Waiting for cooler weather!

September 20, 2006
How we see things has been on my mind lately. How we choose to allow others to see things is more to the point. I've been thinking about my garden and how its mostly desire and not yet fulfillment. We reveal the perspective we want others to have of us and our life, just as the camera reveals what we choose. Its as simple as this lizard.. He's adorable, but you can't see that he's on an old wicker chair on its way that morning for trash pick up. The lizard is where the camera has focused your eye.

I love garden pictures that others share that show 'vistas' of their yards, borders, flower beds... The majority of my pictures are of individual plants or even the blooms. Looking at the variety of flowers and blooms, one might think that my yard was full of flowers. Its only full of flowers in my intentions at this point.

This hibiscus is such a beautiful bloom.. and the leaves such a shiny, glossy green that you wouldn't know it was planted years ago in a spot much too shady and seldom has flowers on it.
Someone on GardenWeb asked about missing the fall up north. The leaves are so strikingly beautiful they could take my breath away. Such a miracle we can understand that God does things to delight His children. Here there are very few spots of that brilliant color, but its even more precious when we focus on it. I think its the same as having a lot of gray in one's life, or turmoil. There is always that one patch that's beautiful beyond measure. We used to go to church an hour's drive from home through the Green Swamp. It was absolutely beautiful - the majority deep, cool green. Here and there were patches of wildflowers or new growth of the swamp alders and swamp maples in flaming red or yellows. Enough to delight your senses.

There is an adorable little girl in our neighborhood. She seldom walks anywhere, but skips, twirls, runs and just lets out that childish love for life. I thought about her focus.. fun and being a kid. As she went up the street you could tell her entire thought was 'home' at the end of the street.

We thought we wanted to live where there weren't too many children and all the noise. We thought we'd done that with ours and with our grandchildren. We find that all the children are like the flowers in the garden.. Absolute joy. Our 'neighborhood' is like stepping back 50 years. The kids play in the street, float between houses.. all the ages seem to be together at one time or another. Even the teenagers spend a lot of time simply walking around the neighborhood. Parents are out every weekend with their kids on bikes, 4 wheelers etc. One Mom takes their garden tractor and a little trailer and slowly picks up any kids who want to ride and goes around the circle. We hear the occasional dog bark, usually a lawnmower somewhere nearby.. It feels like nostalgia and I think its because the focus is on some of the good things that have disappeared from so many places.

Our youngest grandchild just turned 18 last week. Our middle grandchild turns 23 this week. So hard to believe that. I remember when our second grandson was born, I was home with his older sister. I woke up early in the morning with what I can only describe as a "sudden burst of joy." Later I found it was at the exact moment he was born. All three grandchildren are like precious spots of color in our lives.

I'm hoping that soon my passion for gardening shall return. lol. Its been so hot lately and with all the rains, the mosquito population is simply waiting for anyone to set foot in the yard. Our seasons seem to change drasticly when the calendar season changes. Our nights are generally in the upper seventies during the summer, but when fall comes they drop to the upper sixties and everything feels refreshed. Today I'm planting seeds. Always a sign of hope and knowing that to everything there is a season. This lack of gardening shall pass!


This was the sunset last night just before another big thunder storm rolled through. Sunsets are always beautiful.