3 Gifts Surprisingly Found

Could this be? A day of warm sunshine after so many weeks of cold and snow?

Yes. This was a gift surprisingly found.

On Thursday, April 3, 2014. 

I even saw rhubarb poking up through the earth.

The first gift on this beautiful day.

Thankful I am for working in my garden.

Thankful I am for finding this marble in the garden while I raked.

Thankful I am that my cat, Nadine, and dog, Freddy, could both be outside, together, without doing harm to each other!

Thankful I am.

3 Gifts White

Thankful I am for three gifts white.

The Angel in the pine tree in our backyard. She keeps watch over us and our cat, Nadine, and our dog, Freddy.

There were two Angels. But one fell in a storm. We call her our Fallen Angel.

The snow and ice on The Lower Mill Pond in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

Happy. Once. Of course. To see the snow fall for the first time. And the ice form. And then it snowed again. And again. And again. And again. And now we are thankful to see the snow disappear and the ice melt!

Our white dinner plates.

We use them almost every night. Martha Stewart plates. Bought in a discount merchandise store. You can see more photos of them over at my food Blog, Bruce's Kitchen. Here we are about to enjoy our first Spring hamburger (On rye toast with onions and mushrooms), Roasted Asparagus with Sesame Seeds, and Oven-Roasted Potatoes.

Thankful I am.

3 Gifts Round

Thankful I am for:

The round table. The table at the art gallery where I hung my photos today. The table supports one photo, a vase of flowers, a price list, a biography (short) and guest book.

The old wheel and spokes in our backyard. Now no longer buried under snow. Today the air was warm. Birds singing. My dog playing in the backyard. And the wheel soon might be placed back in my garden and I will plant herbs between the spokes. Spring!

The colorful, but rusty, bucket. The bucket by the fence door. Its purpose to hold the door open when I mow the lawn. Seeing it today (And feeling the warm sun.) reminded me of the days yet to come. The days of warmer weather and growing grass. Grass that will need mowing. A few times each and every week. For me a very prayerful activity.

Thankful I am.

A Gift Heard, Held, Hoped For

Heard:

Felix Mendelssohn Bartoldy - Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without words) Op.53 No.2. Performed by Elena Kuschnerova on 19 October 2009 at the University of Tainan (Taiwan).



Held:

I framed 3 - 8 x 10 prints in small white frames. Affordable art for my exhibition. The 20 other frames and prints are larger:

Hoped For:

I am hoping people visit my exhibition:

I am hoping that I help people to see the beauty in the everyday. Ann Voscamp writes about this on her Blog, A Holy Experience, today.

She writes: "The realest extraordinary is always found in the ordinary."

The good news for me today is that I am seeing God's love working in my life and I am confident that people will be move.

People write to me:

“You have shown me to see the world with a completely different set of eyes. Every single day you bring beauty, joy, depth, and new perspective into my life. I cannot thank you enough for being the beautiful, kind, loving, gentle, and soulful man you are."

“You do have a way, a gift, of capturing the quintessential essence of the subjects in your photos."

"Your amazing photographs warm my heart and fill my day with moments of beauty. Beauty that continues to stay in my heart and mind even after those moments have passed."

Thankful I am.