My little grandchildren are coming today from Laguna Beach California.
They love my bugs....the ones that wear shoes and bow ties.
I'm thinking of getting them a slip and slide (their mom says they love it)
but I remember when my kids were little ...how it destroyed the grass...
and my husband had a fit
about grass
Not this time Arthur...
what is life all about
but for living
and making memories
and for making no more regrets.
So what if the grass takes a hit

Morning Light

Sorry I made the pics so big...next time I'll pay attention. But I posted them straight from Picasa and i don't know any other way to post multiple pictures using it.
Anyway I just wanted to share my morning walk looking lookin looking  around the garden. It is pretty dry and the new flowering plants haven't yet so the garden is looking a bit tired besides for the potted annuals. So it was light and bugs and birds that gave me a smile today in the early garden.

A garden is all about corners and nooks. This is one of my rock nooks. Here you will find rocks that I have collected along my journey of life. And a few were given to me by friends who knew what to bring me back from a trip...a rock.
The green ceramic dish I found at TJMAXX in the dead of winter. How nice, I thought back then, will this shallow dish look amongst my rocks...catching water for the bunnies and the stray cat Handsome (whom I have not seen in weeks)
Nooks, little unexpected discovery zones in the garden.

What I like best about my garden is the sense of mystery. It isn't a garden in the garden club tradition, it is a wild and free place of beautiful things growing. Most things I have planted there, but truth be told, it's the things I didn't plant that make my heart swell a bit more, each time I discover them. Now, I do have to control things a bit, or it would be bedlam..but in me beats a gypsy heart...a wandering spirit that looks for adventure in the smallest of places. This rock for instance...this morning I stopped... at the morning light hitting it just so...and I saw it hidden...vinca vine bejewling it in the mostly shady part of the garden under the River Birch.
I love light...morning and late afternoon light in the garden. It touches the plants to wake them up or signal them this day is fleeting fast.
Light and darness......sun and moon...ying and yang.........live and let live.........
yep....that's the kind of garden I have

this was his mug shot
he was soon executed
by drowning
Oh July....

The only good thing about this critter
is....I hope he turns into a butterfly!
I thought of you April....inside joke.

These tiger lillies were volunteers in my front beds. They have spread to make a happy little cluster of orange. It is amazing how easy they are to grow..they drop little black seeds daily. How they got here? I'll blame the birds.

They call you asian tiger lily
warm orange with black spots
a threat to no one
just a name
we gave you

sunday haiku

I didn't bother to plant anything in the mailbox flowerbox..it is too hard to keep it watered all the time, and even if I do, the plants seem to just bake. But low and behold, miracles happen everyday if you only look. Some birdie must have dropped a seed or two bringing about this moment of joy for me. Lovely happy sunflowers.

Who plants sunflowers in a planter box by the street anyway?
someone did...hahahaha!

Sometimes it pays to look up and see

waiting for just a glance

a moment of your time

waiting to hear you sigh

...trees

I wanted a sense of anticipation as you enter the garden,thus the curving flagstone path. This morning I still felt that anticipation as I returned from the front (garbage day..hauling a can) and stayed with it for a fleeting second before I saw the the bare spots on the ground and the mock orange bushes maybe on their last breath. Not supposed to do that....go negative.....look for joy and beauty.. I tried to tell myself as mosquitoes were biting my arms. An imperfect garden...hmmmm..where does that lead my mind? Eve-why couldn't you have just eaten of the right fruit and made it easy on us all.....damn bugs and death

In the garden today

I love photos.....words are wonderful..but photos allow us to dwell...in our own imagination and joy..
I love visiting gardens....seeing other's sanctuaries....small or large...simple or complex...a deck potted up with flowers.....I love seeing it all.  Wish you could sit and share a glass of iced tea with me....and just talk.

A glance back
Was it at me
a gratefulness
shared between species
her for water
me for her just being there
lifting my spirit on this very hot
July morning

aaah..now to reap the rewards...Tomorrow I plan on going to breakfast with a friend, then to the bookstore and back home again to sit my butt in this chair and read The Help....my book group read for this month. I think I'll only last an hour outside..it has been awful with the bugs lately....and now the heat...

Faithful to bloom,happy to have another go at it. Do you know that I rescue tossed plants after Easter to put into my garden?
I do. Not ashamed. A plant picker. That's me. I rescue tulips,hyacinths, and daffodils too. Many, I'm sorry to say, don't make it. But I just can't see them tossed..like they were trash.....I'm an emotional person when it comes to living things...children,old folks,plants,birds,frogs......you name it....I want them to live happily.
So this is a picture of one that is.
living happily
in my Open Bar of Joy
have a sip of it!

Jack is setting his seeds, soon to turn bright red, a holiday color that says here I am....and the birds find them. All in the great plan of things. Renewal and birth and seedlings growing where others have planted..but only the Great Spirit can stir to life.
But just under the leaf of my thought is the knowledge that the season is moving quickly....forgive me Great Spirit for filling my mind with concern that soon this lovely season will be over and I will once again dread the loneliness of winter.
Let me dwell in the thoughts of childhood
of endless summer
and Popsicles
shorts and bathing suits and pools
silly friends
hot dogs
and no homework
carefree days
that I treasured,lived
and never worried about their passing
Let me dwell there.