Where the Beauty Is (Mary Chapin Carpenter)

Yes, it's Feel Good Friday, but I'm not offering up, as I usually do, any random links.  My day got away from me in a lovely way, and it's already 3:45 p.m.  Instead follows a list of five beautiful things that happened to me this week.  Hoping you are all even half as lucky as I am, to be surrounded by so much loveliness, albeit in the middle of a pandemic.  At times it is easy for me to focus on the negative, but counting my blessings allows me to re-prioritize, and shine the spotlight on the friends, family, and activities I have to be grateful for.  To infinity and beyond?!?

~ Had a Zoom call with my bUUkies (my UU book club) Wednesday night.  In addition to talking about some of the books we've enjoyed reading this past summer, we also took turns recommending books, and we came up with 14 interesting selections.  At this point, we will each choose four and send them, in order of preference, to our organizer, who will tally the results and get back to us as to what we'll be reading in September, October, November, and December.  Very excited!

~ A dear friend, who actually lives in Kansas, told me about Ellis Paul's Wizard of Oz livestream this past Wednesday night (which I jumped straight to as soon as we wound up the bUUkies Zoom gathering).  "OH WHAT A WORLD! Tonight's Traveling Medicine Show provides an elixir born from the film "The Wizard of Oz". We will be performing songs from the movie, and songs inspired by its themes-- Scarecrows, tornados, and rainbows. All are on the menu tonight. Special guest is the incredible Wizard of The Fret Board Vance Gilbert (see bio below). Thanks for stopping by! Put up your ruby red slippers, click them heels, and enjoy the tornado as it spins you beyond the clouds.  This week’s show is sponsored by Kansas Public Radio and their legendary folk program "The Trail Mix" hosted by Bob McWilliams."  It was a delightful 90 minutes, and Ellis did his homework, sharing lots of trivia about the books and movie.  The concert is archived here, and I might actually take the time to re-watch.  If I Only Had a Brain on banjo.  Wow!

~ I don't think I have mentioned this before, but I am transporting Colin from Point A to Point B a few times a week to help Sarah a bit, which has been such a joy (not only to be of assistance, but to spend quality one-on-one time with him).  I am obsessed with the Hamilton soundtrack, and he and I have developed a routine in the car where I sing "I am not throwing away my"... and then I turn around and point to him, and he says/shouts "SHOT!".  We track the green, yellow, and red lights on our journey.  We also name all the dinosaurs, and he can now say brontosaurus and stegosaurus quite clearly... :-)

~ Had a follow-up chiropractor visit yesterday morning, and I signed up for a one-month/12-visit/three-times-a-week treatment that should get my minor upper-spine/neck and lower-spine/back issues re-aligned, M-W-Sat mornings at 9:30.  I had another adjustment too which, coupled with the Wednesday massage, has me feeling better than I have in quite a while.  

~ Sweet Nancy invited me over to her pool this morning, where we not only stretched our muscles but spilled our guts as well as solved the problems of the world.  Talking about everything from nutrition to politics to husbands (can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em!).  More reinforcement and support for my mind, body, and spirit.  Thanks, NW... 💖

~ Bonus item:  After the downsizing, I have not really been buying CDs, but there are a very few that feel necessary, like MCC's new one, The Dirt and The Stars, which was released last week.  Everything I've heard and read about it tells me I must make an exception so, after I hit Publish, I am headed to Amazon.  My kids make fun of me for still owning Compact Discs (!) rather than using Spotify but sometimes, I just want to keep my phone and my music player separate, technology be d*mned.  

Wishing you all a joy-filled weekend, and see you here again on Monday... 💓

NR:  Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld


SONG:  Where the Beauty Is by Mary Chapin Carpenter

BOOK:  The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson, Rafael López  (Illustrator)

POEM:  Look To This Day by Kalidasa

Look to this day:
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence.
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendour of achievement
Are but experiences of time.

For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision;
And today well-lived, makes
Yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well therefore to this day;
Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn!

QUOTE:  "Close your eyes, take a breath, inhale calmness, exhale stress.  Make a cuppa, sink into a chair, open a book, disappear." (I am unable to find the source; thanks to my bUUkie friend SusanJ for sharing... 💗 )