Half-Price Roses

On Valentine's Day, my sweetie had knee surgery, so 3 days later, when he drove to town for physical therapy, he brought home a bouquet of red roses.

"Happy Valentines Day," he hugged me. "The roses were half price."

That's my McSweetie--scotch with his dollars. Sometimes, he's a thrifty Scotsman; sometimes he's frugal. Sometimes, he's just plain stingy.

Generosity is the antidote to stinginess.

My McSweetie was generous to me: red roses for Valentine's Day.

Pileated Woodpecker

A pileated woodpecker is visiting our maple tree. Again. She was here last winter and left foot-long holes in one of the big branches. A living branch. The one next to it was dead. But i have to trust that the woodpecker knows her business. She knows where to find carpenter ants.

So it is with our bodies. My body looks healthy, feels healthy, and then the doctor finds something and cuts it out.

Maybe the pileated woodpecker is a tree surgeon?

Photo courtesty of audubon.org

Walking Meditation on the Beach

Bill slipped while hiking in June and had emergency knee surgery. Last week, he gave his leg brace back to the orthopedic surgeon. Her prescription for him was to go walk on a beach. Walk barefoot in the sand.

So, we went to the New Hampshire beach, and then wandered down to the fishing village of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Walking to the beach there, i saw lots of Rosa rugosa, the rose that grows so prolifically in the sand. The red rosehips were ripe, so, as we walked, i picked the biggest, reddest ones and popped them in my mouth.

If rosehip tea is good for you, the actual rosehips must be even better, right?

The texture is a bit mushy, and there are a gazillion seeds, which i think of as intestinal brooms. But they are sweet, and loaded with Vitamin C.

Bill and i did our walking meditation on the beach, wonderfully barefoot in the sand.