Happiness

Made by my recent host and sister, Kate Hersberger-Cheers

Apparently happiness is a choice. Chasing happiness is the goal, yet a spontaneous burst of happiness surprises me with no choice and no chase.

Each time I look at this marvellous sunflower, happiness flowers inside my heart and makes me smile
(Usually only babies have that effect on me.)

Sunflower has stayed at Kate’s but I’ve brought a photo with me!

“Our brightest blazes of gladness are 

commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.”

~ Samuel Johnson, The Idler; Poem

Into the Sunset

The sun has set on my prairie vacation

Stubby trees stand guard in my absence in the presence of my cherished family and friends.

This longing of mine, spontaneous and deep, is an imprint of my prairie home ~ a part of my DNA.

“Sunsets, like childhood, are viewed with wonder 

not just because they are beautiful but because they are fleeting.”

~ Richard Paul Evans, The Gift

Qu'Appelle Valley Autumn

A prairie walk with Kate
Down a well trodden path through drying bush
Between tall grasses bearded or burnished golden red
softly rumpled hills of faded green
trimmed in orange rusting prairie bush and tree
Tall rushes in a dense marsh stand in deep still waters,
filled with busy lives of beavers, frogs, and birds.
Summer's breath held in azure sky.
In awe of autumn's spontaneous grandeur.

"Fall has always been my favourite season. The time 

when everything bursts with it's last beauty, as if 

nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale."

~ Lauren DeStefano, Wither

A History of Friendship

A history of friendship
Reads of hugs and tears
Laughter and more hugs

A history of friendship
Reads of coffee and cinnamon buns
While reviewing life's joys and sorrows

A history of friendship
Is never boring or dry reading
But a cherished book full of the spontaneity of life.

"Like seeds we start small, grow together and stand tall."

~ Evy Michaels

Prairie Calm

At home

driving through prairies

wide golden wheat fields

trimmed and tidied

bales rolled and wrapped

cutouts of barns and granaries

against the pale blue evening sky.

Curving horizon frayed by infrequent trees.

Sun long set but sky only slowly losing light.

Strips of tattered pink cloud silk

hover over the sun's last rays.

Witnessing the wide open earth and sky ~

a spontaneous balm to my heart.

"I was born upon the prairie, where the wind blew free, 

and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. 

I was born where there were no enclosures, 

and where everything drew a free breath."

~ the Great Comanche war chief, Ten Bears

Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart.

Definitely Not Poetic

Today's line up:
Visiting with a friend, coffee and pj's

Brunch with RGH School of Nursing - 260 nurses - classmates all: career instructors, staff nurses, and administrators. 43rd Annual Alumnae meeting for my school of nursing. In the first years, it was a Saturday evening supper, however a couple of years ago, we voted to change it to a Sunday brunch. (Today, and quite spontaneously, it was decided that the Roughrider fans - dressed in Roughrider green t-shirts  ate first so they wouldn't miss the game). A 75 year class reunion, a 60 year class reunion and a 50 year reunion besides those of us in the in between years spent the brunch hour reminiscing with great fondness.

Our speaker this year was Jacque Tisher of Hope's Home here in Regina. Jacque Tisher is an RN, who began Hope's Home because of her own child with complex special needs. Hope's Home is the only day care in Canada for children with complex medical needs. Any of the family's children in need of day care come to this daycare special needs - whether with or without complex medical needs. An important principal for this organization is that of family.  Hope's Home is a non-profit organization, only four years old, that now has day care sites in Saskatoon and Prince Albert.

A brief break for a bit more visiting.

Then out to supper with my grandson - Thanks Jon!  Love you! Love talking philosophical ideas with you..

Now:  visiting with a friend while watching the Emmy's, back in pj's.

hopeshome.org
Can also be found on Facebook
p.s. - The Rider's won!!

"Caring is the essence of nursing."

~ Jean Watson

Flight Line

Clouds raining down,
black asphalt shines
street lights reflect in puddles

Up from the tarmac
soft white fog cushions,
blotting out landscape and sky

Rising above the fog
rumpled grey cloud throws a blanket
to the edges of the horizon

Passing the horizon
a flat white sheet of cloud
meets blue domed sky

Ever shifting cloud becomes
soft foothills and valleys
white, slate blue and grey

Light grey clouds thin and fray
rivers and prairie beneath
disappear spontaneously

Patchwork prairie emerges
clouds suspend themselves
tarmac dried, dusty and rough.

"The sky and the sun are always there. It's the clouds that come and go."

~ Rachel Joyce