One of my greatest joys is giving the ‘gift’ of observation. Example du jour: I was at Disneyland over the weekend, photographing some of the details of a restaurant in the park. The people eating were looking at me silly, wondering what in the hell I was doing… until they turned around and noticed (for the first time) the beauty of the mural behind them or the intricate woodworking over the door. My motivation was to make MYSELF more observant of the things I have overlooked 1,000 times, but in the process, I brought other people along with me.

My husband always teases me about the number of pictures that I take — that they’re a substitute for actual experience and memory — but I have a strong connection with the visual representations of my days and looking at a picture that I have taken can transport me back faster than my remembrance of it. I also tend to forget the small details, which my pictures reinforce for me.

This is a beautiful exercise for mindfulness and appreciation. Well done, Dann-o!

1. Some mornings, the valley fog is so thick that you spend fifteen minutes with your defroster on high, only to realize that it’s the air itself and not the windshield obscuring your vision.

2. The only people actually enjoying the birthday celebration of the 92 year-old man in the nursing home are the Nurse’s Assistants who attend to his needs for 8+ hours every day and the accordian player who hasn’t gotten a lighter-waving standing ovation in a long, long time.

3. The appeal of Conway Twitty was underestimated and misunderstood.

4. Shopping for boy-leg, girlie panties for one’s fifteen year-old son is a great deal easier in theory than in practice.

5. (and I should mention that I’ve noticed this before, but notice it again, accutely today) It is amazing how resiliant the human spirit is, how changable we are, the occasions we manage to rise to and the task we can accomplish, tasks we never imagined until they fell upon us. What I mean to say is that NORMAL is a transitory thing, and for that I remain forever thankful.

1. I noticed that when my eyes saw the picture of you, Kelly & Zach my face spontaneously grinned a big ole’ happy grin, and I can’t wait to see you all again.

2. I noticed that the kitchen floor needs sweeping, again…especially about 2 inches out from the floorboard, along the counter next to the sink, directly above the exact edge of the counter. There’s flour sprinkled, half a coffee bean, and who knows what else what.

3. The girls just “snuck” into the kitchen behind me (the computer’s in the kitchen) and grabbed something from the snack box. They’re in their room now, talking quietly, and saying “Mmmm” as cellophane wrappers crinkle. They think I didn’t notice.

4. My feet have been cold since I took my shower after the gym this morning. About 3 1/2 hours.

5. Every day I notice what the afternoon school bus driver is wearing. She almost always has “fun” socks, with patterns, characters, and bright colors. I notice this mostly because my eye level looking in, is about at her ankle level. Today she was all pink and maroon. Perfect for a gloomy, wet day.

Thanks for inspiring my creative spirit, Dan. I know it’s still there, somewhere, deep inside this big momma. You pulled it a little closer to the surface today.

Heidi (aka WOA–wife of Andy) )

Thanks to Dan and to everyone who stopped by to comment!

as i was walking in the pouring rain after having just left my lunch date where we ate delicious indian food and drank hot masala chai, i noticed how many other people were walking in the pouring rain without an umbrella getting drenched because an hour earlier it wasn’t raining ‘that hard out’ – oh and i noticed the man sitting cross from me who had brought his mail with him and while eating his lunch, in between eating and reading each piece of mail after taking it from the envelope, that he was using the other end of his fork, like a letter opener, to open his mail

i opened the trunk of my car when it wasn’t raining ‘that hard out’ to see if i had an umbrella in there but then i left it there – but i did notice sure enough that i had an umbrella in the trunk of my car in case of rain emergencies!

when i got home, i noticed my flannel snoopy pajamas and decided that since i had just come in drenched from the rain and not taking my umbrella, so i put them on in the middle of the afternoon and made diet hot cocoa then went back into my office to work . . .in my flannel snoopy pjs and i noticed i was smiling … a lot and content listening the sound of the rain, a sound that i love

i noticed that i am not anywhere near as evolved as sue is and that i looked at least 10 years younger and way more prettier after having my grey hair highlighted this morning (see sue’s end of year blog) though very concerned about the environment, to counteract the chemicals i spilled into the environment from getting made way more prettier, changed all the bulbs in the house to energy efficient ones