Stacking Delights
Spring planting, purple water, a puppy interior designer, birds, and laughter. My Sunday Best #8
This morning I was thinking about what to write for My Sunday Best. Since Dennis, our 16-week-old puppy wasn’t in the writing mood yet I decided to listen to the audiobook Book of Delights by Ross Gay. I learned about this book through the Instagram feed of a friend of mine. Although I love holding a real book in my hands, I also love listening to a good book, especially when it’s read by the author.
Gay’s friendly, easy voice makes me feel like I’m with an old friend, laughing, sharing real-life stories, and digging up tiny gemstones sparkling with truth and meaning.
So while I blotted up the spilled coffee from Dennis bumping my cup, I listened to the chapter titled Stacking Delights and decided that’s what I would do today.
One of my favorite practices is to identify a takeaway from my experiences. It’s kind of like when I used to ask the boys “What did you learn in school today?” So here are a few of the delights I discovered in life school this week.
I love to repurpose things and create something pretty or interesting out of something that isn’t. When we bought our conversion van there was a place where there was no carpet on the floor, just bare metal. One day in the local home improvement store I came across some small carpet samples. I carefully picked out two dozen or more in assorted sizes, colors, and shapes and then arranged them to create a mosaic carpet patch. Mickey glued them in, piece by piece. The final outcome looked really cool or at least it did. At one of our gigs this week, while we were inside playing music, Dennis discovered that he could pull out these little pieces of carpet and have a great time in the process. As you can guess, when I opened the side door it was a bit of a shock. But the best part of this story is when my friend Caroline opened the door later that night, looked at Dennis sitting amidst a sea of tiny carpet fragments, and said, “I like what you’ve done with the place.” DELIGHT
It’s Spring. The calendar says so and so does my mind. I put away my wool coat, gloves, and winter boots. I bought some plants…and I planted them. They were so pretty—until the temperatures dropped the following day and their lush green leaves were covered in a blanket of shimmering silver frost. I know better…I was raised in Colorado. I just forgot because it’s Spring. I went out and bought more plants and they’re waiting under the deck until the time is just right. Do-overs and beginning again. DELIGHT
Two doves walking down the trail, their pale luminescent feathers catching the sun as they pick through the spilled sunflower seeds from the feeders. DELIGHT
Drinking a glass of Elderberry/Hawthorn tea. The purple color of the water makes it look and taste extra special. DELIGHT
Hearing Mickey snort-laugh and throw his head back with his face illuminated by the screen of his phone on our way back home from the gig last night. DELIGHT
I’ve always believed that what I focus my attention on grows. Even as I write this, delights are popping up all around me. Writing this Sunday blog and thinking of you reading it—DELIGHT