Long Hollow

Oh, I had big plans for yesterday, all spelled out in a realistic and do-able list of things to accomplish on my day off.

Besides the usual – my morning walk with the dogs, their breakfast on the back porch and my work-out which I always dread and want to get out of the way as soon as possible – I was eager to activate my new iPhone. I'm finally entering the "iWorld", although still a bit behind everyone else with a 3G because they're cheap and 4Gs aren't.

Once I had my new phone up and running, I would tackle the rest of my list: pick up a few groceries, try out a new recipe, clear the mound of paperwork from my desk, pay some bills, work on my book and blogs and photos … until it was time to shuttle TG to her summer class at the community college.

However, I forgot about Murphy's Law. To activate the phone, I had to install iTunes on my computer and that turned into an all day ordeal, involving downloads and uninstalls and phone calls to Apple.

Sooo… I'm still using my old phone today. Sigh. The pretty, new, shiny iPhone is back in its box waiting for my next day off to be brought to life.

But this morning I'm still smiling, inside and out, and here's why…

Belle greeted me, all wiggles and grins and squeals of delight, as soon as I stepped out the door.

How could you see this face and not smile?

Then Max pranced around the corner and even though Belle bit his ankles all the way up the walkway, he kept grinning – he puts up with the pain and irritation (to a certain extent, anyway) out of love and appreciation for her playfulness. Seeing him smile makes me smile.

But there's more…

I know we need rain and I would welcome stormy skies, but in all honesty, a blue sky stretching cloudless from one rose-kissed horizon to the other makes my heart soar.

My bougainvillea continues to bloom, brightening the browns and grays with splashes of deep fuschia.

Bird tracks zig-zag and criss-cross the dirt in several spots along our road. Perhaps a roadrunner or the goofy doves that cluster in that area, but they remind me of my Frankie-bird and that makes me smile.

I received a text yesterday from someone very dear to me, someone whose heart suffered deep loss just a few years ago, someone who I feared would never rediscover the joy in life, letting me know he'd found love again. He's happy. That didn't just make me smile – it made me cry with joy!

Even if I didn't have all of these things to smile about, I'd find a way to smile anyway because of this Japanese proverb I came across yesterday…

‎"We do not smile because something good has happened;

rather something good happens because we smile." 

So find a way to smile today, somehow, someway!

And now here's my Favorite Photo of the Week…

This just says "Texas" to me, because where but Texas will you find a cactus growing beside a vineyard? 

Maybe there are other places, but we Texans always like to think we're unique. Being a Texan makes me smile – as well as getting to work where I can see cactus growing beside a vineyard.

Happy Friday! Tell me what makes you smile these days.