“Keep your eyes on the sky, keep your feet on the path and keep your heart in the moment …”**

Keep your eyes on the sky,

the sky - symbol of dreams, hopes, heaven…

keep your feet on the path,

Stay the course toward your dreams and hopes. A vision - a specific vision - of the dream and hope helps in deciding the path - helps make the decisions about how and where to spend our time and effort and what to jettison as a time-energy goblin that robs us of progress towards our goal.

and keep your heart in the moment.

Along the path, while pursuing our dreams and hopes, we must always also enjoy each moment - as if the moment is the fulfillment of our dream.

I saw this quote (anonymous) on Midlife by Farmlight’s blog . The words roll through my head often as Karl and I walk, as I make decisions about what to be involved with, what to pursue… And sometimes on the walk, when I find my head everywhere but on the walk, I look at my good dog and remember to keep my heart in the moment.

Yesterday, I took the afternoon off. After a brief appointment in Whitefish I visited a dear friend whose home and company is “peace and serenity” - and fun and interesting - and with beautiful views of the mountains. Her house sits a half a mile off the main road down a country lane that has 3 or 4 houses in that first quarter mile - the last quarter mile winds around a lovely open meadow and then up a small hill to the house.

As I was leaving - turning onto the lane where the other houses sit… two rabbits sat munching on late dandelions and thistles in the grass near the road. They were a black rabbit and a cottontail. And they were sitting so close and so companionable when I first saw them that I immediately thought of a favorite childhood book: The Rabbits Wedding, written and illustrated by Garth Williams.

The sound of the jeep startled the cottontail and he moved into the pasture but the black rabbit, sat still and watched.

The Rabbits Wedding is a simple, sweet story with beautiful illustrations.

“Every morning they hopped out of bed and out into the early morning sunshine”.

I don’t always take the camera and tonight, on the evening walk with Karl, I did not. There was nothing extra out of the ordinary on our walk. It was a beautiful early evening after a beautiful day - blue sky, wispy clouds, a breeze which occasionnally gusted to that wondrous, soulful song in the upper branches of the pine trees.

I saw several views that would make wonderful photos - I stood and looked and thought… I never, NEVER fail to wonder at the GRACE of God, good fortune, karma - whatever and however you think - that brought me to this place to live - for even a moment.

I looked at the mountain peaks that I am so familiar with - and you regular readers probably are also! But the light, the clouds, the shadows, the colors - they seem different on every walk - and I see them two and sometimes three times a day.

Tonight, there were no extra-ordinary colors, no unusual light - only the peaks of the Swan Range of the Rocky Mountains backlit by a soft blue sky and light wispy clouds - clouds and sky that appeared to have been done by a skilled watercolorist.

Sometimes, I don’t take the camera, because the camera cannot capture all of the beauty and wonder of the moment… only a glimpse.

Bill and I watched the movie “Next” several weeks ago. It is a 2007 movie based on Philip K. Dick’s short story titled “The Golden Man”. In “Next”, the main character, played by Nicolas Cage, can see 2 minutes into his own future - with the exception of a woman to whom he will become close.

But, my reason for bringing up the movie is a Nicolas Cage line that goes:

Here’s the thing about the future…every time you look at it, it changes…because you looked at it. And that changes everything”.

In the movie, this is illustrated by seeing, through the Cage character’s mind, various scenarios of the future.

But, in our real life, we do this also. We often project what “might” happen and base our current actions on this “future” scenario - …and that changes everything.

About 7 1/2 years ago I took my dog Zack to the vet. He had some swelling in his “armpits”. The vet found swelling in all of his lymph nodes. It suggested lymphoma - a deadly, fast growing cancer that typically kills dogs within 4-6 weeks of diagnosis. A test was scheduled to make a determination.

Right after that vet appointment, I had a massage appointment - a monthly indulgence with a masseuse who is a wonderful, compassionate woman and also a dog lover. I told her what was going on - we went ahead with the massage which I mostly cried through. Towards the end, she stopped and asked me to listen to her. Her words changed everything for me - she said: “You are grieving about something that has not yet happened. You might consider enjoying every day you have with Zack while he is in good health and save the grieving for when it does happen - if it does.”

And while it was lymphoma and I did ultimately lose Zack in 5 weeks - I learned a valuable lesson about the pitfalls of looking at the future. Not a day went by that I didn’t remember those words and they helped me release my fear, live with hope - the best thing I could do for my dog.

Now, I’m not saying we do no planning for the future. I am saying that it is important to live in the “now” and to live with “normalcy”. Now, when all seems uncertain and it is tempting to hang on to money and all that we have - Now is the time to live boldly, with “reckless confidence”, believing in a good future. The hoarding of anything will only add to current problems. Today is the day to enjoy, to embrace good, to work, to love, to live.

Matthew 6:34: “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself”.

Matthew 6:27: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

“We know nothing of tomorrow; our business is to be good and happy today”. –Sydney Smith

Some clouds are starting to drift in today as a forecast cool front makes its way to our neck of the woods. We have had a week of days reaching nearly to or slightly above the 80 degree mark with nights in the upper 30 - low 40’s. The angle of the sun is low enough and the nights cool enough that it barely hits the high before it rapidly cools down again but it has been very pleasant to sit outside in the evening and enjoy what could be the last of what feels like summer.

And although I have been abnormally busy this week as I crammed some house and yard projects into the schedule, we never skip walks or some quiet time just sitting outside. I have been taking the camera, but the summer-like cloudless conditions with very dry air created a hazy sky and while I still think it is beautiful, it did not make for what seemed like interesting photos.

But, this morning, a few clouds, a bit more humidity, the sun through the trees…I couldn’t resist.

Friday morning walk.