This year, I made a New Year’s resolution to honor Sunday as a day of rest, free of work, plans, screens. Each week I have posted one photo on Instagram that I take on that Sunday to remind me of what was special about that day. Unplugged Sunday #20, May 22nd,  was mostly about listening…to birdsong, to hymns in church, to the quiet hum of neighbors having barbecues, to the little boy across the street who is learning to play the saxophone. Since it isn’t in my house and the music is muted, the sounds of a new player wafting across the street, even the squeaky wrong notes, are not irritating but on the contrary, make me nostalgic for the time when my elementary school aged kids practiced their various instruments: trumpet, violin, piano, bass, drums and yes, for a time, a saxophone. I tried to get a picture of a bird to represent my unplugged Sunday but they eluded me. This tree is full of birds but I couldn’t catch one on camera. I loved hearing their songs all day long.It was a beautiful sunny day and in the afternoon, Sadie wandered in the back yard and I wandered with her. My husband has made a beautiful meadow in our backyard. What started as a project to reduce the amount of mowing has made our yard more beautiful. This picture makes me think of other meadows in my past. Many of our flowers were just on the verge of blooming. Peonies are ubiquitous on Instagram this time of year. Ours were still tightly wound up buds. This one looks like a little wooden headed doll from my children’s youth. I previously blogged about a little walk I took with Sadie in my neighborhood and beauty I found by taking the time to pay attention. On this Sunday, I focused in on my backyard and once again, I found beauty everywhere. This was a particularly wonderful gift because none of the flowers or plants were planted by me; they are all things that were planted by previous owners. I love the surprise in the spring when things emerge from the ground and you find you have flowers you didn’t even know you had. In the course of just a few minutes, this is what I found in my backyard: spring springing everywhere!hereand herethis rhododendrun looks positively prehistorictiny wildflowers (weeds?) look like flower fairies from my children’s picture booksI love the shadows on the bricksOur garden is sort of a mish-mosh of plantings by the former owners and weeds that are trying to take over. One of these days, I will spend some time putting things to rights but I kind of enjoy the chaotic jumble for now.color everywhere

about to bloom

I finally got one picture with a bird in it Sadie the explorerSunlight at the end of the day Thought for the week: Listen to the Music of your Life.