Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

My wife spotted the plant from the bathroom window. I had to go outside to inspect it more closely. She brought it to my attention. The plant lay below the window and had delicate purple bells almost like another flower we had in another part of the yard except the other one was white and these purple flowers shaped in a bell were longer although about the same width. Another surprise that day. Life is full of little surprises and all you have to do is pay attention. How that flower got there I will never know. Serendipity!

Tags: flowers, life, life is full of little surprises, little surprises, my wife, pay attention, plants, serendipity
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In the beginning of our marriage every morning I would play this Nicole Nordeman CD. She asked me to play the music today and memories came flooding back. Everything was new between us then. I like to say we are an old married couple but we are not–twelve years I think. Every day is still another discovery. I know she is a gift and only here by serendipity. The music reminded me of that fact.

Tags: everything was new then, God, marriage, married couple, memories, music, my wife, Nicole Nordeman, serendipity, she is a gift
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You can’t have a true education without following your heart.  It does not matter how you do it:  reading, fixing things whatever it is.  Your heart vibrates when you listen to that tiny voice.  Sure there are things in life you have to do even if you do not like the task but there has to be things you love doing.  Otherwise you wither inside, die a little each day.  So find what that little voice is asking you to do.  You can change the world by doing the things only you can do.  Each person is unique and has things only they can do.  And of course there will be resistance.  You have to work through that.  Only you know what is stirring in your heart.  The world will be a better place after you leave it.  Explore the portion that is yours to mine.  So answer your calling.

Tags: answer your calling, change the world, each person is unique, education, follow your heart, learning, serendipity, tiny voice
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Now every time I pass the meadow near our house I look for the two pheasants we spotted a few days ago.  Of course, they are not there.  Surprises are just that.  They come when you are not looking for them.  Serendipity is serendipity.  What if you saw everything you were looking for every day.  Wouldn’t life be boring?  Usually your attention is somewhere else.  And there it is–another surprise.  Thank God life is not always predictable.  What a world it would be if it was?!

Tags: bird-watching, birds, God, life, life not always predictable, meadow, pheasants, praise the Lord, serendipity, surprises, unexpected
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My cap rack thrilled me.  Now I can collect all my favorite caps and store them in one place.  They were everywhere.  A neighbor sold me one.  I was not looking for it.  It “found” me.  Just call it serendipity.

Tags: baseball cap, cap rack, favorite caps, serendipity
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Yesterday Lynelle excitedly pointed out a ring necked pheasant across the street.  I had never seen one from my house.  We watched it cross the street and disappear into our woods.  A little over a mile away there is a state game land where they stock ring neck pheasants for the hunters.  I considered the sighting “serendipity”.  It was a bird I never expected to see in this immediate area.  It made my day.

Tags: bird I never saw before, bird-watching, birds, made my day, my wife, ring necked pheasant, serendipity, state game land, woods
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I call it serendipity–the butterfly bush really a weed.  Two years in a row it came up in almost the same spot.  We could see it from our office window.  My wife said it was hard to transplant.  The butterflies loved alighting on its orange flowers.  I did not cut the lawn too well two years in a row.  Our lawn had turned into a meadow and there it was two years in a row.  I considered the plant a gift.  Like manna from heaven.

Tags: butterflies, butterfly bush, cut the lawn, flowers, God, like manna from heaven, meadow, my wife, orange flowers, plant is a gift, serendipity
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The love we share of music is only by serendipity.  My wife and I both intensely love music.  We grew up listening to the same artists and groups.  She is also a musician, which I am not.  The only area she knows better than me is R&B, which I never went out of my way to listen to.

She is the recipient of my DJing every day.  And to me there is no greater joy than to share a beautiful piece of music, especially something she never heard.  Both of our tastes in music are eclectic:  we listen to a broad range of music.

I was responsible for her falling in love again with Peter, Paul & Mary.  She listened to the ninety minutes I put together of them on cassette repeatedly.

I have put together dozens of anthologies on cassette culled from my extensive music collection.  I must do a good job.  The cuts usually blend pretty well and she can’t tell always tell when they have come from different albums.

I have always gone deeply in particular groups and individual performers I have loved.  I sometimes surprise her with the material I have recorded of performers she knew well.

I turned her on to British folk rock–a world she had no idea of–Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.  And performers from England like Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson and John Tams for starters.

She was the third woman I turned on to Richard Thompson.  The second one divorced me.  The first one was a friend.  And we have gone to several of his concerts.  She has fallen in love with his songwriting and guitar playing.  We never get tired of him.

To be able to share my deep love of music with my wife is a gift.  And I never forget that.  It is a real treat.  When I am home, the stereo usually is on although I have to admit when I go out, silence reigns.  I never take that love we share for granted.  It is a real gift.

Tags: a real gift, beautiful music, British folk rock, cassette, CD, concert, divorce, DJ, don't take for granted, eclectic, England, Fairport Convention, gift, guitar playing, John Tams, joy, love of music, LP, music collection, music groups, musical anthology, musical artists, musician, my home, my wife, Peter Paul & Mary, R&B, record album, rhythm and blues, Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, serendipity, silence, songwriting, Steeleye Span, stereo
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It was a sunset I almost did not catch.  Bountifully gloriously streaked red covered a major part of the sky–the view I caught from my office window.  I was awed by the sky’s beauty over the tree tops and my breath was temporarily taken away.

I excitedly called my wife away from her computer to view the sight.  She ran for her camera and sought to capture the beauty of the sunset on the camera she was just learning to use, taking picture after picture.

A mere five minutes later the sky became gray.  I almost missed this display of God’s finest tapestry.  Such beauty!  How many other sunsets have I missed because my attention was elsewhere.

Each sunset, each dawn is different each day as if The Lord splashes his colors using different paints each time never to be seen again.  We should be so careless and free with our talents.

He, of course, is infinite.  And only sometimes do we even get even an inkling of his expanse.  Our world too quickly constricts.  And then we have to wait for His next moment always there.  Let’s consider it serendipity.  He is never far away.

Tags: be careless and free with our talents, camera taking pictures, each dawn is different, God, God is infinite, God is never far away, God's tapestry, His expanse, my wife, our world constricts, serendipity, sky's beauty, sunset, take my breath away, the Lord, tree tops, wait for His next moment
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I keep looking out my window into the yard for the chukar partridge but no luck.  I first saw it Christmas eve, then Christmas again and finally the next morning when I flushed it when I let out my dogs.

Every day since I have been looking for it.  I found out it is a game bird, somewhat rare.  I will just consider the sighting serendipity.  Nevertheless, I will keep hoping to catch a glimpse of it.

Tags: bird-watching, birds, catch a glimpse, Christmas, Christmas eve, chukar partridge, dogs, flushed the bird, pets, rare game bird, serendipity
Posted in beauty, birds, God, knowledge&learning, local, nature, time | 3 Comments »

My wife is truly my serendipity.  God gave me my present wife.  I was not looking for another.  My first marriage had broken up.  She came along when I least expected it.

There is so many reasons I can give why she is a blessing but I will only quickly state a few.  She encourages my writing and is also a fine editor.  She also makes me laugh.  She is not perfect but close.

I could not imagine a life without her.  We both love music and grew up in the same time frame so both of us love a lot of the same music.  All that is a gift.

She certainly is a “better fit” than my first wife.  Most of the time we like each other and laugh a lot together.  I consider her “serendipity”.  I did nothing to deserve her.  This is our seventh Christmas together.  She truly is a blessing.

And may I never forget that when there is any tension or conflict between us.  When I told my doctor my wife was driving me “crazy”, he said “Don’t all wives do that?!”

Tags: blessing, Christmas together, conflict, drive me crazy, encourage my writing, fine editor, gift, God, laugh a lot, love music, makes me laugh, marriage, my doctor, my wife, serendipity, she is a blessing, tension, we like each other, wives
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I do not have to own every good thing that comes my way.  With some things it is very difficult:  I collect music and books.  There is always another interesting book and another new piece of music I desire.

The trick is to be happy with what you have and occasionally when something comes your way, be happy.  One reason coveting is wrong there is no end to it and being perennially dissatisfied is one result.

There is a certain freedom to saying “No!” to good things and there is even another result:  more and more you let the universe surprise you when something good falls in your lap.

When you make a conscious effort to be satisfied with your possessions, you allow serendipity and gratitude to enter your life.  And peace and contentment may also follow.

Tags: be happy with what you have, be satisfied with what you have, books, collect books, collect music, covet, coveting is wrong, desire, do not have to own every good thing, freedom to say "no", God, good things, gratitude, let the universe surprise you, music, no end to coveting, owning things, peace and contentment, perennially dissatisfied, serendipity, your possessions
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