rainy day monday...

"Life is full of beauty. Notice it." - Ashley Smith

My little slice of the world is in the midst of Spring, which is rare for Chicago (we usually slide from the chill of winter, straight into a summer haze). Even this Spring has been sporadic - hot and sunny one day, a snow shower the next. But on this morning, the gentle, steady drumbeat of rain woke me. After I got the kids off to school, I poured a cup of coffee, grabbed my umbrella, wrapped up and sat (and sipped) in the rain. It was glorious. The morning light, mixed with rain, overcast sky, bright Spring green, and crisp whether, reminded me of my and Mr. G's 15th wedding anniversary in Paris - le romantic sigh. The stillness and peace was identical to that of my 'Night Owl hours,' and just as inspirational as well. The ideal setting to create, write and work on my backlog of photos edits.

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"Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain." - Billie Holiday

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"I've always found the rain very calming." - Venus Williams

There are large windows on either side of my front door - I pass them on the way to my atelier. On this morning, I noticed that three Cardinals (One pink, another peach, the third Cardinal red) have built a nest in the vines over my front door - yes, I'm on Cardinal baby watch ;-} My atelier-desk faces a large sliding glass door (my backyard and large pond lie beyond) giving me a perfect, picturesque view. While making a sizable dent in my photo-edit backlog, I looked up and saw this handsome Crane strolling by. That's how I spent this morning - no television, no radio, no iPhone, no internet. Just the beautiful morning light, overcast sky, peaceful, inspirational quiet/stillness, brilliant spring green - rendered technicolor by the sweet gentle rain. So I needed to take a breath, be humbly grateful and thankful for, this life full of beauty in my tiny slice of the world. Join me?

Vivre! Rire! Aimer!

Temple