I was in a bit of a funk yesterday, and it rolled over to today.  This is rare for me, and I certainly didn’t appreciate feeling “out of sorts”,  if you will.  It was one of those days where all the negative news that I had been hearing seemed to collect and  I just kept ruminating over it.  Another friend dying was the biggest let down for me.  It seems that one minute you see someone and they seem to be in the best of health and the next minute you hear they have passed away.  Naturally, more time passed than what I just stated, but sometimes it is about how things “seem”.

I haven’t been getting a lot of exercise as of late,  so when Al went to the club this morning, he dropped me off at the beginning of a newly created walking path in our little village.  He was going to work out on the elliptical and meet me back at home afterwards.  That walk was just lovely.  The skies were dark and cloudy with predicted rain, so I took my umbrella just in case of an errant shower.  As I walked along the winding path, I could feel my spirit lifting, lifting, lifting with every step.  The walkway was so well thought out.  It meanders in a curving fashion  around many old oak trees which provide shade to a lazy little stream that runs alongside. It continues on for a short time along a residential area  and then back again under a canopy of trees which stand proud along a golf course on one side of the path and a golf school on the other.  At one point, I felt like I was walking in an enchanted forest, for the trees on both sides of the path lean over and meet each other in the middle forming a lovely green arch overhead.  This walk was pleasurable in so many ways…birds were singing, people were out walking their dogs, and the temperature was slightly cool which makes it perfect walking weather.

By the time I got home, I walked around our property on a corner lot and assessed what could be done to enhance how it looks. It is already spring, and we haven’t had a lot done yet. As I walked around assessing things, ideas popped into place and before I knew it, I put on my garden gloves, then picked up the pruning sheers and hedge clippers and walked towards our front corner where a huge oak tree grows tall and wide. My husband and I developed the whole corner area around this tree so there is a wicker bench swing in front of the tree surrounded by a lot of low growing shrubs to the street side.  On the backside, behind a row of tall primrose jasmine on either side of the tree, is where our Granddaughters love to play.  We had a ladder made and propped it against the tree to help facilitate their climbing up into the tree.  From one of the strong horizontal branches we hung a hammock chair which swings in wide arcs back and forth from a long, strong chain.  To one side of the tree we have put birdhouses on tall poles.  In the tree, we attached an owl house, and almost in honor of our Granddaughters visit, we had our first resident pop his (her?) head out of its home.  For some unknown reason, the girls named the owl “Kevin” and Kevin it is!

We had been on vacation just before they arrived, so we hadn’t had much time to really take a look at that area and it was a bit shaggy.  So today I got in there and did some transplanting, trimming and rearranging.  Al joined me, of course, and the hours flew by.  I believe we were out there for at least 6 hours.  There was a lovely breeze, and each time we took a break, one of us in the hammock chair and one in the Adirondack chair, we would lean back and take in the beauty of that enormous old oak tree.  We’ve had people guess that it is anywhere from 100 to 150 years old, maybe older.  Oak trees are a delight to the senses just by following with our eyes how their branches grow outward and upward in an rambling, horizontal fashion.

We are tired, but we are also pleased to have spent the whole day together.  My funk has dissipated and once again I feel my usual contented self.

Perspective!  This is really what a person needs to change when feeling a bit low.  Change your surroundings, go for a walk, and get a different perspective on things.  You can either count your pluses in life or focus on the minuses.  I can reassure you, the blessings are much more fun to ponder than the lacks!

Now, I am off and running up the hill with my book.  After all that hard work, I feel it is only right  to reward myself with sitting and swinging in that rope hammock chair underneath that majestic old oak tree. As I swing back and forth at the end of a very long chain it gives me a feeling of floating!  Ah yes!  It is all in the perspective isn’t it?

Beneath the shade of that old oak tree!