A Gift for You - A Flower and A Poem

 A camellia blooms in my garden.

This morning while walking in my garden I decided to share the white abundance blooming right this very moment.

Cherry blossoms on our very old cherry tree still have hope.

A ranunculus sits so pretty in a large pot hidden among color. It waits to be noticed.

The star magnolia is tucked behind other more dominate bushes. As you can see moss grows on it's bark. It is hard to get to for it's photo shoot, but I persevered in slipper and robe climbing behind the compost bin - I captured it in my camera.

And the plum tree also is sending out blooms of hope for a bountiful blessing later in the summer.

The sun will be hot when I pick the juicy plums, but the delight will be real.

 

Over the Weather

We forget about the spaciousness

above the clouds

but it's up there. The sun's up there too. 

When words we hear don't fit the day,

when we worry

what we did or didn't do,

what if we close our eyes,

say any word we love

that makes us feel calm,

slip it into the atmosphere

and rise?

Creamy miles of quiet.

Giant swoop of blue.

by Naomi Shihab Nye

  Found in a poetry book, How to Love the World, edited by James Crews.  A gift from my daughter for my birthday.

We end with a "swoop of blue" from my garden this morning.

Have a terrific week, dear friends!
 

From My Phone This Week

 When I am out and about my phone is tucked into my pocket and sometimes I just can't help myself but to snap a picture or two. That wasn't the intent when I went out, but who can resist?

When I go walking in my neighborhood I am intrigued to find these bouquets of small flowers spread throughout the lawn of a campus near me. Each year I can't resist taking a picture with my phone as I see them spread around for pure JOY. Now maybe some people wouldn't like them spreading in their lawn, but I just smile when I see them. How did they get there? Did the birds bring them for us to just smile?

Continuing my walk down one of the main streets nearby murals have been painted and again I smile. I don't know what artists have left their mark, but some murals are there for JOY and some make me think. Do you have murals painted in your city or town?

Also this week has been spring break for my grandson and his mom invited us to join them at the art museum just yesterday. There was a special exhibit of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera's artwork. It was scheduled to be at our art museum at the beginning of the pandemic, but finally arrived. I was intrigued to see it, as this couple intrigues me. I think I have been more intrigued by their relationship and story than by their actual art; but still I had to go.

The photograph above was of Frida painting the picture shown below. It was one of her later pictures painted in the early 1950's. Diego is looking over her shoulder as she paints. It is a self portrait with Diego on her mind.

Just her style alone with all the color and head dresses also has caught my eye in pictures.

I loved that the museum included different pieces of clothing. Of course you know I would be intrigued by the clothes, as my profession had been in the world of apparel and I notice.

Now I am imagining making a wreath of flowers from the first picture above to decorate my hair. After all aren't flowers there to adorn us whether they are real from someone's lawn or made by hand and stitched into a headdress. They would each make our heart feel like dancing. I would indeed dance to have a wreath of daisies or large, colorful paper flowers to decorate and circle my head. And again I smile to imagine, dream, and notice with pictures from my phone.

 

Happy Weekend, dear friends! 

Search out those things that make you smile and notice.

A Gift for You - A Flower and A Poem

 

My heart often travels to nature whether it is a walk in the early morning garden to snap a picture or searching in my city of Portland. Yesterday was the first day of Spring; so I went searching for blossoms.  Portland is divided east and west by the Willamette River. There are a varieties of bridges to cross. Along the river on the west side is a Japanese monument with two long rows of cherry trees. Each year we anticipate their blossoms; so off I went to search. As you can see it was a spring, cloudy day; but the rain waited for many to enjoy the blossoms and the first day of Spring.

I am reminded of the seasons and changes as I viewed the beauty of the day.

 

From Ecclesiastes 3 in the bible comes these words:

 

" There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace. "

With the blossoming of spring may there come a season of love and peace.

May your week be full of that springtime JOY.

Love and Peace to you all.

A Lovely Week of Teatime Celebrations

 

My week was quite busy; but most delightful (except for one nuisance of a dentist visit). So thankful dentists visits are over for awhile!. Now on to the fun and delight of the week.

As I had mentioned before it was my birthday week. This year I decided to order my own cake. I wanted something whimsical and I do believe that is what I got. A frog and a toadstool on a delicious chocolate cake were the perfect whimsy. Even my grandson loved it and ended up eating that frog.

Though I don't have a picture to share another friend invited me to her home for lunch tea on my birthday, as I was picking up my cake near her home. What a treat for someone else to make tea for me.

He didn't even get a stomach ache. He looks quite pleased with himself.

I'm the one with the short hair! Laughing!

My daughter and one of my best friends celebrated with me too. I love that they are friends too. Don't tell my daughter she closed her eyes for the picture. She would make me take a re-do and the cake is gone now.

And just because it seemed to be a week for family, two cousins came for tea in the gardenhouse. What a perfect way to kick off tea season in the garden. My cousins had never been here for tea with me and it was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday week.

 

 

Then to finish off the week of delights, this morning I attended a tea session online from the Museum of London (England) with Rui of GrassPeopleTree. I am so thankful for the connections and friends I have made through social media. If there wasn't social media I would have been so lonely the past couple years of isolation. The presentation was 2 hours long and each time I hear this lovely lady share about tea I learn something new. Do you love learn new things? I do!

I set up my own tea table next to the computer and thoroughly enjoyed the early morning chat with about 40-50 people. I sipped a gorgeous black tea with honey notes. Mini-daffodils decorated my table.

As you can see there are many different ways to celebrate each day when it comes to tea. There was lunch tea with a friend, birthday cake teatime, an afternoon English style teatime, and finally in the end an individual Asian style teatime. All delighted my soul and just plain made me smile.

 

Have a most delightful weekend, dear friends!

Hoping you find opportunity to sip a cup of tea and celebrate the day.

A Gift for You - A Flower and A Poem

The Trees

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

 

by Philip Larkin

 I love trees and often donate to organizations that plant trees. Trees help our environment, which needs all the help we can give it. I also love white blooming things in the garden. In evening or early morning light they just shine. They reflect the sun more fully and just make me smile. Then a little color must move right in too to add the laughter in the garden. Above all else is the "greenness" in the world around us. Each season of "greenness" brings JOY to my soul.

Happy new week, dear friends!

Kindness to Save the World

Come sit with me and let's talk of happy things.
 

What are we doing to make the world a better place:

1. "pay it forward"

2. freshly baked pumpkin bread delivered to neighbors.

3. saying a kind word to someone else.

4. I would say a smile, but with masks that has become harder to do, but a nod or a wave works too.

5. letting someone cut in line in heavy traffic

6. wearing a mask to protect others

7. getting vaccinated to cut the rate of world wide COVID

8. giving hugs

9. please and thank you said

10.saying I love you and meaning it 

11. sharing pictures of joy and nature on social media

 

Most Sunday's you will find my "live-in gardener" and I across the Columbia River attending church. After church it is our tradition to stop and have lunch at the local burger place. With the pandemic we have been driving through and then taking our lunch to a nearby park. We eat at a picnic table on nice days and on cold days we eat in the car. Last Sunday the car in front of us in line at the burger place bought our lunch.Wow! It made our day. This has happened a couple times at Starbucks, but never at a burger place.

And then we decided to venture out to Bishop Close. It is an Episcopal center on a bluff overlooking the Willamette River in Portland. The gardens are spectacular to walk in each season. I try to visit two or three times a year just to see the season before my eyes. There were tons of hellebore, but this cluster of blue flowers just said "take my picture too" and so I did. Even locals have heard of these gardens, but for some reason haven't visited. It is tucked into a private neighborhood with no signs; so if you don't know where it is you might miss it. It is like a secret garden that some people visit, but I have never seen it with many there. In the first picture above the bench is wisteria and  I usually forget to come when it is in bloom. I must remember to visit again soon.

Stairways and paths always entice my imagination. Where do the trails take us and what will we see? Will there be fairies hidden there? For me it is sharing nature with another brings JOY.

What would you add to the list of ways to make the world a better place? What happy thing has happened this week for you?

A Gift for You - A Flower and A Poem

 

Daffodils

by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed'and gazed'but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

 

March sings to me of daffodils, which are profusely blooming now in my garden.

This is my birthday month and I celebrate with daffodils and strawberries.

Sending more yellow today in love to Ukraine!

Have a terrific week, dear friends!

March 4th - Springtime is Coming!

 

The garden is telling me that spring is on the way and I can't wait to tug on that string and follow it outdoors for a cup of tea among the flowers.

On Facebook I post a pictures from my garden each morning. Walking in the garden with my camera each morning I discover new things and suddenly spring is pushing through the ground and on the stems.

The hellebore above are most often one of the first to show their selves.

The daphne is now in full bloom and the fragrance is almost overwhelming.

 

The daffodils are the real show stoppers both in the front of the house and in the back.

 

Some are not familiar with witch hazel, but I love it because it is a bit wild looking. It looks to me like it doesn't want to behave, but do it's own kind of blooming.

Just below the tree peony is showing new growth.

New Leaves on a Willow

Where yesterday were bare gold stems,

March's windy stratagems

Have today miraculously

Wrought new leaves on a willow tree.

New leaves so mistily winged and small

They seem to spray from a waterfall;

Water cascading headlong to stop 

Midway down on its breathless drop. 

New leaves so sudden-green they scorch

The somber sky with a fiery torch;

New willow leaves. . .new dreams again;

New high resolves in the hearts of men.

by Ethel Romig Fuller, Kitchen Sonnets

And even the roses are coming alive after their winter slumber.

There are about 35 different camellias in my garden; so these are only two of the blooms below.

Beside the pink and red striped ones, there are white and huge solid red ones.

You see the daffodils are everywhere right now, even throughout the lawn.

And don't you think springtime is the perfect time to hang the laundry on the line? Oh the smell, amazing!!!

 

I love that on this day it is a call to action. Let's all March 4th into springtime.

Savor each day, notice what you notice, and pray for peace in the world.

Hug someone today.

Happy weekend, dear friends!