Clump #182:  Sort through two bags in son’s bedroom.

I enjoyed a Skype session with all three of our kids yesterday.  Toward the end of the conversation, when it was just our overseas son and younger daughter, I said, “I don’t have a clump for you to look through right now.”  Our younger daughter said, “There are two small bags near the door [of son’s room] that would be easy.”

Sure enough, we sorted through the clumps, online, in two different countries, and it only took a few minutes.

One was designated “Office Supplies” and the other, “Decorations/Pretty Things,” thanks to the younger daughter’s organizing.

This is what made it to the keep-pile, squeezed into a clear zip-top.  I took the tire gauge out to the glovebox of the car our son will most likely be driving.

Planting pansies in our window boxes relieved the gloom of a rainy day today.  I feel like writing an ode to pansies, I love them so much.

So hardy, rich in color, and they seem to have soulful faces …

Reminds me of some photos I took of cool decorative plates that were on display in a hotel lobby in Montreal:

With all the human faces, there was a …

Pansy face!  The ceramic artist must have had the same feeling about them as I do.

When I was planting, I inadvertently separated one from its stem.  I brought it inside and put the sweet thing in a little cup:

In this shot, a little heart-shaped pebble is in the foreground.  The pebble had been in the pretty things bag.  Our son wasn’t sure what to do with it.  A few years ago, a member of our Quaker Meeting had given a very good presentation that had to do with following your heart.  She had collected many heart-shaped pebbles through the years, and said that once you start looking for them you won’t have trouble seeing them. She allowed everyone in the audience to take one. This was the one our son took:

I had the idea of adding it to the rocks in our indoor fountain; it’s the second pebble below the “Committed” stone.  I found that “Committed” stone at Two Buttons, a store Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love, runs with her husband in Frenchtown, NJ.  The name “Committed” is from her book about marriage.  When I bought it, I was bubbling with the urge to start a blog, but afraid, not only of technology, but of starting something I couldn’t commit to.

Maybe the heart rock in the fountain will be a good reminder to follow our hearts in our commitments.