God has opened the windows on a bright new world again this morning. The sun is shining, the wind is calm, the birds are singing, and the squirrels have a hearty game of chase going on from tree to tree and limb to limb. Mrs. Rabbit is again sitting out under a feeder eating grass and sunflower seeds. I don't know if she came out of the nest that she built up next to the house or from one of the other flowerbeds. But, I'm seeing her quite a bit these days. Its a good thing.

There is a woodpecker doing a rat-ta-tat on one of my gutters this morning. I've heard  it there, I heard it in the trees in my yard, and I've heard it in the neighbor's trees. I suspect it to be one of the larger woodpeckers. We have at least three varieties of them; the small little downy, and a bigger version of that one. Then we have one that is more of a grey color with a red head, and finally we have the large pilated woodpecker that looks like a mini version of a teradactyl. That one only comes around about once or twice a week. I think I told you that one morning I had a pair of pilated woodpeckers in the yard at the same time. It was exciting to see.

A lot of the iris and peonies are getting buds on them and we do have one iris in bloom already. I love how the yard transitions from one thing to the next. After the peonies and iris it will be a yard full of lilies. Ms. Kate and I are lining up a whole bunch of work for ourselves though. We need to dig up a lot of the iris and daffodils  and thin them out and clean all of the grass and weeds out of them and redesign and replant. It will be a massive undertaking and certainly not a one day project. We will wait until the iris are done and the ground gets a lot dryer. Surely it won't rain every week at some point. And, as the iris bloom this year we will tag them so we know what are common iris and which are our special ones. Ms. Kate has a small fortune tied up in iris and lilies around here. But, as a former neighbor used to say; "its only hard work and money".

We had good worship yesterday at the churches. Attendance was good and I think the Spirit was alive in folks. They sang the songs a bit louder and the smiles were brighter. The after-church conversations lingered longer and it was conversation that was filled with laughter. I love those kind of Sundays because the congregation truly turns into a faith family and God's love resonates through them.

It is about time to wind this up and get my day started. I have to take Ms. Kate for a doctor's appointment in about an hour. This was a fasting appointment so that means she hasn't had her coffee yet. There is no happy face in that room. But, that's what happens when you mess your coffee up with half and half. But, I'll take her to breakfast as soon as her appointment is over. Hopefully Dr. Jackson will give her something for this cold thing that she has had since March. The problem is that they get to talking about travel and she forgets to ask all of the questions she is supposed to.

So, I know you're busy today but stop to thank the Lord God for your blessing. You got out of bed today and your feet planted on the floor and you were already in the process of receiving an abundance of blessings. Take five minutes of your twenty four hours and say a prayer of gratitude.