Today was the last day of my volunteer teaching assignment. The kids and I finished a series of lessons in photography by talking about still life in art. We set up a bouquet of artificial flowers and some fruit on a checkered table cloth in front of a lovely window. We discussed the matter of composition and decided on the placement of the flowers and the fruit. It was a joint effort. I put the camera on a tripod, and we got the picture above. When I got home mid-day, Margaret had got a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Nancy... no artificial blossoms in the bunch.

Today is our wedding anniversary, and I am reminded that Margaret has made all the difference in my life... all for the better. We’ve been married fifty-six years. We are fortunate to have received greetings today from our children, including Nancy’s flowers which easily became my photos du jour, and great good wishes from family and friends.

Some days are perfect... Everything falls into place beautifully... as if cosmically orchestrated to reassure us that, in spite of everything, YES! The everything last week was the absurdly dangerous intransigence of the newly elected members of the House of Representatives who brought the nation to the edge of default and economic ruin by holding hostage their own party and indeed the nation; and this week the everything has been the yo-yo effect of that ignorant, reckless behavior on the global economy. I am always surprised by the willingness of people who claim to be “god fearing” patriots to undermine democracy, either out of ignorance or willful recklessness. Of course, I know the global economic problems were exacerbated by increasingly unsteady economies in Europe and by the worsening troubles in the Middle East with the tragic loss of many more lives on all sides of the conflict in the wars and revolutions in that region.

But I declare today that I am blessed.