Long Hollow

Gray skies. Gray thoughts. 

Thinking of disappointment on my walk this morning, for some reason… how people who are close to us may disappoint us – our friends, our family – but how easily and often we also disappoint them, with our words, actions, or non-actions.

The government disappoints us, like our episode with the dam and our property rights (or non-rights)… our bodies disappoint us, getting old before we're ready to slow down… time disappoints us, going too fast or too slow… and we disappoint ourselves by missing a rare opportunity when it's offered or not following our dreams or wasting time or by forgetting to show kindness to someone or a million other ways…

We're human, though. Even the government is just a bunch of humans trying to do right by everyone (or so we hope, anyway) which is ultimately impossible, so all of this is to be expected, I guess. 

Joy does not depend on sunny circumstances, good news, or happy endings.
It comes from knowing that whatever happens, God loves me;
that whatever happens, He is preparing a better place for those who love Him.
- Phil Callaway

That helps, but the gray skies still hover inside and out, even though I'm excited that I'll be seeing all of my babies this weekend. It's just one of those mornings. I trust the sun will come out soon…

In the meantime, here are my Friday Favorite Photos of the Week. My first one is technically from last week, but since I somehow skipped a Friday Favorite post, I'll share it now. 

I barely noticed this little guy on the side of our road when I was driving by one afternoon – it was before the rains came and he was covered with road dust… caliche-colored, blending in.

I stopped and put him on the floorboard, then once home, me, Tom, Belle, Max and Haley escorted him through the woods to a spot on the creek downstream from our ponds and released him into relatively deep water (safe from the puppies.)

I briefly thought of keeping him as a pet – I miss Frankie and the diversity he added to our household – but, no offense to turtles, I just don't think he could compare to Frankie in personality. Besides, Frankie chose us. I'll keep my fingers crossed we're lucky enough to be adopted again.

They're both pretty cute, aren't they? (This isn't Tom's normal smile – he was copying the turtle, but the turtle was a smart ass and ducked into his shell just before I snapped the picture.)

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The second one is proof that if you just open your eyes, you'll find wonder in the world. The puppies and I were on our morning walk… I was snapping my routine daily photos of the dam (we learned we have to keep on eye on things there) and so I was filled with those gray thoughts like this morning's, when I just happened to look down. There she sat, this emerald beauty, living proof of the ultimate Artist… of his miracles and the beauty he placed in this world for us to find. Not-so-hidden treasure, if we'll only take the time to open our eyes and see it. (For more dragonfly images, click here.)