Hi everyone and welcome back to our coffee series! But this time it is going to be a bit different than normal and we hope you will enjoy coffee with us today. Plus we have tea, hot and cold, pink lemonade (which always seems to be popular). It is a nice warm day, above average for this time of year which is certainly a nice treat. There are several benches to sit on and a nice grassy area as well, so sit back and relax as we look and see all the amazing beauty around us.

Hi Sheree, I see you arrived first today, always nice to have you join us. Hi Jeanne, nice that you could make it out. Hi John, glad you could make it today. And here comes James and Joshua, nice to see both of you. Hi Ribana, thanks for coming today. And here is Tiffany, Renee and Virginia, so nice that you could come and join us. Hi Rossana and Mila, Muffin is happy to see one of her friends come out too. And here is Eugenia with Callie and Nina with Mr. Cat. Muffin is right here to say hi and get her friends together for treats and a fun time playing together. And here comes Correne and Teddy, I see Teddy didn’t waste any time getting over to the other cats. Nice to see them all getting along so well together.

As I mentioned above, I just wanted to share some of the wonderful beauty we can all find around us. It may not be exactly the same kind of beauty, but it’s there if we want to look for it. People like to complain a lot and I’m sure if we were honest, we would have to agree that we all complain or grumble at times because things don’t go right or whatever. I have learned that complaining and grumbling only causes more stress in our lives and it can raise our blood pressure and cause many other health problems. So why bother with that? It’s so much better to smile and look for the good things around us that will reduce stress in our lives.

Try going to a park, even a small one, or some kind of green space that can be found in most towns and cities these days. If there is nothing then try going for a walk down the street, stop to admire someone’s garden, flowers in the front yard, perhaps even some unexpected flowers growing in odd spaces. A dandelion pushing it’s way through a crack in the cement, other little wildflowers growing next to the sidewalk. The beauty of trees growing along the street or in the park. A robin singing from the topmost branches of a tree.

Around here we would expect to see fawns running alongside their mothers down the sidewalk or eating grass on someone’s lawn.

There are butterflies to see everywhere, like this harvester butterfly on a daisy, a giant sulphur on some tansy flowers, or a silver bordered fritillary on a clover.

There are so many birds to see, a male grackle with it’s blue head, a female mallard duck swimming peacefully on the river, and some white pelicans soaring magnificently overhead.

Perhaps a field full of different flowers, a Turk’s cap lily, a bee pushing it’s way into a bi-colored monk’s flower.

Then there is the beautiful scenery looking out across the lake on a sunny, summer morning.

And going the other way, the wonderful scenery along the river on a warm summer afternoon. These are what I call country pleasures, and things that we can be thankful for each day. Things to bring a smile to our face and take away all that stress. Perhaps it will even get rid of that complaining we like to do. After all, how can we complain when we look at all that beauty surrounding us.

Last fall I injured myself and although that has healed, I’m not the same as I was. I have to walk with a cane now and I can’t walk as far as last year. But I’m so thankful I can still get out and walk to the river and enjoy all the beauty around me. Then I got this Covid-19 virus which has really slowed me down this summer. I’m over that now, but there are lasting effects that are still with me. But I can still get out and enjoy the summer beauty, though many days it’s just sitting on the deck watching all the fun around me with the squirrels, chipmunks and birds.

So much beauty that brings such happiness and always puts a smile on my face each day. Like I said, a different coffee time today, but I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the beauty around here. I’m sure you have much beauty around where you live as well, we just have to look for it. And it’s worth looking that’s for sure! I hope you all have a most wonderful day today and Friday, as many of you are already into Friday, and God bless! See you all next time! Meow, meow!=Me too!

Steve and Muffin.

©2020 Steve McLeod.