Seasons of Life

Greetings from Plum Cottage in s.e. FL. Here it is the start of another weekend and time keeps zipping right along. These past two months have been seasons of change, not only in the weather patterns, but also in the times of life.

At the beginning of February my favorite aunt, my dear husband's aunt, had a stroke at home, and fell and broke her hip. She was taken to the hospital and they did surgery. She would be 92 this year.  She was then put in rehab. She had another stroke and went to be with God her Father, on the 18th of March.  She is survived by her only child, our cousin Faye. Before my Aunt passed from this life to the next,  Faye's husband suffered the exact same kind of stroke her Mom had had. He passed away a week to the day from when her Mom left. This has been really, really rough for Faye so I am asking prayer in her behalf that she will have the strength to get through each and every day. I ask prayers for myself as well that I will be comforting support since I've already been where she is in being a widow.

I've been re-reading 3 different books in my personal library for widows as it's been 6 yrs and 4 months since the start of my widowhood journey and I wanted to refresh myself with dealing with grief from the beginning. While doing this reading, I realized that I've come quite away since those first few weeks/months. God has been my strength. I prayed, read the Bible, books, devotionals, I cried. Grieving is different for every one. There is no right or wrong way. There is no time limit. To be of help to widows, we need to be compassionate and encouraging. We need to be there for those who need someone to listen to what they say or don't say about their feelings. Be supportive, give help where help is needed. Do not be overly helpful, or pushy. But be there for them when they need someone. Pray for them.

The blogging community, family and friends, church family, have all helped in my growing through my grieving and I thank each and every one of you for your love, prayers and encouragement.

We widows can not only survive but thrive. God has a plan for our good, He hears our hearts cries, He is with us every step of the way.  I am so thankful to Him for what He has done, for what He is doing and for what He will do.

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Part of my surviving/thriving mode, (even though I've had some slumps), has been working in my gardens. Gardening in s.e. FL is a year round project, so it is never done, and my tropical, cottage gardens can and do turn into a jungle quickly. I've been working outside in the mornings trying to get caught up. Summer's heat and humidity will be here all too soon and working outside past mid morning will not be a good thing then.

My dear husband is the one who came up with my online name of 'FlowerLady', because of my love of flowers and because I was out in my gardens among the flowers, when I wasn't working at my job. He always knew where to find me. He once said I was 'the girl with far-away eyes' (line from a Rolling Stones song) when I was out among the flowers.

These days I am working on grouping potted plants into 2-3 main areas making it easier for me to water, etc.

Below is an area that really needed some serious weeding. This is my clothesline/caravan garden area, before and after. It could be better, but it is forward progress and I am happy with that for now.

Now for some blooms.There are so many things in bloom right now, and the air is filled with scents. It is absolutely wonderful. There are at least 3 different jasmine perfuming the air, roses too, a scented geranium, a faux orange bush and more that I can't think of at the moment.

This rose did not have a name tag when I bought it, but the color and the scent made me put it into my cart. I think this was from Home Depot.

If I new the name of this one, I don't remember it, and it has no tag.

This little sweetie is 'Kathleen'. I've had the mother plant for many years now, this one is a cutting that rooted. She has a nice delicate scent, and is one of my favorites.

This is 'International Herald Tribune'

Yesterday I did some errands, one of the places I stopped at was The Dollar Store for some tissue paper. I looked around while there and bought some Easter candy, 2 pkgs of cup cake liners, 8 pkgs of flower seeds 25 cents a pkt. 

 
I moseyed over to the little book section and found a real gem, at least it is to me. I had seen the author of this book in Country Living Magazine many years ago and loved her style. This is a lovely hard back book with lots of wonderful photos and history of 'Magnolia Pearl'. Price ~ $1.

I highly recommend this book for inspiration and eye candy. 

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I think tonight I will fix tacos for supper, my favorite comfort/happy meal.

Count your blessings, take nothing for granted, grow and learn through your circumstances whatever they are.

Kindness matters, so be kind.

Have a wonderful weekend ~ FlowerLady