.

My next door neighbor's daughter who is 14 now has brought me a bouquet of flowers every year for May Day. Yesterday was a beautiful one of yellow roses. The flowers are always beautiful but having this precious girl in our lives is the best gift of all!

I have two things which made me happy his week.

(1) I recently added this chair and lamp to a corner of my family room and I seem to start and end my days there now, working on the knitting I am committed to mastering.

(2) I do Doggy Day Out for our local shelter -I take a dog out for a few hours to give them a break from the shelter. This week I took Damonette (don't ask) and ohmygosh, she's just the perfect little dog. So gentle on the leash and friendly to everyone.

Bestyears, that chair! I would never get out of it. Thank you so much for doing Doggy Day Out. Damonette sounds like the perfect little pitty ambassador. I hope she finds her forever home soon.

Best… that’s a very inviting corner Very nice!!

And. good for you helping pups . Are you in danger of bringing one home?

haha, I'd take her home in a second, but my Vanny doesn't like other dogs, so I've got a nice built-in boundary, LOL.

Best, what does Vanny do when you've got a DDO dog? Or do you leave Vanny home and stay out with the other dog?

One more.

Best, during my years at our shelter, my dh was happy our dog would take no nonesense of another dog, Years later, we like having two. just the five at present are waay too much…especially the baby!

Aww, looks like that was fun. Too bad you didn't get a video. Hope it wasn't anything important.

I met two police horses yesterday!! I got to pet them!! Kensie let me gently stroke his nose. Such handsome boys. 🐴🐴 It made my day bright ☀️

Bunny, yes, I have to stay away from the house. Fortunately, there are tons of stores here that allow dogs so I take them to hobby lobby, HomeGoods, Old Navy, floor and decor, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Barnes & Noble, etc.

Today...DH took photos of the Devon daffodils... I planted 100!

It's kinda hard to tell from this photo because I needed to take a panoramic shot and have lots of street in the middle. My house is on the far right. In 2012 I tossed two packs of California poppy seeds (State flower) around my front yard. They eventually spread next door (those neighbors and I have let our front yards merge), and then they jumped the street. You can cut them back or pull them up, but they always return. They are irrepressibly adorable and my favorite spring flower.

Yes, that's a Nash Metropolitan down the street on the right.

Bunny, that looks like northern California -- a lot like the area we used to live, though the house we lived in was in a group of stucco clad homes. DH loves the poppies. I did too, but he was born in that area, so his connection to them is a bit deeper. I love how yours have grown and keep on giving.

lascatx, yep, Sonoma County.

 ⁶

Bunny -- same.

Your DH is from here?!!

He was biorn and raised inthe east bay, linve in SF for a while and we lived in Marin County and Sonoma County after we got married. Many things I loved when we lived there -- including natural air conditioning when we moved to Sonoma County.

lascatx, I’m in Santa Rosa. It does get hot in the summer, but it usually cools off at night thanks to the marine layer. I only got AC a couple of years ago when we had back to back 110 days. No mas.

I was thinking that looked like Santa Rosa or possibly certain parts of Petaluma. Our house was in Petaluma. I was near my due date with our second when we bought it and we moved when he was 5 days old. A selling point to me was that the house was prewired for AC. We never did install AC, but what I would have given to have it in the townhouse we rented when we were newlyweds. IT wasn't a bad place as long as it wasn't hot -- it sat at the base of a hill that often didn't that marine layer and the upstairs master had one window with no breeze ever and the bathroom had a west facing window that didn't open - just baked. I remember 104 living when living there. I was sent home on bedrest with preterm labor with our first -- the house was so hot, My legs swelled up and I told DH I felt like the Ballpark Franks commercial -- plump up when you cook 'em. 110 might have been the end of me. Other than that, living there, gardening and the rest of the weather were all pretty good.

even though it’s a rainy day, i love the cherry blossom petals on our brick sidewalk

Poetry…

Sonoma is just heaven! No complaints please.

No complaining from me, although it does seem to trigger a lot of pollen allergies. We have a potential fire season that can have a lot of us on edge. But I do love this place for its natural beauty, climate, and generally good heartedness from its locals.

Just thought I would report back that Damonette is on a sleepover! Cross your fingers it is the home she deserves. I took Bruno out today. His one-year anniversary at the shelter is May 17th. He's the nicest boy in the world. Loves people, loves kids... but not great with other dogs. I know I look horrible in this photo, (no makeup and no sleep) but look at this boy's face. He just wants to be loved.....

Best, you are a very handsome woman! The idea that you might like yourself with a bit of makeup doesn't detract from that at all.

What a sweet dog. I love this concept!

Thank you for starting this thread, Bunny ... and thank you all for sharing with us!

I was having a rough go the day this was posted .. it would have been my dad's 84th birthday and the next night, 5 years ago, he had a fall and a traumatic head injury that caused his death. It still takes my breath away but I am so very thankful that we chose to break all covid rules and celebrate his birthday with him -- outside. He was so happy to see family and I am so happy to have those joyful memories. Still ... those few days are hard every year.

So thank you-- you all DID make my days a little brighter.

The first batch of 2025 of Western Bluebirds has hatched in my bird box. Much activity as the parents tag team feedings. Cheep cheep cheep. Always a blessed event, so grateful they choose to come back every year.

I was entertained by a very little bunny running back and forth across my patio. Slightly bigger than the chippie that runs across my patio. So cute!

I realized I can’t say the word ”bunny” in a normal tone of voice when I’m greeting them, its always very high and excited. My apologies in advance, Bunny, if we ever meet. I will be excited to met you, but I’ll try to bring my voice down to normal.

Bestyears…you have a great face…at 75, I appreciate the stories in faces of women. You have good stories, I can tell.

My smile today is that the first hummingbird has returned to my backyard here in Nova Scotia. Always a celebratory event.❤️