Decided to try a new font size... Nope, too big.
Unh-uh, too small.
Looks like Normal is just right. A new experience for me... I'm not used to being 'normal.'
Spring has sprung!
The grass is riz! I love Springtime in Virginia. The Garden is coming alive and new plantings are being put in. It's always a joy for me to be in the Garden but so wonderful to have the sun shining on new shoots and blossoms.
The weather man says that a region north of my area may get snow this weekend. Winter's still trying. The past year has been interesting weather-wise. Looks like that may continue.
Dicing maraschino cherries at 2a.m.
I did it again... fell asleep in the lounge chair and woke up at 12:15a.m. Went to bed and tried to fall asleep but it didn't take. So... I'd planned to do some baking when I got up anyway, so figured I might as well use the time productively. Got busy dicing cherries for the cake and bars I'm going to bake later this morning. Even remembered to take out the butter so it could soften. Aren't I just the organized one. I won't ask what you'd do at 2.m. I've learned not to ask a question unless I reeeely want to know the answer.
My friends and family continue to comfort, surprise and delight me.
Friends and family members continue to come forward to support me with just the things I need when I need them. Hugs, chuckles, and more. I am so blessed.
Had all of my children and grans together last weekend for a delayed Holiday gift exchange and to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries for the months January-March. Such fun! All of the grans except for the two youngest have surpassed me in height. It's not that much of an accomplishment as I am vertically-challenged... but such a ping to my system to see how they are growing and getting older. AND I've told them that I'm not old enough to have children and grans their age... they'll just have to tell everyone that they adopted me.
Learned yesterday that Elizabeth Taylor had died.
Early in my marriage to her son, my mother-in-law told that I looked like Elizabeth Taylor. (Well, in a way I did.) I couldn't decide whether she was complimenting or mocking me. We won't go there. Ms. Taylor lived an interesting life. She helped many people and certainly confounded just as many. She'll be missed by all... except, of course, the ones (longevity-challenged, most of them) who say, "Liz who?"
Oh, the apology...
When I logged on to do this post, there was a note that a Spam blocker had been put on the Comments and I should periodically check the Spam section. They waited this long to let me know? Couldn't be that I didn't notice the notice, right? I hadn't thought anyone had made comments and I find ones posted as far back as January 2010! Thus... my apologies to all who are reading my posts. I wasn't ignoring you... I didn't know you existed. I'll try to remember in the future to check more often for comments. I have only 3 'followers' and didn't think anyone else was reading me. I'm so excited! Thank you for taking the time to read my bits.
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The gift of moonlight
As a child, my favorite time of the 24 hours began at twilight on nights of the full moon. The heat of the summer day slowly dissipated, lightning bugs blinked their tiny beacons near and far, and the moonlight gave a silver gleam to everything in sight. On the clearest evenings, the light was so brilliant that it created knife-edged shadows. In Winter, the full moon's beams added silver outlines to the leafless trees and made the frost sparkle.
I was born at the end of June, a Cancer, under the sign of the Moon. I've always been a moon child. I could (and still can) fall asleep in the midst of a room-full of talking people, with the radio or TV playing. But let me be asleep in a quiet dark room and have a moonbeam fall across my bed and my eyes will pop open as if a wake-up switch has been thrown in my brain. For a time in my 30's, when I was a single mother of three working two jobs, having gotten my children to bed, I would lie on the lounge out in the back yard, enjoying the quiet under the full moon. A neighbor saw me one evening and asked what I was doing. I told him I was getting a moon tan.
I'm still a moon child and try to catch as many moon rays as I can. Which means I was truly delighted this past Tuesday evening while I was at the Garden. I had made myself get up, get dressed, and go to the Garden library for my volunteer hours.
.... A few moments after arriving, one of the workers finishing the installation of the Christmas... excuse me... Holiday decorations in the Reading Room offered to show us a project she had just finished and placed in the cabinet holding treasured floral porcelains. I looked at the figures in the cabinet and my reaction was 'so?' Then she pointed out that the largest, sitting on the bottom shelf, was one she had created from real dried plant material from the Garden. It is breath-taking, especially juxtaposed with the porcelain porcelains. I spent the rest of my hours there pointing out my favorite 'fake porcelain' to everyone who visited the library.
.... I discovered that the evening was Member Night (free admission). The air was just crisp enough to feel Christmas-ey and only a slight breeze was blowing. I decided to stay and walk through the Garden's Fest of Lights. I treated myself to a bowl of Red Pepper & Crab soup in the Cafe as I watched darkness descend and the lights start to glow. As I walked across to the Conservatory, I realized that there was a full moon! It was a soft golden orb, in a cobalt sky with gauzy clouds seeming to hang in place, throwing a golden haze over the Garden. Heavenly.
I've been taught that in Heaven there will be no night... the radiance of the Father will out-shine the sun. I hope that in a small corner, I'll be able to find quiet and moonlight.
I was born at the end of June, a Cancer, under the sign of the Moon. I've always been a moon child. I could (and still can) fall asleep in the midst of a room-full of talking people, with the radio or TV playing. But let me be asleep in a quiet dark room and have a moonbeam fall across my bed and my eyes will pop open as if a wake-up switch has been thrown in my brain. For a time in my 30's, when I was a single mother of three working two jobs, having gotten my children to bed, I would lie on the lounge out in the back yard, enjoying the quiet under the full moon. A neighbor saw me one evening and asked what I was doing. I told him I was getting a moon tan.
I'm still a moon child and try to catch as many moon rays as I can. Which means I was truly delighted this past Tuesday evening while I was at the Garden. I had made myself get up, get dressed, and go to the Garden library for my volunteer hours.
.... A few moments after arriving, one of the workers finishing the installation of the Christmas... excuse me... Holiday decorations in the Reading Room offered to show us a project she had just finished and placed in the cabinet holding treasured floral porcelains. I looked at the figures in the cabinet and my reaction was 'so?' Then she pointed out that the largest, sitting on the bottom shelf, was one she had created from real dried plant material from the Garden. It is breath-taking, especially juxtaposed with the porcelain porcelains. I spent the rest of my hours there pointing out my favorite 'fake porcelain' to everyone who visited the library.
.... I discovered that the evening was Member Night (free admission). The air was just crisp enough to feel Christmas-ey and only a slight breeze was blowing. I decided to stay and walk through the Garden's Fest of Lights. I treated myself to a bowl of Red Pepper & Crab soup in the Cafe as I watched darkness descend and the lights start to glow. As I walked across to the Conservatory, I realized that there was a full moon! It was a soft golden orb, in a cobalt sky with gauzy clouds seeming to hang in place, throwing a golden haze over the Garden. Heavenly.
I've been taught that in Heaven there will be no night... the radiance of the Father will out-shine the sun. I hope that in a small corner, I'll be able to find quiet and moonlight.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Bits & Pieces
The last day of May! My time is moving so fast.
Juice-box Soccer
I got to see my 5-year-old grand-daughter play her final soccer game of this season. Such fun! The players on both teams displayed varying degrees of interest, adeptness and aptitude for the game. (Hanging from the frame of the goal net was a favorite activity for the goalies, but they rose to the occasion when the ball came their way. Mostly.) There were two basic rules: every child played and the goal was to have fun. Both teams scored goals, but only the most intently involved families could tell how many and by which child. The final score? You'd have to ask one of them. The coaches were great. They encouraged and helped all the players regardless of team (i.e. "Good job!" and "Psst... you're going the wrong way."). After the game, our team, the coach and assistant coach, and a few parents and 'grand's went to a pizza buffet to celebrate the season. Each player received a tasteful bobble-head trophy. My grand-daughter is looking forward to the next season. Swimming lessons will help bridge the gap.
Time in the Garden
I was at the local botanical garden again yesterday. Some many people, all ages, styles, makes and models united by a love of Nature at her most beautiful. Communed with butterflies in the Conservatory enclosure. Watched a large specimen partake of a sliced banana. A man joined me and said the butterfly was obviously enjoying a snack. I told him I'd been watching awhile... this butterfly was having a three-course lunch. As I walked the path to leave, I recalled someone said " A weed is just a flower in a place you don't want it." Some days I think I'm the flower. Other days, I'm sure I'm the weed.
End of a dream?
Susan Boyle didn't win the contest. But because of the exposure of her talent, the way is now open for new opportunities and experiences. The entertainment establishment was astonished that such beautiful music came from such an ordinary person. (They called her 'dowdy' and 'stocky' and were aghast at her tousled hair. Admit it... if a 'star' had been seen with hair like that, the proceeds from the stampede to salons might have put a small dent in the national debt.) Most of us were not surprised. We know that genius and talent abound everywhere in all kinds of people... just without the notice of the Press.
Living the Commitment
A news story on TV this week was about a couple in Plymouth, England, who will be celebrating their 81st wedding anniversary. They've been married longer than most of us have been alive. Puts to shame the seemingly rampant mindset of today: Marry today - divorce tomorrow. It couldn't have been all kisses and roses; they are human, after all. But they stayed the course. I couldn't. God bless them.
Juice-box Soccer
I got to see my 5-year-old grand-daughter play her final soccer game of this season. Such fun! The players on both teams displayed varying degrees of interest, adeptness and aptitude for the game. (Hanging from the frame of the goal net was a favorite activity for the goalies, but they rose to the occasion when the ball came their way. Mostly.) There were two basic rules: every child played and the goal was to have fun. Both teams scored goals, but only the most intently involved families could tell how many and by which child. The final score? You'd have to ask one of them. The coaches were great. They encouraged and helped all the players regardless of team (i.e. "Good job!" and "Psst... you're going the wrong way."). After the game, our team, the coach and assistant coach, and a few parents and 'grand's went to a pizza buffet to celebrate the season. Each player received a tasteful bobble-head trophy. My grand-daughter is looking forward to the next season. Swimming lessons will help bridge the gap.
Time in the Garden
I was at the local botanical garden again yesterday. Some many people, all ages, styles, makes and models united by a love of Nature at her most beautiful. Communed with butterflies in the Conservatory enclosure. Watched a large specimen partake of a sliced banana. A man joined me and said the butterfly was obviously enjoying a snack. I told him I'd been watching awhile... this butterfly was having a three-course lunch. As I walked the path to leave, I recalled someone said " A weed is just a flower in a place you don't want it." Some days I think I'm the flower. Other days, I'm sure I'm the weed.
End of a dream?
Susan Boyle didn't win the contest. But because of the exposure of her talent, the way is now open for new opportunities and experiences. The entertainment establishment was astonished that such beautiful music came from such an ordinary person. (They called her 'dowdy' and 'stocky' and were aghast at her tousled hair. Admit it... if a 'star' had been seen with hair like that, the proceeds from the stampede to salons might have put a small dent in the national debt.) Most of us were not surprised. We know that genius and talent abound everywhere in all kinds of people... just without the notice of the Press.
Living the Commitment
A news story on TV this week was about a couple in Plymouth, England, who will be celebrating their 81st wedding anniversary. They've been married longer than most of us have been alive. Puts to shame the seemingly rampant mindset of today: Marry today - divorce tomorrow. It couldn't have been all kisses and roses; they are human, after all. But they stayed the course. I couldn't. God bless them.
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