Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 4/23/26

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

1. Discovering new Little Free Libraries. (Do you have them where you live?)

This one is in the Vernonburg neighborhood of Savannah.

2. The amazing ability to see light.

Here the morning light is favoring my side of our little study.

I especially love the light and shadow on my Yes Stick.

There’s a bit of a story here. For some reason, years ago, as Robert and I were hiking in the woods somewhere, my eyes rested upon a small fallen tree branch shaped like the letter Y.

I was going through a difficult patch of life at the time and I thought, “Yes! That stick is reminding me that I can say Yes! to so many things, things I already have and things I desire.”

So I picked up my Yes Stick and hiked with it for a while, saying “Yes!” time and again.

I kept up the practice, and on another hiking adventure, I picked up the one you see in the photo above. Robert told me to give it to him. He brought it home, varnished it, and we put it above my desk.

So that you have it. My quirky, slightly weird story of the origin of my Yes Stick.

I challenge you the next time you see a stick (or anything) shaped like a Y, to pause and say “Yes!” to something you love or have or desire.

3. Our imaginations.

4. Robert’s new glasses, which look gargantuan in this photo at Savannah’s Midtown Sports Bar the other night as we were watching our Atlanta Braves.

You can’t quite tell it in this photo, but HR is wearing his Matt Olson Braves jersey. 

5. My spiky ball, which so helps my ongoing lower back pain.

I hope you have a Helper of some kind this Beautiful Spring Weekend.

Posted in Thursday Doors

Thursday Doors: “Not the Main Door” 4/23/26

On a recent spring morning walk here in Savannah, my eye kept going to doors that were not the main door to a house or dwelling.

Like this one, which sort of looks like a garage door, but on closer inspection (i.e. spying through the cracks), I saw that this rooster door led to a small courtyard.

Can you see how the door opens to the left of #5?

A bit farther down the alley where I was walking, I came upon this vine-topped garage door.

And I love chancing upon iron gates, which are often doors leading to beauty.

Jasmine is sprouting up all over Savannah.

Look at the morning light spilling through the black iron!

And looking through another gate, spring charm exploded.

I hope you walk through some doors into beauty on this Thursday.

Posted in Five Friday Happy Bringers

Five Friday Happy Bringers 4/17/26

My weekly gratitude journal, of sorts.

1. For some reason this hole in an old piece of wood at the top of a wire fence at a local farm made me smile a bit and think.

Sometimes it’s what’s NOT there that somehow wields its way to the center of attention.

2. Sticking to that line of thinking, one morning this week. I woke up, looked at our breakfast table and saw that Robert had cleaned up a bit a little flower arrangement that was moving past its prime.

It made me smile again, perhaps with a melancholic edge, appreciating the beauty that was, and in a way, still is.

That little morning moment also made me think of Frost’s oh-so-truthful poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Note to self: Enjoy it all while I still can.

3. Accidental photographs that somehow express a surprising hint of beauty.

Dashboard of our little Hyundai Accent.

4. Salt and pepper.

I love our salt and pepper shakers too.

5. Robert and Benny.

May you have Plenty to Love this weekend.