It's not just my place

I know I talk about the deck like it is my place -- and it is, but it's not just my place.
Last night I arrived home to a dark house. There were no lights on outside, nor inside the house. When I raised the garage door I expected Chris's car to be gone, suspecting that she must be out. Nope - the car was there.
Chris and Groucho the cat were sitting on the deck - Groucho laying on the floor and Chris scrolling on her phone while sitting on the futon. The night sounds were playing in the background and evening light had faded into night without anyone getting up to turn on the lights..

Groucho loves being out here as much as either of us and especially likes days when the temperature is cool enough that we don't use the A/C so that the door is open and she can go in and out at her leisure. When it gets hotter, we will put a bowl of water out here for her and she will still spend hours each day on the deck, by herself or with me. Chris is less likely to be out here when the temperature is either hot or cold. Groucho and I are much more likely to be found out here throughout the warm days of summer.

During the cooler weather Groucho usually gets up when I do but then goes back to bed with Chris after eating her daily portion of canned food. Now she comes out here and goes back to sleep on a chair or on the floor after watching the hummingbirds and other birds for a little while.

She woke up enough to raise her head a bit when she sensed me stirring to take her pic, but is back to dozing again. 

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My morning contemplation:

Thoughtfulness is the beginning of great sanctity -- Mother Teresa

What does this mean to you?
Thoughtfulness about one another?
                       ...about nature?
                       ...about God?
Maybe they are all connected or the same.

John