June 27, 2018. Madison, Mississippi. Every Day.

Our artist friend in Nova Scotia used to write us long letters, sometimes 16 pages long. He wrote in long hand so reading them was difficult. Last season, I asked him to use the computer and e mail us but the first time I e mailed him he failed to respond. It seems that he did not know how to send a message but we got that sorted out. Now he writes us long messages about every two weeks. He tells us everything he does in a day including cooking and eating meals. He gardens a lot and works outside for exercise and he works with his crafts but he is not painting which does not please me. But what is apparent is that he loves his life and revels in the variety of his existence. One thing he does every day is to find something extraordinary, and then keep that the focus of his day. Some days it will be the abundance of daisies in his yard. Another day he wrote of the charm of a new fawn by his pond. He sat watching for an hour until finally the mother appeared and took the fawn away. One day he waxed eloquent because of the sun on his face when sitting on his little deck. Every day he looks hard to find something wonderful. Then he is grateful for the rest of the day. One of the charms of Bernard is his zest for life. He is grateful for all the travel he and Toni took over the years and he write of those trips very often. His energy remains high even though he is older than us. But I love best his little habit of looking every day for something to bring joy into his life. He always seems to be on the sunny side of the street, at least in his letters. He is a great role model and a super idea to emulate.