The Magic of a Four-Leaf Clover

My days too frequently begin with a text (spam) message telling me I’ve won a $1,000 gift card to some big-box store. The first time I received one I was genuinely excited. Upon investigation, of course, the thrill drained away.

Last week, though, an e-mail brought me a legitimate note from Petside.com. I had won a raffle and will receive as my prize Melissa Sue Bowles’ The Horses of Proud Spirit—her book about the residents of the sanctuary she founded.

The contest was easy: Step 1) Set up an account on Petside.com, and Step 2) Post a comment. I didn’t have to beg for votes or get approval from a panel of judges. It was my kind of contest. I suspect that four-leaf clover I found earlier had something to do with this change of fortune.

Thank you, Clover Fairy, for watching over me.

[Photo is from Proud Spirit Sanctuary.]

If You Believe in Fairies…

Guess what? My luck is about to change.

After returning home from an afternoon of Olympian cycling (truthfully more the Sisyphean variety), I stood in our yard waiting as my husband tucked our bikes back into their elevated, chained safe house (a thief attempted to pry one away last week, so we’re extra careful now). Sweat was pouring off me and I didn’t mind standing still.

I dropped my head in exhaustion and there it was. The first thing to come into focus was a four-leaf clover.

I’ve searched for four-leaf clovers my entire life—including in that very yard—and never spotted one before. I felt as if I’d just discovered a dinosaur bone or the map to a lost treasure.

Of course, luck can be ephemeral and sometimes hard to recognize as good. Yet if you believe in fairies, then you’ll agree that my luck is about to change. Stay tuned…

Flirting with Lady Luck

Don’t know about you, but so far, this Friday the 13th has been perfect for me.

I attended a computer class this morning to learn something new. This afternoon, midst sunshine and 200-year-old trees, I romped with a couple of dogs in a park. On the way home, my husband bought us a dollar’s worth of hope and fantasy (that is, a lottery ticket).

Couldn’t ask for more.

“You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. . . . Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough.”
―Aldous Huxley, in Texts and Pretexts

[Art by William Hogarth.]

No Silver Spoon for Me

“He who is born with a silver spoon in his mouth is generally considered a fortunate person, but his good fortune is small compared to that of the happy mortal who enters this world with a passion for flowers in his soul.”
—Celia Thaxter