If we were having coffee: Growth edition

When the heart blooms

A garden of love grows in a grandmother’s heart. ~Author Unknown

Little feet

If we were having coffee, tea, or any of a number of other beverages available here at the Wabi-Sabi Ranch, I would be delighted to see you again.  Come in!  Hugs if you’re amenable to them.  I think we’ll have a seat in the kitchen today.  It’s nice and cozy in there, a good place to sit and chat on a windy and rainy day.  It’s really wet out there, isn’t it?  Here’s a warm towel to help you dry off.  There are gale warnings out which means it’s going to get pretty breezy throughout the day.  I can already hear the wind picking up.

How are you?  What’s new in your world?  Can you tell I’m practically bursting with good news?  I bet you’ll have no trouble guessing what it is.

Grandma and grandson getting acquainted.

I’d like to introduce you to my new grandson who, for blog purposes, shall be known as our little Wookie.  Little Wookie is an amazing tiny human (but not too tiny as he’s right on track for where he should be) who has a whole village worth of people who adore and love him.

On his second day in this world.

Little Wookie is my third grandchild and my first grandson.  He and his parents spent a little time with us here at the ranch right after he was born, and I began missing him as soon as they were out the door and on their way home.  Ohio feels like a galaxy far, far away, but my son and my lovely daughter-in-law have been diligent about sending me a Daily Wookie picture.  Every now and then I send them a MoMo (pronounced moe-moe) picture to show Little Wookie so he won’t forget my face.  I send a Gramps picture occasionally, too, because he wouldn’t want to forget his Gramps, either.

Because hugs are wonderful.

If we were having coffee, tea, or some other beverage, I would tell you that I find it pretty awesome how much the heart expands with love, and how the more you love, the more love there is to give and feel and receive.  I don’t know if I needed to have grandchildren to learn this lesson, but I do know they make it an easy lesson to learn.  It was not just my grandson who helped continue this lesson in love.  A beautiful and brave young woman did a beautiful and brave thing, a thing that required a great deal of love and strength.  I will be forever grateful to her, and she has a piece of my heart, too.

Space Odyssey baby.

If we were having coffee or something else to drink, I could probably chatter on about the miracle of Little Wookie all day.  Because grandmas (and MoMos) are like that.  But I’ll give you a break and move on to the usual format for the rest of this post.  So… have you read any good books or seen any good films lately?

I finished reading Alive: Book One of the Generations Trilogy.  It was not a bad book.  It was well written, but just not for me.  I did appreciate the twists and turns.  You won’t find any spoilers here.  The author’s note at the end asks that reviewers not spoil it for others, and that’s not something I would do anyhow.  I rarely give a synopsis of the books I read because that seems like a tremendous waste of time to me since that info is available on the book jacket/cover and on websites where you can purchase the book so why take up your time or mine with that sort of thing?  And to me, spoilers are worse than giving a synopsis.  It feels rude, for one thing.  Why take away someone else’s fun of discovery?  How do you feel about spoilers?

Today’s wind will probably blow all of the blossoms off of the snowball bush.

I also finished reading Falling into Grace: Insights on the End of Suffering.  It was an excellent read, and I am very glad I took my time with it because, as we all know, timing can be important.  The book was comforting to me when I needed it to be.  It also opened up my heart and mind to new ideas and insights.

A mandala I made for Little Wookie. It’s a first draft, so to speak. I’m working on something a little more elaborate.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that M and I will (at last!) be watching the final film in The Hunger Games series.  We’ll probably do that as soon as I finish here.  Rainy days are great days for watching movies, don’t you think?  They are great for reading, too, and a whole host of other indoor activities, but I’ve been waiting a while to see the end.  I read the books so I already know the ending, or at least I think I do.  Movies are often different so perhaps there is a surprise or two in store for me.

I ♥ peonies.

If we were having coffee, tea, or something else, I would turn things over to you now.  Thank you so much for joining me for another coffee chat.  Stay for a while, if you like.  If there is a break in the rain, we could go for a short walk.  I doubt we’ll see the sunset tonight, but if it looks like things are going to clear up, let’s go down to the Point.  Rainy, stormy days often bring wondrous sunsets.  It’s at 8:12 PM.  We’ll go a little early so we can take a walk on the beach and watch the waves from the sound roll in.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Spending time with the hummingbirds.

This post is in response to Part Time Monster’s #WeekendCoffeeShare.  Thank you to Diana for hosting it.  Also, a big congratulations for the #WeekendCoffeeShare being featured on WordPress’s Daily Post.  So glad to see it being shared among the rest of the community!  Put the kettle on, start the coffee maker, open a bottle of wine, or whatever your preference is, and join us.  I’d love to hear all about what you were up to this week.