Sunday February 16, 2025: A Small Moment of Delight

The Olive Tree

Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully. Occasionally, I will also publish some of my shorter fiction in this newsletter to read for free.

Daily Diary,

Day 1628:

As you may have noticed, I have been concentrating on doing my Small Moment of Delight (versus my TaDa!) posts as of late. This is mostly a reflection of how difficult I am finding to celebrate in the midst of what I see as a very troubling and down-right scary time in our history. However, this is the very time when I need--and I can see other people needing--to cherish what in brings us some joy and peace.

This week, what gave me delight was sitting in the chair where I make my phone calls, as the sun streamed through the olive tree that is right outside this second floor window. The tree is so close to the house that in this chair I feel as if I am sitting within the branches of the tree itself.

An ornamental olive, the tree has long bendy branches that soar upwards from a short central trunk, rather like a willow, and it stays green year-long. Its long narrow leaves catch even the slightest breeze and flutter. The bark is rough, and I have seen a woodpecker working on one of the thicker branches, but the branches also provide a safe place for a couple of the smaller birds to alight. I find it hard to distinguish the fluttering of the birds’ wings from the fluttering of the leaves. For a number of years there was a hummingbird that would appear and sit briefly on one of the branches closest to the window and stare at me. Talk about moments of delight!

The tree produces small black olives (that are not fit for human consumption) but it is clear that at least the crows find them delicious, since they will occasionally gather in the tree and under it, which always delights me as well.

And, when the sun is just right, the fluttering shadow shows up on the wall across from the window.

As I sat there this morning, in the guest room which is currently empty, awaiting the next stage in the new bed saga, I started to mourn the fact that with the new, larger bed, the chair I was sitting on probably wouldn’t fit. Then I reminded myself, I had choices. If the chair fit, but made it difficult to get around it to get in the bed, I could keep it there, and move it if we had guests. Who case if it made the room look crowded! Or, I could find a smaller chair! What I didn’t need to do is give up the olive tree and the delight it gives me multiple times a day as I stay connected with my friends on zoom and phone calls.

Do share with us if you have a favorite place to sit or window to look out in your house?

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