Idioms have always fascinated me. They are phrases that are commonly used but mean something very different from their literal definitions. It's their popular use that imparts their understanding. I often wonder when they were first used, and why. 

If I could have written the story, a light rain would have fallen only briefly, bright blue skies would have been crossed by occasional white clouds, and the temperatures would have rested peacefully in the 70s, but I did not write the story.

It is time to close up the greenhouse. My garden starts are all planted. I still have a few marigolds to set out here and there, but not many. It is time to enter inside these glazed walls and get to work. There is so much to do.

Curly always follows Larry's lead. She will stand right beside him as Larry and I kiss nose to nose, but if I bend over for a Curly kiss, she ducks her head and quickly backs away.

The ants and rabbits have joined forces this year. They are my arch garden nemeses.

When I stepped out into our back deck the other evening, and looked up at the blue sky just over the hill behind the cabin, I heard a chorus of cicadas. It had been raining for days, but the sky was suddenly blue, and the cicadas were suddenly singing.

So happy to welcome our newest grandchild!

Yes, difficult times really are followed by better times. Hardship might be only temporary, beauty really will bloom again, and April showers will bring May flowers. For all of this, I am so very thankful.

My furry pillow sighed, and both dog and I were soon sound asleep. I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect lullaby.

Oh, how I love stories, from my father's bedtime stories as a child, to my clients' life stories explaining why they came through my office door in search of legal representation, to novels, and yes, to history.

Perhaps there is a song here. I can almost hear it in the back of my mind, 2,304 seeds, but song or not, I do know, is that there is a story.

Perhaps this homeless man had used this line many times before, perhaps not, but it didn't matter. He had given me so much more than a line.

I often find myself getting sidetracked. I might be reading a book and find a word with which I'm not familiar. The most recent such word was widdershins. 

I suppose we really should build a high shelf on which to place the boots, but perhaps this is only a passing phase.

I wonder if this is what it's like to work inside a magic bubble. The rain pours down outside and beats on the glazed roof. It falls in wind-driven sheets.