God must be sleeping in this morning because I heard the rumble of God's snoring as I  woke up this morning.

And a blessed good morning to you! What was to have been a get up and get busy outside for awhile today is instead a cloudy morning with rain drizzeling down. It isn't a hard rain, but just enough to make it muddy out there and the grass too wet to mow. The radar shows that this should pass soon and then we should get sunshine. And --- I'm seeing patches of blue off to the west. I really do need to get the mowing done today or consider buying goats.

So, it is a gentle world outside the sunporch this morning. Hearing the rain drops on the roof of the porch though could easily lull me back to sleep. I'm hearing the sound of crickets out there at various locations. I suspect that before long it will be the time of year to hear the drone of the cicadas. I filled all seventeen bird feeders yesterday afternoon and obviously the word has gotten around. The Cardinals generally visit twice a day, in the morning around 9:00 am and again at about 5:00 pm. I finished filling feeders at 4:30 yesterday and at 5:00 pm they were all swooping in. This morning I have my usual dozen Cardinals out there as welll as a couple of the Downy Woodpeckers. I put a suet cake out yesterday and something has eaten about a third of it already. The Starlngs and Blackbirds really like those but they must have come through earlier because I've had none since I've been sitting here.

We had a wonderful visit up north with my sister and her family. There was lots of laughter and hugs, frank discussions about Byron's health and their plans to build a new home and severely downsize. Byon is handling the cancer treatments very well. We just don't yet know the effectiveness of the treatments. So, --- they have a five year plan and we are grabbing our prayer book and God's loving hand and jumping on board with their plan too.

Yesterday we met Julie and Jim for lunch about half way between our two houses. Ms. Kate had done some sewing on a costume for Julie to use for her character in the haunted house she volunteers at during the Halloween season. She goes all in for Halloween, admittedly, a trait and love she got from me. Our house was "the place to visit" during Halloween when the girls were growing up. So, we met for lunch and Ms. Kate gave Julie her costume. It made for a wonderful part of our day.

Today is Labor Day, marking the end of summer and the official beginning of fall and all that the last third of the year has in store. I have a busy week ahead of me and I'm not ready for it all. But, I have sat here long enough for the sun to come out and brighten up the day. God's brilliant smile of love now encompasses my little patch of the universe and I can only give him praise and glory for that. I hope your day is full of peace and love. I know mine will be.