I think it was Rogers and Hammerstein that wrote the song lyrics "Oh, what a beautiful morning", and that certainly applies to today. The sun is shining brightly and a gentle 76° breeze is blowing in an on and off fashion.

Between Ms. Kate and I, we spent a total of six and a half hours in the flower beds yesterday. I told her this morning that I'm changing my name to "Connie" today; as in "Connie move" or "Connie not". Neither one of us is in a hurry to bend over to do anything this morning. I'd bend over to pick up a dollar bill but a penny can just lay there until later.

One would think that with that much time spent weed pulling and hoeing that the difference would really stand out. And, yes, she and I can tell easily where we worked. But --- there is so much more to do. Today the temps go back into the low 90's and the humidity range goes to steamy, so this old asthmatic is keeping his hiney inside.

"Mr. Fuss a lot" the Bluejay has been here all morning going back and forth. He sure does make a racket. My main visitor today though has been the Woodpeckers. I've had several varieties of them here on the bark butter feeders. My usual Cardinals and Goldfinches are here in abundance too. There are a few Sparrows and Housefinches too, but not as many as normal. And, Ms. Buzzwing, my Hummingbird, has been going back and forth between the roses and the phlox again this morning. Life is pleasant and serene again this morning in the backyard as I sit here with my coffee and finish off the last of the cookies that my friend Betty made for me last week.

My tasks today are to work on next week's sermon and to get a haircut. I have a wedding to do on Saturday and want to be presentable for that. I talked to the mother of the bride at church last night and their week has been a week of turmoil. The bride has hurt her back and is in pain and the father of the bride had to have an emergency tooth extraction. Bless their hearts --- a little added sress is not what should have been on the menu for the week. So my prayers go out for them. The prediction of a stormy afternoon on Saturday is not going to bring that young bride any joy either. But, she will be beautiful, the groom will be handsome, the wedding will go off just fine and God will be in charge. Anything else is just fluff and stuff.

My thoughts and prayers this morning are as always thoughts of gratitude for the blessings that God showers on me every day. I also send up my prayers for Sheila and Byron as they go in to next weeks series of blood draw and infusion for this particular cancer treatment. This will be the last one of these and we wait and see what the benefit of it all has been. Hopfully it will bring the remission that we all pray for. But regardless of the outcome, I take comfort in knowing that God will be in any process that comes along. Rocky roads are so much easier to travel when we travel them holding God's hand. The bumps will not be eliminated, --- but the path will be much brighter. Brighten your path today and take the hand of the Lord.