Gratitude Monday: Out and about

Except for taking a customer call, I took Friday off. It being May Day, I felt like symbolically telling the 1% to get stuffed, along with the means of production. I intended to sleep in and then take a good walk. However, I woke up earlier than usual, and just as I was suiting up to go out, I heard the rain start.

Well.

So, I spent most of the morning cleaning one of the kitchen counters. Since I moved in, in February 2017, I have not seen that counter. It went straight from moving boxes to bunch o’ stuff. I cleared it off and washed it with bleach. And I organized all the supplies under it, too, so I know what/how much I have of baking ingredients.

Then, as I was switching over to professional mode, to get on the customer call, the clouds parted and the sun came out.

Of course.

Well, the call was…weird, and the minute it was over I was in my walking clothes and out of the house. We’ve had rain for most of the past week, so getting out was just glorious. Here are a couple examples of what’s out there in a People’s Republic Spring:

I felt so energized by that walk that when I got back I spent a couple of hours pruning bushes in the back yard. And Saturday I did it again, this time also digging up a stump of some shrub I’d sawed off a couple of years ago, but has been trying to grow back. I don’t know what it is, but I wanted it out. That took about an hour, but in the beautiful sunlight, it didn’t seem so bad at all. Today, when the trash guys come, they’ll have both bins to empty, instead of the quarter of one they usually have.

It feels so lovely to get out and see the beauties that nature offers no matter what plague humans are experiencing. And to dig in the dirt and consider what I can do in my own little corner of nature. And to see that kitchen counter in all its Formica glory after more than three years.

And that’s what I’m grateful for today.