Your Best Effort

This is what I did this summer. I love the way Three Birds turned out.

Here are some more views of Three Birds.

Here's a nice closeup of some Butternut Squash.

And this is part of the garden in the front yard.

There's more but I'm doing some beading and going to stop now. Had a great time thinking while walking Coco very early this morning. It was already getting warm at 6 am. Coco and I did some training in preparation for boarding our first train. It has been a really good day.

Important note about surviving poverty? Use your natural resources to be a source of inspiration. A mulberry tree needed to be cut down while the utility company was replacing a power line to the house. I had really wanted to experiment and do a woven wood sculpture. And I wanted to extend my garden to a much larger area. Check. Check.
Gardening has been so rewarding. I wouldn't have imagined how much peace of mind, how many thoughts I've had and how wonderful all of this gardening has been.

Whether it is bike riding or reading a magazine or book in the library or training your dog, there is so much to do and there are so many ways we can choose our way to living purposefully. And appreciating the moment we are in right now is a great place to start.

Think about all of the moments we can spend everywhere else. The past, the future, what could have been, should have been, who done you wrong, who you failed.... all of that stress doesn't change anything. We can't magically wake up and feel inspired when we are faced with huge bills or losing jobs and maybe our homes. But we can decide to make an effort to finding our way to something that gives us a sense of purpose. Deciding to contribute instead of grieve over what has been lost. I know this is rough some times. I really know this. But at least when we give each day our best effort, we haven't missed out on that, our best effort.