A Bird Bath, Garden Memories and Fireworks

1. Little brown sparrows are attracted to the sparkling water of a makeshift birdbath...A terracotta planter basin placed in a heart-shaped iron plant hanger. A large smooth stone sits in the middle of the water for butterflies and bees to perch upon as they drink. The sparrows stand on the rim, dip their little beaks in the water and then tilt their heads back to let the water spill down their throats.

2. Harvesting seeds from my columbine plants, offspring off seeds from my own mother's garden in Georgia. The seeds carry a heavier meaning than in years before. Mama has had to give up living alone which meant giving up her beautiful garden. Each year when the columbine blooms, I think of mama and how sad it must be for her to no longer have her garden and how glad I am to be able to keep a part of her flower garden alive. If you would like to help keep my mama's garden growing, send me a message and I will send a few of her columbine seeds to you.

3. Living in a very small town that has a GIANT fireworks display each summer as a part of their Catholic Mt. Carmel Festival.

Rainbows, Spiderweb and a Forgotten Reason.

1. Rainbows on the concrete of our back steps.

2. A perfectly symmetrical spiderweb between our front porch railings.

3. A forgotten Reason...oops.

Unison, Inflatable Pool and Fresh Herbs

1. 149 purple coneflowers blooming in unison.

2. A toddler in tropical-colored swim trunks filling an inflatable pool with water from a green garden hose. He holds the nozzle of the hose to his chest, fascinated by the stream of water as it arcs into the pool.

3. Clipping fresh parsley and thyme from my front porch herb pots to season the red skin gold potatoes I will cook for dinner.

A Haircut, Wishy-Washy Weather and Generosity

1. A fresh new playful haircut.

2. A very rainy morning transforming into a beautiful sunny afternoon.

3. Three generations of Mollica descendants gather for their annual reunion, sharing their reserved pavilion with another family reunion that somehow managed to lose their own pavilion on this Sunday of questionable weather. The more, the merrier!

Helene, Scents of Summer and a Big Score!

1. As I am grinding our morning coffee beans, through the breakfast room window I discover the summer's first blooms on Helene, my beautiful Rose of Sharon. They are pale pink, almost white with a magenta center. I transplanted Helene from a neighbor's yard, a slight 16 inches tall, risen from a fallen seed. She now towers over me. I wait for her to bloom each summer and bring the bumblebees who wallow in her pollen.

2. The warm morning sunlight falls on the echinacea and a summer breeze fills the air with its sweet fragrance. We inhale. Chubby bumblebees travel from one pink flower to the next, in an almost rhythmic pattern. Britt squeals as a beautiful monarch lands on one of the sun kissed coneflowers, slowly opening and closing its glorious wings.

3. Finding a brand name on a recent thrist store purchase, searching for it on the web and discovering that the item I paid a slight $15.00 for sells for $1,600.

One more thing...Phoning my sister and hearing the joy in her voice when she tells me her daughter and precious grandsons are visiting.

Band-Aids, Surprises and a Good Laugh

1. Waking to find the band-aid I put on my elbow before bed, still there. For three nights in a row, the Target brand band-aid has rolled right off in the middle of the night. The keeper? A REAL Band-Aid. Sometimes, you get what you pay for.

2. A package arrives from my two sisters who live in Georgia. Britt watches as I tear into it like a kid on Christmas morning. Inside the box, smothered in bubble wrap, is a beautiful covered candy dish made of amber glass with a bag of Dove milk chocolates to fill it. There is an amber glass domed round butter dish with a delicately scalloped rim and a pressed floral design. There is a model ship made from wood with cloth sails for me to spray paint white and add to my ship collection for the bedroom I will soon be redecorating. It also includes gardening magazines to drool over and a beautiful card with a cloth-covered button. Sisters make life better!

3. My sister and I have a good laugh via cell phone as we discuss the fact that she put a bag of Dove chocolates in my gift box. A box she drove around in her car for several days in the heat of a Georgia summer before mailing it to me. All I'll say is, if you are craving chocolate, even melted, re-solidified calico colored chocolate that sort of crumbles and is very difficult to remove from the foil wrapper can satisfy!

Friendship, Eclairs and Blue Eyes.

1. Having a close long distance friend who calls at 8:15 in the morning (7:15 her time) to check on you when you send a whiny email to her first thing in the morning.

2. Coffee and Sam's Club mini eclairs on the front porch with my daughter, while we each read magazines (her: Cottage Living, me: After Capture) and watching the goldfinches feed. They are as bright as a ray of sunshine.

3. Capturing my daughter's beautiful blue eyes through my camera lens.