Blessings abound

Cleaning windows inspires an ode to nature's bounty. The tree outside our bedroom window, a red maple, blazes like fire and casts its color into the bedroom when the sheer curtains are pulled aside. I was feeling out of sorts about having to clean the windows to install the storm windows today before it freezes next week.

Our house has many windows--lots of light pouring in at all seasons. But, there's the window cleaning. After enjoying the red maple, I made more discoveries looking out the remaining windows as I cleaned them. The squirrels are running full tilt, carrying acorns from the oak tree in front to their stashes in the quarter-acre woods. The chipmunk seems to have found a new domicile in the woods. Soon I'll put the feeders up, and the cardinals, titmice, chickadees and finches will be here in a flash. I'll enjoy them more, looking through clean windows.

Baby-sitting twice a week has subsided to one evening for a few hours. Granddaddy and I are getting pretty good at the routine. I feed Daniel when we get there and let him play awhile until it's his bedtime. He's 14 months old now, toddles everywhere, but never without a truck or a book in hand. I caught him at a serious moment--usually he sparkles with smiles and belly laughs. Lucky me, he loves to go to bed and curls up with Green Dog and goes right to sleep.

Jenna decided last week to build a playground with her big Lego blocks. Her construction included all kinds of play equipment and people to use them. The final touch was a green tree with daisies on one side and a red rose bush on the other. Imagine seeing all that in those rigid rectangular blocks. She delights in reading stories to us from her beginning readers. It's an awesome thing to see a child beginning to read, when you realize the lifetime of pleasure books can bring. We're a family of "bookaholics," it seems.