Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown
What a difference a year makes!
Last year, for the first time, I decided to try growing a tomato plant.
It succeeded. In spades.
Category Archives: Seasonal
Help Me ID Her
What a significance wild flowers have, more than the tamed productions of the garden! They seem Heaven’s own messengers sent straight to man to bear glad tidings of universal and undying love. ~Henry James Slac, English journalist
What is this beauty?
She arises every year
Unplanned, yet welcome.
Another Loss
For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver. ~Martin Luther, German professor of theology
A knot
Just big enough for a little girl’s rear
To sit astride, pretending she’s riding a pony.
A hole in its trunk
Ideal for concealing notes and trinkets
Meant for sharing with friends.
A canopy of shady branches
Perfect for three girlfriends to lie beneath
And find pictures in the passing clouds,
While whistling with the helicopter seeds.
Four trunks wide enough
To camouflage two Hide-n-Seekers
Watching ‘It’ and gauging when
It’s safe to race for Home.
Halloween brought friendly mischief
In the form of toilet papering,
That rite of passage in small towns
Delighting teens and vexing parent cleaner-uppers.
Countless birds and squirrels
Made nests and raised young here.
Cats became frozen statues at its base
Waiting and watching for something to fall down.
Mother Nature can be wrathful
Whipping up a wicked summer storm
That fells trees and costs homeowners
Not only money but memories.
Note: This Silver Maple sits on the property line between our house and our next-door neighbor. It was immense when I was a child, and part of me expected it to live forever. Sadly, a storm thought differently — two years after Domer’s Sugar Maple blew over. R.I.P., old friend.
Too Busy to Caw
All sorrows are less with bread. ~Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
Found a piece of bread
Wrestled it across the lawn
“Mine, all mine!” he said.
Swooping In
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. ~Anne Lamott, American novelist
Dallas here.
It’s happened again. We got a BAT in the house!
Mother’s Day, 2018
A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. ~Washington Irving, American writer
All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his. ~Oscar Wilde, Irish poet
Happy Mother’s Day! Remember, even if you don’t have children, you’re probably mothering something, whether it’s a pet, a garden, or even a novel. Thanks so much for accompanying me on my writer’s path!
Discouraged, Not Defeated
Hope is putting faith to work when doubting would be easier. ~Author Unknown
You were meant to stand out,
Blessed with a beauty unbounded.
Destined to sparkle, to astonish,
To share your uniqueness with the world.
Yet here you stand
Buffeted by gale-force winds of change,
Assaulted by frosty words of criticism,
Struggling to find the sun beneath clouds of doubt.
Yet here you stand
Having shed your pearls of wisdom,
Seen them tossed thoughtlessly away
In favor of louder, more confident voices.
Yet here you stand
Still trying to triumph
Still hoping to claim your place
And recapture bits of past magic.
Yet here you stand
Discouraged, but not defeated.
Note: April is National Poetry Month. While poetry as an art form probably should be celebrated every month, perhaps it’s a start to set aside 30 days to recognize poets and their works.
Spring Ups and Downs
Nature has many scenes to exhibit…. — Henry David Thoreau, American poet and essayist
Mother Nature pulled an April Fool’s Day joke on Central Illinois Easter Sunday.
Sure, the calendar says ‘Spring,’ and we’ve been hoping for the warm and blossoming season for weeks now. It wasn’t to be, not yesterday anyway.
Take a look:
Now It’s Spring
When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other. ~Chinese Proverb
Look who decided to bloom!!
Shamrock (Oxalis) plant
And remember this one?
Geranium overwintered indoors
Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful. ~Jim Carrey, Canadian-American actor and comedian
Maybe we should do more of the same — Happy Spring, everyone!
New Season Emerging
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet
My Daffodils are peeking through, and I find myself eagerly awaiting the arrival of Spring! Yes, it will be weeks before these babies bloom and the temperatures stay consistently warm, but now that I see progress, it’s easier to be patient.
I found the following quote in a publication I was reading and decided it was appropriate for ALL of us (but especially those of us trying to write a book!) Have a beautiful Sunday, my friends!
Have patience with all things — but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being. You are a perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that. — St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of authors, writers, and journalists
