It doesn't seem like a short week to me.  Even with the Labor Day holiday, this week has been long and challenging.  I can hear the heavy commuter traffic in the distance.  It's not quite over yet.  

I couldn't sleep so got up really early.  Before the sun.  I stepped out onto the balcony looking over the lake, and everything was early morning grey with just a hint of the brilliant sun behind the mountains.  The best part was that it was cool.  In the desert, that means everything.  We have almost made it through the time when it is never cool.  When it is 102 degrees while you are watching the 10 pm news.  But this morning there is a gentle movement in the air and it has a coolness to it.  What a blessed relief to be enjoyed consciously.  If we are smart, we will feel this same awareness every single day of the fall, winter and spring when it is not hot.  

The ducks are circling in groups leaving pretty patterns behind them in the water.  I like to think of them as families.  They are particularly noisy this morning.  I think its because they like the hint of fall in the air also.  Birds are flying around and maybe it's just my mood, but they seem excited too.  

I looked down over the rail and saw a single dragonfly, already busy.  She wasn't a beautiful blue or the brilliant red we sometimes see.  Just a workman brown, double wings going like crazy.  It is unusual to see a dragonfly this early so I choose to take that as a really good sign.  An omen.  It was nice to be hanging around with the d'fly early in the morning. The ducks are dive bombing now, splashing and making quite a loud fuss right before they go under.  

Someone was very, very kind to us last night.  Willing to help a friend who really needs help.  Not for money or personal gain.  Just because they want to be part of making things better.  We had never met this good samaritan but in talking with him on the phone, just became friends right away.  It's funny how one amazing act of simple kindness can color how you feel about everything else.  The glow doesn't last forever so you have to keep performing these acts and acknowledging them when others do the same.  That tips the balance and makes us feel good hopefully more often than not.  

You probably cannot believe that the same bear that wrote that harangue yesterday is writing this Hallmark card today. Nonsense.  That is what makes life interesting.  You never know and you gotta be ready for everything.  Of course, you can't be.  But it sounds good to say.   

So the sun is rising and pretty soon it will be too hot and too bright to stay outside so I will wrap up this friendly little blog.  And I will remember later this afternoon when it is really hot, that this day started in such a glorious way.  Everything is going to be alright.

GR