Good morning world! What a bright and beautiful world God has blessed us with again this morning. The feeders are swarming with birds this morning, mostly Sparrows and Red House Finches at the moment. Only one squirrel is currently gorging itself out there so far. It has come and gone several times up the tree which tells me there must be another squirrel up there that needs to be kept in check.

I love the way the sun gllistens off of the flowers at this time of the morning. The hydrangeas are a brilliant white in the morning sun and there are so many blooms. From where I sit, I can probably see a minimum of forty blooms and they are so big. The lily bed is glowing in the sunlight with all of the golden and orange flowers that are in the bed. At the other end of that flowerbed, we sat one of Ms. Kate's containers that holds a really nice purple petunia that has grown to be a bush. As Ms. Kate says; "we have a really peaceful back yard".

The Robins have flown in for their morning bath in the different bird baths. The Blackbirds have also come in for the same thing. I'll have to refill them in a bit. There doesn't appear to be a lot of water to splash out any more. Even one of my squirrels came by a few minutes ago and just plopped itself down in the water of this shallow bird bath outside the window. I've never seen one do that before.

Today will be a minimalistic day of hurry up and wait. Tomorrow is our travel day as we begin our vacation. So,  today we do laundry, finish packing, go to the store to pick up a couple of things, do a few errands around the house and then wait. I'm caught up on all of my "work ahead" stuff. The bulletins are run for the next three Sundays. My end of month reports are done and sent off to the church council   members as well as my mid-year report for the summer congregational meetings, and I have my sermon done for my first Sunday after vacation. There is a lot of work involved in preparing to relax!

My thoughts and prayers go out once again for friends and loved ones with health issues. We just learned of a new health issue yesterday with a loved friend and pray for resolution to her issue. I also ask God for safe travels for Ms. Kate and I as we venture off. I also give God praise and thanks for my world full of blessings. What a blessed life I'm allowed to live.

Take time today to say "I love you" to those in your life. God put them there, just for you. That makes the bond between you and them a holy one. Have a blessed day.