I don’t know the origin of this saying …… “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that’s why we call it the present.”, but it is one of my favourites. It always brings a smile to my heart. It was especially apt for today because, it seems to me, that this present day was full of gifts….. or is it, this gift of today was full of presents? Either way, I have had so many presents since I began my day that it almost feels as though it should be my birthday.
Here are some samples from the gift list.
First and foremost, my laptop has been successfully repaired and is now back in its rightful place, on my bench, and working like a dream. I want to sing and dance and give a medal to the patient technician who carefully and lovingly restored my old machine to its former pristine glory.
Next, because I have my own laptop at my fingertips again, I was able to access Facebook easily and, there, I found a wonderful quote waiting for me. I have read this one before but it was good to be reminded of it : ” Joy is what makes life worth living, but ,for many, joy seems hard to find. They complain that their lives are sorrowful and depressing. What then brings the joy we so much desire? Are some people just lucky, while others have run out of luck? Strange as it may sound, we can choose joy. Two people can be part of the same event, but one may choose to live it quite differently from the other. One may choose to trust that what happened, painful as it may be, holds a promise. The other may choose despair and be destroyed by it. What makes us human is precisely this freedom of choice.”
– Henri Nouwen I am not sure that I agree totally with these words but I do like the idea that we may have the option to choose joy.
After Facebook, I checked in to my favourite National Gallery website to see the Painting of the Month http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/painting-of-the-month/. And here I discovered the amazing Rachel Ruysch, and her Flowers in a Vase , painted about 1685. There is such exquisiteness in this featured still life that I could spend all day looking at it.
However, if I did that, I wouldn’t have time to share my other delights of the day which, of course, relate to my monarch butterflies. When I woke this morning, I peeked out the bedroom window to check the weather and I saw four butterflies trying to warm up under overcast skies. What a wonderful sight to see first thing in the morning. 
And I also saw this chrysalis which maybe the mystery waiting for its tomorrow.
Another present was the present of laughter, given to me by the cat; naturally. She is so resourceful and an expert in cuteness. She slipped inside this afternoon when my son came by and, a while later, she was discovered in a state of extreme purrtentment, on my daughter’s bed. My daughter left home a couple of years ago, so we think Zoe Cat was saying,” Well, if my sister is not here, I am not going to let a good bed go to waste.” I am only surprised she hasn’t thought of this before now.
Here is the warm orange fluffball on a cloud of blue bliss. 
My unexpected bonus gift of the day was the discovery that my michelia tree is covered with beautiful russet coloured buds with the texture of the richest and most luxurious velvet. How about that; a gift wrapped in velvet 🙂
Question; do you notice a certain, orange-y autumnal theme in this post? I think there is but it wasn’t intended. It happened of its own accord.
© silkannthreades