If you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world...

...it's probably my sister.

Which one, you say.  Ahh..which one indeed, for they are all beautiful and i love them all so very much.

But today's lovely is my youngest sister.  Recently turned 18 yrs and becoming quite a lady. 

Last night, she did the most wonderful thing for me.  As she walked into choir practice, she had on her arm a very cute basket, wrapped in lovely cloth napkins.  As i  uncovered the contents of said basket, there was today's lunch all arranged and ready.  It was her valentine's present to me.

It wasn't so much the thought of brining some of my mother's homemade chili and a cupcake that she made  and decorated, it was that she took the time to arrange it in a basket and put lovely cloths over it.  It was that she put the chili in a glass jar and not in a plastic container, it was the tortilla chips and shredded cheese in their own containers - small and just perfect and it was the decorations on the cupcake..not to mention the way she had the contents nestled together. 

She is a most beautiful girl who made her eldest sister's Valentine's Day better than ever.

Refreshing the Soul

Today, like the two weeks preceding it and probably all of this week, is gloomy.  Rain, rain, clouds, fog, ick.  Not terribly cold - in fact, rather balmy, but rainy and gloomy.

However, two things have lifted my somewhat falling spirits.  On the way to work, to my left-which is the east-there appeared to be what some might refer to as sunlight.  As if there really IS a sun!  WHOOT!  That was rather exciting.  Now mind you, none of the rays actually hit my upturned face, however, the promise that the sun still shines was quite lovely.

Secondly, i quite often listen via Internet radio, to the classical station from Johannesburg, South Africa.  my boss lived there for quite some years and i started playing it for him - to tell him the weather and the traffic jams - and then he would share stories of their life there and in some small way, i was able to travel there and see it through his eyes (and his wife's and kids as they have come in and asked me about it.)  Now i just listen because i like the station.  The accent is gorgeous, the music is terrific.  As i type, it is almost 7pm in S.A. and so the music is soft and sweet, not fiddles and booming timpani drums, but rather matching of the quiet i feel from all the gloom.  Not depressing,...just nice.

i find that little things such as these refresh my soul.