A mouthful for Molly

Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.

Mary Oliver

It was a chipmunk that drew my first comment from Molly in May, 2010 and those comments never stopped until a year ago. She loved chipmunks. This is Fyra, our favorite who was missing last year at this time. I cried when she appeared again.Tears of simple joy, but then the tears were tinged with sadness because there was no Molly to share the news with.

Molly's journal was my first blip of the day. Complex, caring and one who would tell it just like was. She hated cemeteries, but would still wax on about my blips from Maine where old gravestones are our lovely neighbors. She instructed us on the wonders of olive oil and the beauty of flowers and of her Italian landscape. Molly lived her days fully and oh so well. I wept at her loss and will never forget her welcoming comments and her big presence here.

I want also to thank and celebrate my now first blip of the day, and blipper, Bethanne. A thank you for suggesting this day of tribute and just for being the beautiful person she is to me and so many.

Today is also the day of Nora's birth in 1893. In this photograph, she was a radiant 80, back in 1973 with a sliver of me in the background. She lived another 16 years, hospitalized only twice in her life, once to have my mother in 1921 and another time when she was over prescribed a medication she could not handle. A long and wonderfully loving life well remembered.

For the Record,
This day came in gloriously sunny. I am thankful that I can move and only feel minimal stiffness in my cranky back, hips & knees(pesky osteoarthritis!) today. We worked too long yesterday in the garden & cleaning winter from the patio. Last night was a tough one, but a night's sleep eased some screaming pains and I'm moving with minimal delays today.

House wrens are back with their glorious watery chatter and song.