More thoughts, a little project and flowers

 

Hello Friends ~ Thank you for your comments.

After reading your comments, I wanted to write some more thoughts on my last post, on the part about dealing with sorrow.

We all have sorrow in our lives, at sometime or other. Whether it be losing a loved one through death, divorce, misunderstandings, loss of a job, home, etc. Or we are in sorrow for hurtful/hateful things said and done, by us, or to us.

We as humans can't help but be sorrowful over events in our lives. The thing is, we aren't to stay sorrowful, that doesn't do us or anyone else any good.

I agree, sorrow can draw us closer to God, it gives us more empathy for others, etc. But if we 'dwell' on our sorrows, instead of moving forward in our lives, we will be missing out on a lot of blessings, and more lessons God has in store for us. Dwelling in sorrow, leads to dispair, instead of growing in goodness and grace.

I don't have my act together, I'm not perfect, I am being perfected. This piece just spoke to my heart and I wanted to share it in hopes that it would help others also. To encourage and inspire.

I have made forward progress in the last 4 years. The other morning when I walked into the grocery store my heart lurched on hearing an instrumental song by Carlos Santana. Someone my dear husband was inspired by and enjoyed playing his electric guitar to with CD's and tapes by Santana. I didn't want to get 'down' in my spirits, and somehow the music just faded into the background, as I did my shopping, and eventually turned into something else. I have cried before in stores from hearing music that meant something to us.

I have ‘sorrow’ for the loss of the 'love of my life'. That just can't be helped. We met when we were 17 & 18 and got married 3 years later. But, I can't let my loss defeat me. I have more living to do, and with God's grace and strength I want to live each day gracefully and gratefully.

------

Now onto some living going on here at Plum Cottage.

I have not had use of my weed whacker since getting ready for hurricane Matthew. I had hurriedly restrung it and didn't do it right, so that the thing just stopped. When I checked it out, I couldn't even find the top end of the string. So, I set it aside, until yesterday morning.

I got it out, grabbed a straight slot screwdrive and a pair of pliers, my glasses, said a prayer and sat down in the little screened porch off kitchen and started to work on it. I had to unstring the string from the bottom, then slowly started restringing by following the obvious arrow and making sure my string was neatly going the way the arrow pointed.  I then strung it through the hole put the whacker back together, plugged it in and voila, it worked and kept on working. YAY!

That was a little triumphant project for me, and I said a prayer of thanksgiving more than once. Now the brick border shows by the caravan

and I ‘started’ on the main garden’s main path.

The first two photos below are of Ruby Hibiscus blooms.  This plant is about 10’ tall. It has given me ‘volunteers’ also. The second photo was up over my head and I had to lift my arm up high to point and shoot and hoped it came out ok.

This is a bloom from ‘Confederate Rose’. There are other colors of this plant. I just have the yellow variety. This also volunteers.

This is ‘Thunbergia erecta’. I also have this in white.

Here are a couple of roses.

The first is ‘Picnic’ and the second is an unknown, with a sweet scent.

Ok, that’s it for now. Enjoy each day.

FlowerLady

***

"There is music in the meadows, in the air --
Autumn is here;
Skies are gray, but hearts are mellow,
Leaves are crimson, brown, and yellow;
Pines are soughing, birches stir,
And the Gipsy trail is fresh beneath the fir.

There is rhythm in the woods, and in the fields,
Nature yields:
And the harvest voices crying,
Blend with Autumn zephyrs sighing;
Tone and color, frost and fire,
Wings the nocturne Nature plays upon her lyre."
William Stanley Braithwaite, Lyric of Autumn

***

"Even if something is left undone,

everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn."
 Elizabeth Lawrence