Dear Reader:

One of the items on my medical exit “not to do’ list is work in the yard/garden for five days following eye surgery or lift anything over 20 pounds. Oh no, I thought, my garden will have turned to dust in five days with no watering. (Then I started wondering how much a gallon of water weighed….maybe I could make two trips instead of one.) While pondering all my options God stepped in.

Oh me of little faith…it poured late Thursday afternoon into the night for several hours (first good rain in quite awhile) Friday evening we got another rain shower….not as substantial as the day before but still a shower is a shower. Then lo and behold, around 8:00 Saturday night…I walked out on the deck and it was sprinkling….never got much stronger than that….but still it was steady for a little while. I only have to make through today…Monday…and my five days are up. God provides for His children…and their gardens!

Sunday morning I walked through the garden and noticed something different about the asparagus fern near the fountain. It had tiny white blooms on it. I ran to get my Iphone to take a photo.

Then I pulled the name up on the internet….going first to Dave’s Garden…one of my favorite websites. It promptly said that it was not any kind of edible wild asparagus (actually poisonous to pets)…and, for that matter, it wasn’t even a fern. It’s closest cousins are members of the Lily family, which include plants such as amaryllis, daylilies, hosta, and tulips.

There is only a two week period in late summer when the asparagus fern blooms and I should expect to see red berries quite shortly….I can hardly wait. Here is what it should look like… when the berries replace the white blooms.

Asparagus ferns *thrive in most environments….tolerating hot and moderately cold conditions quite easily. (It was about this time that the word “thrive” jumped out at me….love that term. And the title ‘deal was sealed’ when I found this popular Maya Angelou quote.)

Now the blog was on track…from asparagus ferns to humans… what do we need to do in life to thrive and just not survive? In a Huffington Post article, Danielle Dyball, gave these five suggestions from her article: “Five Ways to Stop Surviving…and Start Thriving.” 

  * Take time to create each day. Art can be decorating your home, socializing, planning events, cooking meals, gardening, even working on your car…everyone has art and in order to thrive, you must acknowledge it and CREATE!

*Create beauty in thought and deed, as well as, creating beautiful surroundings. Enjoying the natural beauty of nature inspires us to bring that beauty inside. Beautiful surroundings create beautiful thoughts.

*Love boldly like there is no tomorrow. Not taking your loved ones for granted is one of the best things you can ever do for those you care about.

*Play more! Play is essential to health and well-being. Get outside! Go dance in the park! Laugh, have fun, and play!

*Create margin. What does this mean? It means to create space in your day for the unexpected. For example: If a meeting is schedule for 60 minutes, block off 90 minutes. This will give you time to catch up with colleagues and allow for travel time so as not to rush. It means creating white space on your calendar when nothing is scheduled. You have given yourself a little ‘time treat’ of fifteen minutes to pause, reflect, and maybe even give yourself a little special culinary treat. It means not being rushed 24/7…it means giving yourself time to breathe!

………………………

So until tomorrow…“Have you noticed that when we die, our eulogies celebrate our lives very differently from the way society defines success? Thrive, don’t just survive.”
― Arianna Huffington, Thrive

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I had to laugh out loud at this post surgery exit instruction:

“Slowly progress to your regular diet as tolerated.”

*I was literally “stuffing” those Chick Filet mini-chicken biscuits down my throat as I was waving good-bye from the Physicians Eye Surgery Center. And I never stopped. Brooke and I made honey/maple ham sandwiches for lunch and I had Greek potatoes with one chicken breast filet left over from Oscars the night before… while Kaitlyn had her craving satisfied with her Continental Corner shrimp sandwich. Friday I finished off the ham…and Saturday I ate one of my favorite salads….the oriental chicken salad. But the best was yet to come Sunday!

Anne finished the novel (The Provence Cure for the Broken hearted) Saturday night and had me over for lunch yesterday. Another French cuisine success! We had pear, prosciutto and goat cheese tarts, along with a BLT salad….Good food is the taste of life!

     “If life were predictable, it would cease to be life and lose its flavor.”  Eleanor Roosevelt

Anne has been hard at work re-working (three days of composting) a plat of land in her front side yard for planting pink rain lilies….bulbs her neighbors gave her. After planting (and the recent rains we have received) she woke up to this lovely surprise. *Anne told me that in order to thrive you first have to have drive…it takes a lot of work for beauty to thrive.

Before I went into Anne’s house…I just kept walking around it oohing and aahing at the beauty of the earth.(azaleas/encore, shasta daisies, pink morning glories, and passion vine blooms)

I was kinda sad when I got home and didn’t see any buds on my passion vine….Do you remember when it came back and surprised me last March and it has taken off…covering several feet of fence and looks healthy but so far not one single bud. “Get passionate, passion vine!” THRIVE! Obviously Anne’s vine is listening better to her than mine is.

Dear Reader:

The Ya’s can tell you in unison, or separately, who sends the best cards….Jackson! Her cards are always unique and absolutely perfect for the occasion! This is the card (title photo) I got Friday in the mail from her letting me know that she was thinking about me concerning the cataract surgery. I always smile at her cards.

And as far as a card-giver….Gin-g Edwards is unbelievable! She sends cards for specific and unspecific reasons… simply to let you know you are still in her thoughts….along with flowers or food to boot!

When I came across this quote about the power of thoughts being directed at and for another person…I knew it nailed exactly what we all feel when we send and receive a note, email,  or call letting us know we have been in someone’s thoughts.

 Honey is another grand prize winner. Whenever she sees anything that reminds her of me or time spent together…she immediately sends a surcie, card, or email explaining where she was and the story behind the incident that brought my image to mind.

I received this card from Honey Friday, along with Jackson’s…By the time I had read both cards I was just beamingly blissful .

Honey told me that she and Mike had been over in North Georgia for the weekend when she came across this card and thought of me and my love for my garden. But there was another reason she thought of me, too. A God Wink!

When Honey first started experimenting in pottery she bought a kiln from a man (in the mountains) whose wife had just died from cancer and he told her how much she loved pottery and that kiln…she would be happy to know it was going to a good home. He then told her about his wife’s relationship with praying mantises…they seemed to appear whenever she was on the kiln and followed her around…her good luck charm.

It ended up that one of them, unknowingly to Honey, hopped a ride home with her and when she started working with the clay on her new kiln there sat the hitch-hiking praying mantis. (When she spotted it in the car….she let it loose, only to discover it on her kitchen window sill tapping against as if to say…”Please let me come in” and somehow the praying mantis found her in the basement on the kiln and since that time they seem to find her when she needs them the most.)

Recently…Honey mentioned to Mike that she hadn’t seen a praying mantis in a couple of years. Then it happened:

“Well, the next day as I sat at my wheel what crawls up on the bench beside me but a Praying Mantis. It made me feel that Kathy Sky (the wife/potter who had died and originally owned the kiln) was coming to give me some positive direction.”

I think some of the best stories originate from “thinking of you” moments, don’t you?

When I think back on so many of you, my dear readers (if I start calling names I will surely leave someone out…but you know who you are) and the cards, emails, and surcies you have sent or left on my porch in the form of flowers, additions to the garden, t-shirts from vacations, bulbs, pictures from St. Jude’s Chapel of Hope, comments on coincidences from the blog, etc. I feel very humbled.

So until tomorrow…let’s all live a “startling life” and give the “gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend that would be giving as the angels give.”  

Come see some of the latest startling sights in my garden and others.

Below is my neighbor Jane’s clematis climbing the fence and pink morning glories from Anne’s front porch.

Dear Reader:

A couple of years ago, a new “variegated” version of Cinderella emerged in movie theaters. It was truer to real life than the earlier animated versions. This Cinderella’s name was Ella and the mantra she was to follow upon her mother’s death was “Have courage and be kind.”

Of all the movies I have seen with Eva Cate, Cinderella has been, by far, my favorite. It was so unexpected, not only entertaining to children, but adults also. The dialogue could be understood (at different levels) by both groups… with adults chuckling at subtle, modern-day expressions and innuendos.

When I went out on the deck yesterday morning before leaving for my post-op check-up (Dr. Scarlett said that the eye looks great) I saw the plaque Honey made for me with the popular (at least Cinderella fans’ popular) saying on it.

It reminded me of the cutest phone message I got while waiting for my surgery early Thursday morning  in the waiting room of the surgery center.

Walsh had called, with Rutledge in tow, apparently, while Brooke and I were “feeling” our way up Highway 61. I didn’t see that the voicemail had been sent until I was in the  waiting room listening for my name to be called.

I heard Walsh first saying…”Talk to Boo Boo Rutledge….and then there was some whispering and I heard (in a rather strange little “Louis Armstrong”crusty voice) “I love you Boo Boo” rather softly and then much louder “Be B R A V E Boo Boo!!!!! Be B R A V E this morning.”

The first time I heard it, I actually jumped because it was so loud. Then I realized I must have mistakenly moved the volume up while trying to mute the Iphone. (Another good reason to be sitting in the waiting room for cataract surgery.)

When it dawned on me what Rutledge had said, I started laughing and told Brooke to listen. (By then I thought I had turned down the volume…instead I had turned it up MORE.) So I hand the Iphone to Brooke and everyone in the waiting room now heard Rutledge’s message to me.

At first I saw a few slightly irritated-looking stares at the sudden loud noise in the quiet, early morning waiting room…but then I began to hear a chuckle or two around the room…and some nods, as if every grandparent in the room understood the importance of this voicemail.

Immediately my name was called to ‘come on back’ and Brookie was told to stay in the waiting room until they had my vitals checked and my arm hooked up to the IV with numbing drops in my eyes.

Another gentleman’s name had been called back about the same time as mine…and he was in the curtained-off cubicle next to me. The nurse was getting me ready first and then was going to assist another nurse with him.

He must have heard our conversation with me joking around with the nurse that “Eye” didn’t want to feel ‘nutting’ in my “eye” so keep dropping those numbing drops and don’t stop.”

Suddenly we both heard a man’s low voice from the next cubicle…”Be BRAVE Boo Boo….BE BRAVE!” I burst out laughing and caught the nurse up on the joke.

Now the voice (from the next cubicle) apologized for interfering but it was just too perfect a moment not to interrupt, he said.

The nurse told a couple of other nurses about it….so by the time I arrived in the surgery room….the surgeon’s assistant nurse actually whispered to me…”Be BRAVE Boo Boo!’

We don’t usually think about putting the words “kind” (“brave”) or “courage” together…but yet when we stop and think about it…isn’t performing kind acts under intimidating conditions perhaps the most courageous acts of bravery?

Despite having seen all the atrocities of war, this soldier still took the time to feed a kitten with a pipette to rescue him

Afghan man offers tea to thirsty fighting American soldiers. Notice the second cup in his hand and another soldier in the background.

Man risked his life to rescue a kangaroo in Queensland’s floods

We could go on and on….but being kind during times of duress is a real change agent… like the nice man in the cubicle next to me bringing awareness to a funny situation that lightened up the mood for patients and medical personnel alike.

(I wish there was some way to be able to transfer Rutledge’s voicemail to my blog …but I don’t know how….if it is even possible…I am open to ideas.)

So until tomorrow…Let us remember, that even in difficult situations, kindness can change the outlook and hope of many.

“BE BRAVE, BOO BOO!”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Yesterday while I was getting checked in and vitals taken…I started humming “I can see clearly now”  by Johnny Nash (his big hit from 1972.) The funny little anesthesiologist immediately recognized it and said that would be a great song for the center. I nodded and told him that all they had to do was change “rain” to clouds” and they had it!

The term “clouds” has become the metaphorical term for cataracts…the idea being that when they are removed it is like clouds being swept away from the sky to let more of the sun and light in.

Since I am typing away…you can tell my right eye is adjusting very quickly to the removal of the cataract (actually it was almost a double cataract…one piggybacking on the other.) And even with some slight blurring with all the eye drops…the amount of extra light I am seeing is amazing. I kept thinking my den (happy room) was always so dark and now I “see” it was actually much lighter than I “saw.”

Every time a nurse gave me another eye drop to numb the eye…I told her to keep coming…I wanted to know it was really numb before the procedure started. The anesthesiologist  told me he would put some “happy juice” in the IV before the surgery started. I told him ...”Don’t be late.” (He assured me they couldn’t start without him)

When he came bouncing in the surgery room…I said, “Just the man I want to see….my cocktail man.” He told me that he had a song for me that he just heard on his Iphone that sent him scurrying my way. “What was it? I asked.

“Come see about me” (The Supremes) he responded with a grin.

All I remember of the surgery was a bright light and then it was over. I return to my opthamologist’s office today for her to check on the progress and hoping every thing looks great. (Like the HGTV show…“Flip or Flop“…if all is well with the first eye, it is time to get the next one done.)

While I was in surgery Brooke ran around Chick Filet so by the time I got in the car the chicken biscuits were calling me…nice and hot. What a friend I have in Brookie! Love you Brookie!

• Brookie was so brave to take me that early because she is having trouble driving when it is dark but her doctor keeps telling her that her cataracts aren’t “done” yet. Narrow Highway 61 is always a bit of challenge to drive at any time, but in the darkness of early morning ….even more challenging. Brooke told me that she sighed with relief when another car passed her without hitting her. This was truly a case of the “blind leading the blind.”

As you can see the surgery cap gave me the flat head…but actually that was the only surgical material I had to wear…I was on a gurney with two blankets covering me in all my day clothes and even my shoes/flats were still on my feet.

Everyone was so nice and friendly….a terrific  experience! Here’s a ‘shout-out’ to my surgeon, Dr Leslie Scarlett and the staff at The Physicians Eye Surgery Center. Great team work!

*…And the only “glasses” I will need now is singular…a drinking glass I got as a gift!  (When Dr. Scarlett asked which option I wanted for my cataract surgery I told her the basic one which is paid for by my Medicare…in other words, the retired school teacher’s option.) She smiled.

So until tomorrow…There are many ways to be “blind”  in our trip through life…a type of blindness that new prescription glasses or contacts can’t improve. My prayer to God is that He clears the clouds from my eyes when it comes to helping and not judging my fellow man.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Thank all of you so much for your calls, texts, emails, comments, notes, and food. I am blessed beyond belief and I know it. Thank you!

Look at these yummy muffins Gin-g dropped off yesterday as Brooke was leaving and Kaitlyn coming in for the “second shift.” Too sweet Gin-g, literally, as well as, descriptively.

*Gin-g, Kaitlyn and I had these delicious muffins for breakfast this morning before Kaitlyn had to run teach a yoga class.

• A great way to start the day and end the blog. Take a minute, listen, sing, whistle, or hum.

• Johnny Nash – I Can See Clearly Now – YouTube

Dear Reader:

With each poem I read by Mary Oliver I am becoming a more avid fan. Her works are so down to earth and provide simple inspiration without a lot of fanfare. It appeals greatly to me at this stage of life where less is best.

This is the first poem from a collection of poems called Messenger and the more I read it…the more I have become enamored of it.

“My Work is Loving This World:

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

……………………..

I read through the poem several times and admit that I looked up two words…”phoebe” and “delphinium.“

A “phoebe” is a type of small bird, more commonly known, as a flycatcher….it eats a variety of small insects.

Delphinium is a type of plant that has over 300 variations. This was the picture I found on-line but there were hundred more of every color and size…beautiful!

The closest thing in my garden to this plant (perhaps a distant cousin) is the photo in the title picture. It is where I found that adorable little bumblebee yesterday drinking away.

After re-reading the poem the thought came to me that if everyone born on earth would look at their purpose here within the context of ‘loving the world as their work” ….what a beautiful world we would live in!  Because if we truly loved the world, no matter what pursuit of work we carried with us… we would never intentionally harm it.

Like the bee we would only take from earth what we needed and never destroy it with our greed. When we think of wars, conflicts, controversies it always , always comes down to one problem….GREED. Sadly it seems like it is so inherent in humanity that the thought of an utopia of peace and beauty here on earth appears unattainable.

But that doesn’t mean we should just throw in all the cards and say “It is what it is”….God gave us free will …so if we used it unwisely and messed up…it is up to us to fix it. God, like a good parent, waits for His Children to do what they know is best for the world in their hearts…for the gift of Creation bestowed upon them by an adoring Father.

By the time you read this I will probably be back home with Brookie putting drops in my eyes. I am excited but a little nervous too….am always happier when I can re-tell the story in past tense…that, hopefully, will happen tomorrow. * If there is no blog you know the eyesight is still adjusting.

So until tomorrow…The sun always shines above the clouds…and that is what I want to see clearly….the rays from the sun shining down on me and my little life. One”cloud” is being removed today…forecast…mostly sunny in the right eye, still a little cloud coverage in the left eye (until Sept 15 when it is removed.)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

• Good sign this morning….an alignment of the universe rarely seen. Last night’s beautiful moon flower was still in bloom when the surrounding morning glories woke up and greeted the moon flower good morning. It is a rarity to have a moon flower still blooming when the morning glories pop open. A wonderful God Wink for me I believe.
• 

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Psalm 34:8

Yesterday (at the DSS parking lot) we had one man stop and say the cookie we gave him was the best he had ever eaten…and blessed us…Another man stopped to give us each a little pumpkin for being kind to him. He had medical tests all day and hadn’t eaten anything…was so hungry! What a blessing for us to be able to help!

*Brooke was home when I got back from DSS and we started talking, catching up and didn’t stop ….except to eat a delicious supper at Oscars with Kevin, our favorite waiter.

^This is what we saw heading out this morning around 6:00….a beautiful full moon! God Wink!

Dear Reader:

At the beginning of each chapter of Karen White’s latest summer novel, Flight Patterns, she has a quote about bees that parallel the life of one or more of the characters in that particular chapter. It was interesting to see how she was going to connect the quote to the story through each individual section…

In the first chapter the quote read:” The bee collects honey from flowers in such a way as to do the least damage or destruction to them, and he leaves them whole, undamaged and fresh, just as he found them.” St. Francis de Sales

How true! As I was watering the garden…I suddenly heard the drone of several bees… and an infrequent yellow butterfly would flit by… but didn’t seem to have much of an inclination to perch, but for a second or two, on each blossom. It must not have been a good shopping day for the butterflies.

Not so with the bees. This little fella was so engrossed in his endeavor that he never looked up…even as I got closer and closer. In fact he looked like he was posing for a photo session. He kept going around and around the stems as if to allow me a better shot of him…his best side, I suppose..

…And exactly like what the earlier quote said… he never disturbed the stems or blooms. A good neighbor!

Suddenly I realized that very subtly my butterfly (and bee) bushes had started blooming with lots of delicious treats for nature’s flying creatures. It made me  happy to know that I was and am providing nourishment and a place of refuge for the busy bees and butterflies.

There once was (and in some cases still practiced) an old English ritual of “telling the bees.” Today we think nothing of talking to and confiding in our pets, mainly dogs and cats….but bees?

The old traditional English custom, in which bees would be told of important events in their keepers’ lives, was thought to establish a special bond between insect and man. Deaths of keepers or members of the keeper’s family were always relayed on to the hive. In fact, the hives would be draped in black as they were told the name of the diseased.

If this information was not forthcoming, custom predicted that the bees might leave their hives, stop producing honey, or die themselves.

Today we are besieged by man and animal stories in the news and on animal programs that leave no doubt  the relationship and response between animal and man is much closer in similarity that once thought. We share the same joys and sorrows in life. ..together. We are all God’s creatures.

So until tomorrow…May we become good stewards of nature like the bees…taking only what we need and not leaving destruction behind us, but simply participating in the way Creation provided.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Monday night, around 8:30 I checked on the garden and saw a beautiful moon flower blooming against the fence….intermingled with drooping morning glories. Above, the moon shone brightly down on the yard casting shadows on the last stream of light quickly disappearing.

Between the beauty of the moon and moon flower it was an exhilarating moment to end the day.

Dear Reader:

Yesterday I was giving the B&B side a little dusting and straightening up before Brooke arrives tomorrow afternoon. She is going to spend the night with me and take me to my early optical surgery to remove the right eye cataract.

The reasoning for having subliminal message placed in popular viewing locations  is to help me pause and look at different daily incidents with a broader outlook and attitude. These wooden plaques and posters are just little reminders not to stray too far off my purpose in life.

It is true that some days are more challenging than others, but even on the most difficult days we can still find something good that happened.

Case in point: Mother’s funeral. It was sad, no doubt, my mother had lived next to us on the B&B side for years and it was going to be lonely without her. But then so many people came to her funeral that I never knew and they all remembered her as someone who rose above her physical challenges to change the world. She encouraged others to climb higher because she had done it, in spite of losing her left hand to bone cancer and raising three small children alone, after being widowed in her early thirties.

Like the old spiritual says: “Lord, show me the way.” Mother did just that for so many people who were fortunate enough to come into contact with her during their journey through life. She showed others the way to live through  faith.

Come with me and let me show you my other sayings that are “strategically” placed both on my side and the B&B side so that I can pause and consider the deeper messages within.

Next to the stove, on the other side, I put up different cloth “flag” sayings over the kitchen window in place of a  curtain.

Here are three samples of what they say:

“Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful”

“What’s meant to be will always find its way”

“May you trust God that you are exactly what you are meant to be”

Every morning I wake up to this driftwood cross on the wall opposite my bed and then as I walk down the hall…I am reminded of this truth.

My “Boo” computer room/door poster reminds me to fully appreciate the blessings of my garden sanctuary and to share ideas and suggestions with others.

Even on my door handles I like to have reminders of the serene secrets of life.

Perhaps the stick-on poster on the fridge on the B&B side says it best…a reminder that we live in a beautiful world created for us by our Creator God.

There are still many more posters and plaques inside and out in the garden but, truthfully, I am pretty tired and will examine some more at a later blog. I must have experienced sympathy sleeplessness Sunday night for our teachers because I tossed and turned most of it.

That is why I was late ( after nine) getting Eva Cate’s and Jakie’s back- to- school photo posted uesterday. It was so cute and as predicted…it brought tears.

My Ya friend, Libby,  has five grandchildren….got me beat so far…and sent all their adorable photos too.

Libby’s daughter…Betsy’s two precious daughters….Rebecca (first grade) and Hailey fourth grade! Looking good girls!

 Two of Libby’s son (Robby) oldest boys (Charlie and Trey-3rd and 4th grade)…the youngest (Rhett) still in pre-school is staying with his Nana until his school starts Wednesday.

I wish I could do a huge collage of all the children of the world going to school….it is such an important freedom;  such a priceless gift we are given in our country that other countries don’t have. One freedom we should never let falter.

So until tomorrow…Plant reminders of the joy of living like Johnny Appleseed scattering his seeds wherever he went. Whatever objects, inanimate or alive, make you happy….keep them close by for the more difficult days of life.

*Little did I know when I had a Winnie the Pooh raincoat framed for posterity (all three children wore it) that Winnie would play a constant role in my blogging.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh.

These beautiful pure white morning glories are appearing in more abundance each day….Anne reminded me that we saw them in whites and pastels as wildflowers in Ireland. They start my day the right way.

Dear Reader:

It is hard to believe that today is the day! School is back in session! Wired, but exhausted students and teachers, are getting back in an old familiar routine for many and for others…they are entering the frontier, the unknown, for the first time.

( I taught for almost 30 years in the classroom and I never slept the night before the first day of school….terrified I would over- sleep.  It is just not the students who have this problem. *That is why I used to like it when the students came on a Thursday instead of a Monday for the school kick-off day. After two days all the excitement and pumping adrenaline were gone… caput! Teachers and students then needed the weekend to rest up for the next full week)

“Frontier Day” describes Eva Cate’s situation this year….she is entering first grade today. The first grandchild is entering public elementary school. I am actually emotional over it and know the tears will probably fall with the annual morning ‘first day of school’ photo. Eva Cate is excited but still probably the calmest one around…*She already told John that he could just drop her off at school….she could find her room. Miss Independent!

*Morning Insert: John just sent the photo of Eva Cate and Jakie all ready for school. I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Facebook will be filled to the brim today of everyone’s back-to- school children and grandchildren’s pictures. It is an important benchmark photo day….the best way we see time and its consequences each year as our little ones slowly turn into big ones, then adults in their own right. And the cycle starts over….

Yesterday our pastor, Jeff, called up all the children for the children’s sermon and he reminded them to bring their backpacks if they had them. He, then, called up all the teachers and college professors to participate also. (All us veteran teachers remained seated with a smile of relief on our faces! I uttered a silent prayer of blessings for each one of those teachers…and then thanked God for His personalized blessing to me… retirement!)

William Veal, a congregational member and college professor, took his briefcase up to the front, when called, for the blessing ceremony. When William returned and sat down he attached his newly acquired tag to his briefcase. Anne and I loved it…she took a quick picture as everyone was returning to their seats.

Jeff performed a litany with the children and teachers….after each verse they all responded with “God is with me.” Jeff gave examples of good days and bad days at school, good grades and bad grades, friendly children and bullies…..but through it all “God is with me.”

*I was waiting for one of the children to ask Jeff if God could take a test for him/her since He was there anyway….all the time “with them”. (You can tell I was a precocious child….the kind that the teacher deliberately never spotted raising her hand.)

I love the tag our church gave each student and educator….what a wonderful send-off gift to let each child/teacher know that his/her church family, under God’s watchful eye, is cheering everyone on for  a successful school year! The Celtic Cross just finishes it off.

So until tomorrow…Let us remember that we rise only by lifting others.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Delights of the Day: I always love photographing these beautiful velvet looking lilies…it makes me feel like I have painted it every time I photograph it. 

Dear Reader:

A small little daily occurrence, while keeping Jakie Friday, sent my thoughts spiraling into the natural relationship between little children and flowers….perhaps the quote by Ralph Waldso Emerson says it best: “The earth laughs in flowers.” 

After returning from feeding the ducks Friday morning…Jakie was holding my hand as we cut through John and Mandy’s side yard. Suddenly I felt Jakie tug at me to stop and he pointed….a little yellow wildflower (dandelion) was blooming down below by our feet.

He squatted down beside it to touch it and stared at it intently. (Jakie has always been my nature grandson.) He was the one when, only a few months old, would makes a noise for me to stop and point at trees in his stroller. We would have to stop and I would hand Jakie a leaf from that particular tree to examine. (We had l-o-n-g strolling expeditions)

When we got to the front yard Jakie wanted to go down the slide so I stood by it as he climbed up and went down. He quickly circled to do it again….but this time he stopped by the bottom of the steps and picked up something. I figured it was a leaf or something and didn’t pay it much attention.

Then, when Jakie got to the top and sat down he handed me the little yellow wild flower that he must have pulled up when I looked away….it still had a long root attached to it. He smiled and handed it to me…”Ou…Boo Boo….ou!: (You , Boo Boo, You!) I reckon it was my time now to be on the receiving end of Jakie and nature.

Are children born with this inherent trait of curiosity and wonderment to examine and appreciate God’s little gifts in nature?

While internet searching for articles on this thought I came across two that caught my attention. One was from another blogger (Magical Movement Company/Carolyn) who believed very strongly in setting up children’s gardens within adult ones. It gave me some great ideas for starting one.

Love this idea of an attached bucket to a wall where children can get safety scissors to cut flowers and then be responsible for returning the scissors. Children’s gardens should have flowers that make lots of blooms constantly so the children can cut blooms on a continuous basis.

The blog gave lots of ideas on what to do with the blooms…I especially like this one…making potpourri for parents and friends as gifts.

It was another website that I was given in regard to children and flowers that puzzled me….quotes by Albert Einstein.

Einstein never ceases to amaze me…to be so brilliant in math and science yet he adored children and believed in empowering children with creativity through fairy tales as part of their education….not just math and science.

He wanted children to study the stars and watch them every night…it was the best classroom in the world he thought.

Here are some quotes by Einstein that I felt a strong affinity for while reading about him.

1. The human mind is not capable of grasping the Universe. We are like a little child entering a huge library. The walls are covered to the ceilings with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written these books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. But the child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books—a mysterious order which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects
2.  A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new

C. Imagination is more important than knowledge

1.  The only source of knowledge is experience.
2.  The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.

So until tomorrow…I love that last piece of advice….because it has only been through my garden that my creativity has sprung back to life…I needed that time to slow down my senses and give myself some God Time.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

“Delights of the Day”

Anne’s 31 Delights in August…a painting a day….so far 12 and here are two that I loved. Pull Anne up on Facebook….unbelievable artwork. (Google Anne Peterson-Facebook/Summerville, SC artist)

Dear Reader:

By now many of you long-time readers know that this little statue, given to me by family, was the first statue in the garden. Its name is “Bliss.” When I first spotted it in a catalogue I knew it symbolized exactly what I wanted to feel from the presence of my garden….a world of bliss. And that is exactly what I got!

Bliss is a word we don’t much see any more unless, perhaps, in a children’s fiction story where the children find themselves in a completely blissful state eating apples under an old apple tree.

Besides the innocence of children and bliss….theologians use the word to describe heaven….a state of perfect happiness….the rapture, ecstasy, or euphoria.

Perhaps Boo’s Garden ought to be changed to “Boo’s Bliss” because that is exactly what it is. Every single day there is something new to discover in blissful amazement. There is always a sense of deja vu when I enter the garden…as if in my parallel life the garden was always there….simply invisible until I was ready to be “perfectly happy” within my existence.

Almost a year ago to the day Honey came across an article on the place of bliss in our modern lives, thought of me, and sent it to me. I loved it and hope you do too.

“Finding Your Bliss Station” – Joseph John Campbell

If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living.

Wherever you are — if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.

[Sacred space] is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you.

This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.

 When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”

………………………..

So until tomorrow….Let’s”plant” a little bit of heaven right here on earth. The only way we can do it….is believe in bliss and then live it.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I have been in Mount Pleasant since Thursday evening….kept Jakie yesterday because his pre-school was closed. What a difference it is keeping my grandsons from my granddaughter….I might need to invest in a catcher’s mask….all three are into trucks, (especially firetrucks) trains, and balls…..football, basketball, baseball or golf….the sport doesn’t matter as long as a ball is involved. It is genetically ingrained in them (wired) from their first day on earth. Truly the difference between Mars and Venus…..and both absolutely wonderful!

Mollie has been in Washington, D.C. at a conference with her new cosmetic entrepreneurship over the weekend.

While gone…Walsh started training the boys for future Olympics…the Dingle bob sled team! Let me change that….The “Blissful Dingle bob sled team!

It ended up with the rest of the family gathering for supper last night….six adults and four children (six and under)….it was a “wild and crazy” night…a very loud one. But to a proud grandmother….it was bliss!

*I took “Little Tink” to show Eva Cate and she squealed. Her first assignment from her teacher is to bring something to school the first day that means something special to each one and share it with the class….so she is keeping “Little Tink” for show and tell the first day of first grade….Tinker Bell is getting her fifteen minutes of fame after all.