The other day I was straightening up, putting away some gardening twine. It’s funny how one thing leads to another in your mind.

The gardening twine led me to think of the serendipitous tomato plants that John planted this summer.

As it turned out, perhaps  they weren’t planted serendipitously,  just for our use – lovely fresh tomatoes, a great tomato sauce to make and put away for the cold winter months. Those tomato plants led to a wonderful raison d’être for our elderly Labrador – and we all know that Labradors LIVE for food! It was as if those tomato plants gave our Chipper a reason to live.

As they grew he loved their smell – a sense that seemed strong, even in his old age. As they ripened, he loved to walk through their midst, taking in the scent and stalking the one ripe one that was waiting for him to bite.

John and I had decided together that if he wanted one, he could have one. At his age (almost 16 at that time of summer) he deserved whatever he wanted. We had plenty of what we needed.

Summer tomatoes, cropped from a Michael J. Lee Photo

Chipper gave us love, and memories, and the pleasure of the moment.

That is what I think of today – the gift of savoring the moment – all of life’s little tiny blessings. It is not about how much we can acquire, but how much we can do, and think, and . . . .savor the beauty in the world.

When John and I sat in the late afternoon and watched our lovely dog, who had given us 16 years of total devotion, we knew that we were savoring each moment. That this moment would not be like the one tomorrow, and that next summer there would not be a moment like this available to us.

Here he is when younger, with his sister, Coco. They were so often lying side by side.

In one of my slides at the Antiquarian Book Fair talk last week, there was a lovely black and white dog in the beautiful professional photo. I said, “Of course, I think a dog always helps.” There was a murmur of pleasure in the crowd. I was talking about the beauty of the room, and how to decorate. I think a dog always helps.

As my mind continued to wander, prompted by the gardening twine, and thoughts of savoring the moment, I also thought about this, our blog. I think of this blog as our essays on life. Our essays on our thoughts. It reminded me of two books I can recommend to you. They are not new books. I often think I won’t read a book until it is at least 10 years old. Then it may have proven its value.

So, I’ll recommend 2 old books for you. I don’t think they’ve lost one spec of value, no matter how old they might be. They are both collections of essays by thinking people. The twine reminded me of “String Too Short To Be Saved”, by Donald Hall, with his New England recollections.

The other is, “Letters of E.B. White”, by E. B. White, which can be reread and enjoyed forever.

One of the quotes I collected for my aforementioned talk, was

“A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon, and by moonlight”. -by Canadian writer Robertson Davies, as quoted in Books Make a Home, by Damian Thompson.

My feelings about architecture are echoed by his excellent comparison of a book to architecture. Well done. Thank you for that insight.

I hope you enjoy “Our Thoughts on Design” blog every week, which are actually our thoughts about life.