My father loved to tease me with philosophical questions when I was still too young to realize their implications. For example, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?"

As a child (maybe ten), I chose what seemed like the obvious opinion of, "Of course it makes a sound; how could it not!?" We'd go back and forth as he would ask, "but how do you know for sure?"

Quite some time ago, we had a particularly harsh and long winter. We have several bird feeders outside our kitchen window. We love watching the colorful species of birds that come and go, as does our cat, though she is likely more interested in (if not aggravated by) the thieving chipmunks and acrobatic squirrels.

We had a problem with the bird feeders freezing over that year, so my husband began throwing a little seed on the driveway after the plow guy had cleared the snow. But the birds, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits (and a few rodents, ugh) weren't the only ones finding our seed. To our surprise, ducks started showing up, and later, baby ducks.

We have this incredible cat. . . I know, I know, everyone probably thinks their cat is the best. We've had many cats, and they have all been special in their own way. However, Iggy—short for Ignatius Neptunia (she loves water) de Edinboro (where we live)—is the most intelligent, loving, considerate, expressive cat we've ever had.

If you can visualize this. . . we take her to our little summer hideaway for long weekends. She is not fond of the car but tolerates it. During our two-hour-plus trip, she will patiently sit on my husband's lap and look out the window. While it might be hard to imagine her never once trying to escape or hide; she does have one flaw. 

I’m sitting on our deck watching people go by. A light breeze dances across the lake. Clouds partially cover a blue sky. A man slowly backs his boat trailer toward the water. (It will take him four tries.) Our overly-spoiled cat, who wears a harness to sit outside, peeks over the edge of the deck hoping a mouse or a chipmunk will blindly walk by. Across from me on the deck, my husband quietly looks down at his phone reading news articles.

Life is good and I should be enjoying this moment of quiet. Yet my mind races off in fourteen directions reminding me I haven’t yet weeded the front flower bed or put fertilizer on bushes. Inside laundry awaits as do a few other projects. I need to post some items for sale (I have no idea when I will find time for that), and I have a long list of other really "important" to-do items waiting, not to mention—what’s for dinner?

Past issues of my newsletters contain links to things I have loved or explored. If you are looking for a link you lost or are just curious as to what intrigues me, here they are for your entertainment! 

These are books I recommended in my newsletter. Ready to find your next great read? Check these out.