Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving from Plum Cottage

 

Hello Folks ~ Here it is the day before Thanksgiving here in the US and I want to wish you all a lovely time of good food, good times and being thankful. Thankful not just for the good, but for the rough, hard and anguished times too.  Through those times we grow and learn to appreciate so much.

I am thankful to God for all of you and for how you have blessed me with your love, prayers and friendship these past two years since my dear husband left this planet for his heavenly home.

I am thankful to God for drawing me closer to Him.  He has been and continues to be my strength. He has blessed me in many ways.

I am thankful for my gardens here, they really help in the healing process.

I am thankful for my little cottage, and for the meal I am preparing for tomorrow.  It will be a nice quiet, reflective day, something we always enjoyed together and is part of the healing that continues each day for me.

In the last two weeks, I’ve learned of two blogging friends who have lost their husbands. I ask you to send love and prayers out for them. Toodie of Twiddeldee and Freda of Defining Your Home, Garden & Travel. They both are in a very rough patch right now as their losses are so new and great.

Gardening as you all know, is a big part of my life, more so now after losing my best friend and soulmate, the love of my life. Healing happens in my gardens.  My heart and soul are soothed. I am continuing to make it a haven, a place where I talk to my Creator and enjoy His creation.

The past couple of days I’ve been watching episodes of ‘Love Your Garden’ on You-Tube.  The one I watched this morning really touched my heart as it was a garden created to be solace to a family.   When you have some time, watch the making of this lovely space for this family to heal and move forward.

In an episode I watched yesterday a garden was being created for a 90 year old lady.  She said she mowed her own lawn up until she was 89. It got too hard for her to start the mower and do the work, then her garden became ‘tatty’ as the people in England say. Oh my I’m only 65, if I live to be her age, I’ve still got 24 years to go, God willing. (I do plan on buying an electric lawn mower next year, which will help me a lot. The gas one takes tugging at least three times to get it started and that is a wear out before I even get started.)

So, that’s it for now. I hope you all have lovely holidays. I’m going to start filling this little place with delicious scents.

Thank you again for being my friends.

FlowerLady

***

Gratitude is an art

of painting an adversity

into a lovely picture.

Kak Sri

33 comments:

lil red hen said...

Wishing you a blessed and peaceful Thanksgiving Day, Flower Lady.

A Whole Lotta Magic said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Rainey. You are such a lovely friend. I'm so glad I found your blog.

Have a great day!

Sue
xo

Rebecca said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Lorraine! I pray your day is blessed with wonderful memories and great hope and many plans for Plum Cottage and your beautiful garden & yard. You've brought so much beauty into MY life over the past year - and now I have these garden videos to view! Thank you.

Stephanie said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you, sweet lady. You are a blessing to many!

Your dear friends will certainly be in my prayers! Love and hugs to you!

Nancy J said...

Lorraine, Happy Thanksgiving, with memories, friends close by and far away to share the day with, words on a blog, email, or phone call. And your friends, you will be there with prayers, love, caring thoughts and words, at such a time friendship is like no other. Hugs, Jean.

Terra said...

Happy Thanksgiving sweetie. I like this post and the video.

Lemon Verbena Lady said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you dear FL! Hope you have a very peaceful day! A big hug for you from me and The Herbal Husband!

L. D. said...

Your thankfulness of God will carry you as you wait for God to share your daily new paths that you take. Your appreciation of life is not taken for granted and you reward others by sharing with others and caring for others. I wish you well and may the time you spend tomorrow helps to heal more. Happy Thanksgiving Day.

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

We all have much to be thankful for. Have a blessed day.

Unknown said...

Peace and warmth to you. I will pray and think of you tomorrow, Hugs! Toodie

Ruth Hiebert said...

Happy Thanksgiving. Hope your day is filled with precious memories.

Kit said...

Happy Thanksgiving my dear friend! Enjoy your holiday. Love, Kit

Deborah Montgomery said...

I have a place on my prayer list where I pray for several widows i know, including you, and I will add these dear ones.
Your garden has been a blessing, and I'm thankful that you are walking each day with the Lord. I have been glad to get to know you through blogging; have a blessed Thanksgiving.

Gary said...

Good morning Lorraine,
It's 7.30am on Thursday here, and I just read this. There are only two genuine gardeners on TV in my book, Monty Don, and Alan Titchmarsh. Although we don't celebrate thanksgiving over here, my thoughts and prayers are with you. I commented to Amanda the other day that it would be nice to have thanksgiving, where gifts and food could be shared, and that way leaving Christmas free to just be at peace.

Rose ~ from Oz said...

So terribly sad to hear of the other lady's losses.
the Healing garden - what a lovely sentiment Lorraine. I think your tradition of Thanksgiving is beautiful and the sentiment behind it.
We should adopt it over here.
May peace be with you dearest Lorraine.

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving. As I read your post, I was thinking that God has given you the gift of love of your garden. It has been your haven during this past year...given you a purpose for sunrise. I am so happy for you that you have that love and purpose.

Much love, Carol

Deb said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Friend, Just stopping by to say Happy Thanksgiving to you. Even in places where Thanksgiving is not celebrated (or celebrated on the 4th Thursday in November like ours is) —it can be a time for each of us to take time to thank God for our blessings and also not to forget the “Giving” in the word, ThanksGIVING. We all have lots of blessings —but many times, we ignore the giving part….Not just on Thanksgiving Day, but all of the time, please take time to contact family/friends just to say HI… And remember that a big SMILE can lift someone’s day…. Little things like that can really HELP..

We all do have so much to be thankful for, don't we? I love seeing and hearing about your beautiful gardens...

God Bless…
Happy Thanksgiving.
Hugs,
Betsy

Val said...

Happy Thanksgiving Lorraine. ♥ I work tonight, so we are having Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow evening here.

Sallysmom said...

Sending good thoughts your way today. I know Mark is smiling down at what you have accomplished. ;)

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

Dear Lorraine, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!
Thank you for the video!

Thistle Cove Farm said...

Rainey, when I've moved nearer family, my nephew is an licensed electrician. I'm asking him to put push button starters on ALL my equipment. I'm sick and tired of jerking my head off my body.
My heart goes out to your blog friends; I know, all too well. Dave died 3 years ago on Nov 5.

sweetbay said...

What a lovely post. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!

Susan said...

Hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. Loved the video. I've never heard of it before but will check out more.

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Gratitude is indeed an art. I'm guessing you filled your little home with delightful scents and thoughts over the weekend.
:)

Anonymous said...

There are some true healing powers involved in gardening . . . in nature.

I'm going to have to check out the You-Tube video you mentioned.

Have a wonderful week, FlowerLady.

Love and Hugs,

eli

Maryann said...

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving, I have always found gardening to be very healing, holidays can be difficult when we have lost a loved one, will continue to pray for you during these times and the ladies who have recently lost their husbands. Blessings to you

Yesteryear Embroideries said...

So thankful to know your through blog land as well! Hope this finds that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Loved the video and I also take care of my own yard.........hope I can keep doing that until I am 90! Loved reading your post!

jerilanders said...

I hope you had a good day.I have another friend who lost her husband this year as well. Gardening is the great soother. I find such consolation in my gardens when I am upset or angry or simply weary. "Love your Garden" is one of the best garden series I've ever watched, I love that guy! To tend the garden up to age 89, marvelous. I just watched a video about Gramma Moses who painted all the way up to the end of her life at 101 years old!

GRACE PETERSON said...

I hope your Thanksgiving was warm and wonderful, Lorraine. I solved the lawn mower problem by getting rid of the lawn. But I'd sure like to be that active when I'm 90 year old. I'll have to watch this show. Sounds fun. Take care my friend.

KathyB. said...

I love all you wrote. It seems my heart and soul are longing for more quiet and reflective gatherings and my husband & I are looking forward to quiet Christmas celebrations( rare for us ). I pay attention to all you have written and know not to take for granted my husband & I will always be together here on earth. He is my favorite person to be with. I cannot imagine otherwise , you are in my prayers.

I am going to check out the video you posted. Blessings to you.

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Not on computer much lately.
Problems and changing server.
Also for a week not feeling
as good as I would like to.
Your pictures always make me smile
along with your special words.
On the 89 year old. I just turned 80 and doing all and wonder how much longer :)
My mind does not relate to this number and my son says that is normal for a super active person.
His words always bless me.
Take care and keep spreading your beautiful words and pictures.

M.K. said...

Hi dear! It's too late to say "Happy Thanksgiving" here, because I'm so behind in my reading, and it's now December 8! :) But blessings to you, and I'm glad you had a peaceful day. So very glad you have your gardening around you -- it is God's gift to you, as you live these days.