Before March 31, 2006

Everything is pretty much a 'before'.. a blank canvas. Funny... its like life. How often do we get to start with that pretty much blank canvas and get to make a totally different look. I think its easier when you're older.. easier to let go of the old things and repaint the whole picture. That's where I feel life is at the moment. Lots of health issues that have forced me to change many things. Not a bad thing.. time to slow down some.- just enjoy what IS.

As usual the morning is beautiful and with it comes assumed energy and a long list of what to do. Its those long lists of things needing doing that tire me out.. and the deciding what to do first. Sometimes I sit for a few minutes on one of the porches just absorbing the freshness and coolness of the morning and considering what to do with the day. Each day is another gift.. how much do we really appreciate it, and how many times do we just pass the time. Not many days ago I was lamenting within myself that it seems our days are made up of just getting from one day to another. The soul (??) sole purpose simply being another day. My thought was "without a vision, My people perish" - so true of everyday life also.... and so to put some vision and some dreams into our lives. ..or to allow Him to put them there since it is He Who orders our steps and directs our paths.

Yesterday was a wonderful day.. so peaceful, joy filled.. Ricky called and left a message. That was thoughtful of him. My assumption is that Suzi had him call. Jess did not and that worries me. Whens she's in trouble she doesn't call Grandma.. I love that child so much. I would still give even my life for her life to be straightened out.. One day as I was driving and praying for her I told God that I would lay down my life that miinute if I thought it would mean from that moment on, she would have perfect peace and be in a very secure place with no more problems like she's going through... He gently said. "I've already done that".. What a Savior! I remind myself of this often.

I saw a beautiful little bottle in a thrift store yesterday.. so slim and graceful.. and it was half price, but I was so weary, I put it back and came home. How foolish. As soon as I was home I regretted it, but to go back was another 5$ in just tolls. LOL hardly worth the 99 cent bottle for my olive oil. lol. How many times do we 'miss the moment' and there is no going back for those moments. Lord help me to ...as they say.. Live in the moment.. make the most of each moment as it comes.. whether its to nap.. and really enjoy it.. or....move mulch.

Our side porch was moving a couple of nights ago.. or so it looked.. bunches of big ants in one corner and investigating a route to the roof. . NO NO NO.... I sprayed with Raid Ant and Roach several times. They didn't like the shower, but were back in not very many minutes.. over and over. Last night I took the Terminate and sprayed the same area. There were NO ants a little later in the evening.. and none this morning. I need to get out the Amdro and the spray for around the house. We don't seem to have any termite problems here, but have every sort of ant I can imagine from those tiny sugar ants to the huge carpenter ants. I used terazacide last year and several months later thought we ought to have our 'bug man' come and spray even though we'd seen no live bugs in the house except an occasional palmetto bug who wandered in the open kitchen door. He said whatever I'd used was working wonderfully.. time to do it again. No bugs inside to speak of, but the ants could walk away with the house!

I think I'd better move all the mulch away from the house. In an effort to keep the weeds down, I'm probably inviting all sorts of breathing things to move into and under the house. So tday I'll move a bit of the mulch..and rake well all within a couple of feet of the house.. and then perhaps spray tomorrow morning. As for now.. off to the grocery store for some necessities.

I moved another few wheelbarrows of mulch onto some flower beds. I use that term loosely because for now they are JUST beds, not much for flowers there. I'm still torn about whether to plant the things directly into the soil.. it looks like good soil.. and putting everything into pots and simply mulching up to the tops of the pots.

My arms have had it today, so perhaps I'll just start some seeds. I think first those 4 o'clocks and the cleomes because they're going to give a big impact as far as color goes. Both of them will take afternoon shade if needed.. and both will take the full Florida sun.

March flowers

Spring 2006

March 30 06:
I feel like God has given me the perfect place to plant and enjoy all the gardens and plants that have been just dreams or hopes until now.

My past garden was very small..just a few borders, although pretty. One week He spoke to me about the paralell of my outdoor gardens with the garden in my heart. The garden against the back fence represented my walk with Him - the most important part of my life. I had allowed everything to get overrun with neglect. As I went through that bed, pulling weeds, I found that under that covering the ground was still moist and friable, and the plants safe and full of life. So many times I've allowed things to distract me from my walk with God - and even though I've been neglectful, He certainly has not. He's kept all things safe in His presence.

The bed against the back of the house represented my relationship with my family. All that was not intentionally planted are considered weeds. There were very few things there that were not weeds. =Sometimes we bring things into the garden of our family which are detrimental to our family. I had planted sever pieces of sanseveria.. snakes tongue..although I wouldn't call it that.. It established itself so rapidly that it filled a good portion of the small bed between the sidewalk and the house... and grew 3 feet tall. I shared with my oldest grandson what I felt God had shown me.. and part was that it was detrimental and needed to be removed by the roots. It was something I couldn't do alone and asked him for his help. He never did help me. I told my husband about it and he went out and dug and dug until they were all removed. We had several huge piles.. but it left room for desireable things to be in that garden. Just like with our hearts, when we take out the bad, we need to replace it with the good, or we are apt to allow that bad to come back into our life.

The short bed on the end of the house was for others to see.. very showy.. large shrubs with beautiful colors.. a very tall jatropha which happily bloomed nearly 12 months of the year, hosting so many butterflies; a lavender lantana which grew up and out of two tomato cages.. a large white lantana and a french blue plumbago. That plumbage was a very sickly small cutting planted by our landlady. She had some extreme problems and apparently found peace coming over and working in my gardens. Because it was so important to her, I carefully nursed that plant until it became about 6-8 feet across and tried to wrap itself about anyone entering the front door.. and had to be pruned severely constantly.

For years I've dreamed over Park's seed catalog in particular because they give such concise all on two pages, information about growing each particular flower. When we had a commercial greenhouse we purchased most of our seeds and plants from Parks...

And now.. we have a property which is ideal for gardens. We've been here approximately two years next month. There are 3 very large, thick oak trees.. One by the front next to the driveway, one as you enter the back yard, overhanging the side porch and one end of the front porch. The side porch is always in deep shade and wonderfully cool and breezy. The front porch is much larger and has great places for potted plants. I may grow all the tomatoes up on the porch this year. We may also need some type of small mesh caging for them as the birds enjoy sampling just ONE tase of each tomato as it has a hint of red. Most of the tomatoes I planted last fall are about done producing, but the new ones now have small green promises of ripening fruit. The third tree is behind the house and covers a large section of yard and a shed. There is a wide expanse of lawn with no shade, just needing some curved borders, or secret rooms.

The members of the Florida Forum on GardenWeb are wonderful.. so full of knowledge and so willing to share. I followed a link to the garden site of Corinne:

http://www.gondtc.com/~rivrats2/index.htm

Her gardens are so beautiful.. and even though they are a northern garden, there are so many things to be used which would give a similar feel. I felt SO energized and inspired for the first time in many many months.. perhaps years. Almost like.. YES.. I can do this. I've had fibromyalgia for several years, had my thyroid removed because of cancer.. and they are having ahard time regulating the amounts.. also diabetes which keeps me pretty tired also.. and yet.. hope always springs eternal... I can do anything for 15 minutes at a time.. and when I can't.. I can do 5 minutes, sit a bit and keep on.

The electric company was in the neighborhood this week trimming trees to protect our power when the summer storms come. (we were at the point where 3 hurricanes crossed two years ago. They were giving the mulch to anyone who wanted it. When I asked for some, the very nice young man tried to tell me that it was very hard to spread.. and that the full load was SO huge. I think he though "MOm" when he talked to me. LOL. They did end up leaving half a load for me. It steams in the morning making me just a bit nervous. I would not like to see it catch fire! My doctor told me I could move ONE wheelbarrow per day for a time.. so today I moved 4 trash barrels full. So far this mulch is very light and fluffy and I had to rest in between each barrel, but its getting done.. one bit at a time. I'm amazed at how much mulch there is and what a large space a barrel full will cover.

Today is my 64th birthday. My husband offered to take me to Home Depot for a wheel barrow. Smile.. He would prefer to buy me fancy things, but he knows what truly pleases my heart. However he also knows how much I'd like a better camera. I have a mavica digital which has been wonderful and I have some great photos, but they can't be enlarged because the camera is only one meg. I'm looking at a Minolta Dimage with 12 optical and 4 digital zoom.. and then a telephoto lense which attaches to that. I love to take pix of birds in flight etc.. my daughters horses running.. and macros of flowers. It seems that God has put all these things before me.. and I want to appreciate every single moment of them.