You Can Get Used to Anything

...which is what allows human beings to persevere in the face of misery, atrocity and unjust treatment...but what if you chose what it is you get used to? 

This was my thought this morning, as I flew down the hill I once feared biking down, because it invariably meant I had to bike back up it at some point. 

Now I enjoy that ride. I have become accustomed to going back up the hill; so the ride down is A BLAST. I am happy to have a few precious moments to meditate because I am up before anyone else in the morning. When the alarm goes off, I change my thoughts from, "already?" to gratitude, right away. 

What are you willing to change to be happier, more at peace, fulfilled by life each day?

Real Backyard Nature Study

Crash! "A squirrels' nest fell, mama!" And our lesson on whatever it was, morphed into two hours of watching out our back window as:

The boys were so quiet it was almost unbelievable. Charles ran for the camera, and he carefully and silently slid the screen up and moved it out the window...I admit to taking over and saving my camera from certain doom as he zoomed in to see what was happening.

The mother squirrel spent hours returning to the nest, searching, and attempting to lead each baby back up the trees. She did not always go back up the same tree, and it looked like she was distributing them to neighbors' nests around the yard as she went. It was pretty fascinating. Just last week, a baby fell out of the nest and landed on the fence, wet, clinging and petrified out of moving until the mama squirrel came to get it. This week, they were mobile and first played tag with mom, scrambling around the whole yard until the right path was painstakingly communicated. Mother squirrels can be as loud as a harpy when their babies are in danger. Shrieking, scolding, running up and down trees; it was not a show to miss! 

Our anxiety practically matched hers as we worried and wondered if all of the babies made it. We witnessed the extraction of four little squirrels. There may have been more, but I was dragged back to my cooking duties when everyone got hungry.

Baby squirrels may be trouble, but little humans are ornery creatures when they get hungry. Lunch: the harvest made into soup: but only the ones the squirrels have not yet stolen or nibbled.

Barns, Bloggers and Dryads

 This is where I found my tree sprite after church last week.

Michelle, who writes at : Simplify Live Love, invited Iowa bloggers to a conference last Saturday, to meet, share and learn at her incredible family homestead, above and below. I got to meet bloggers who know how to do everything from promoting your blog, connecting to brands, increasing your page views through an increased online presence, to working with a virtual assistant and managing time. I am not sure how much of it will pertain to what I do and write, but it was invigorating to be in a roomful of people, men and women, who write for a living and love doing it. Thank you, Michelle, for hosting us! What a day!

My favorites? The people, and the really pretty chickens!

 Warming up my lasagna, we had a potluck straight out of a gourmet cookbook. Check out the Le Creuset showcase behind me...ooo!Beautiful stuff!

 My blogging girlfriends; the casual sort of blogger, like me. Melanie's blog: Many Hands House, and Rebecca's: Archie, Down!

 A shot inside Michelle and Dan's passive house.

One highlight: finding a high school friend...of my cousin's!...whom I remembered meeting a few years ago at my cousin's high school reunion. This is Nicole, who blogs at SAHM Reviews.