38 / 365 Bright Spots

I was looking for a little bright spot in an otherwise dreary day and thought about this little tree.  It’s growing by the side of the road in a large wooded lot between homes.  Someone dressed it up for the Christmas holidays and never removed the bows. 

37 / 365 Game Day

Pre-Super Bowl snacks – a fun evening with friends.

36 / 365 The Birthday Queen

Today is my youngest sister L’s birthday – she’s the one wearing the festive hat.  In celebration, the girls (my middle sister S, my niece J, and our dearest friend H) took her out to lunch.  What a great giggle-fest!

35 / 365 Go with the Flow

The day began with a trip to the vet for P.  Along with other tests, the doctor took his blood pressure.  I had no idea there were arm cuffs that small.  He looks thrilled, doesn’t he?

34 / 365 Keeper of the Crab

I am one of three hard-working administrators at our church.  A plastic tiara sits at P’s desk, and on birthdays she hands it over to the celebrant to wear around the office.  If it’s a really silly day, P makes it available for one of us to wear just for the fun of it. 

On Thursdays, volunteer C comes in and works with us, making that our favorite day of the week.  Today, C brought in a large, soft spongy crab and told P she could be the Keeper of the Crab.  When someone is really in a “crabby” mood, the creature is to be placed on the grumpy individual’s desk to signal a warning to others.  For obvious reasons, you don’t want to find the crab at your post.

Now, I suppose if it was your birthday AND you were crabby, you could receive both the tiara and the crab – with the result that you’d certainly be sending out mixed signals. 

33 / 365 The Apothecary Shop

As H was fixing his morning cup of coffee, he looked over at the kitchen counter and noted that with all the measuring, weighing, and mixing going on, it looked like an apothecary shop.  I explained that I was merely gathering my snacks together for work.

32 / 365 Persistence of Mother Nature

Each year for Easter our church parishioners order potted white lilies in memory or in honor of loved ones.  The lilies are placed in the sanctuary for Easter morning and add a gorgeous touch of festive celebration. When the service is over, the individuals who ordered the flowers are encouraged to take them home to enjoy.  However, there are always some left over.

A couple of years ago, my colleague and I couldn’t stand the idea of the leftovers being tossed in the trash so we started planting them on the church grounds.  Each year we add a few more, hoping for a field of lilies one day.

As I was walking into work this morning, a bit of green in the area that we plant the lilies caught my eye.  Yep!  You guessed it!  Little tips of lily greenery were poking their heads above ground.  It just made me grin from ear to ear, especially since it’s still so cold and gray and rainy today.  Mother Nature is such an amazing powerhouse!