Secret Gardens

Welcome to my garden!  Please enter through the garden gate and find solace for your soul......

Anticipation

♫Anticipation♫

Spring is an exciting time of year!  What I love about it is the anticipation of what is to come.  Just like waiting to unwrap the presents under the Christmas tree when I was a child, the anticipation of flowers unfurling from their tightly wrapped buds is half the fun.  Come see what's in my garden and what awaits.

Welcome to my garden!

Making Connections

Dear Reader,

Did you know that Agatha Christie wrote novels in addition to her well-known mysteries? I didn't until last week!  She used the pseudonym Mary Westmacott in case you want to search your library for them.  The story I am reading at the moment is  "Absent in the Spring" published in 1944. . . .

Promises Kept

Spring kept its promise.  Here it is!  If you compare the below picture with the one on my last post you will see what I mean. . . .

Journaling

I found this lovely video and the music of Peder B. Helland this morning. . . .

                       

Out and About - April 2016

I don't have much to show you even though it was a busy month!  On the 1st we flew to Phoenix for Ken's nephew's wedding.  It was a lovely affair and we got to spend time with several other family members we hadn't seen in awhile.  I captured the sun setting just over Ken's greatniece's head. . . . 

Out and About - February 2016

Compared to February 2015 it doesn't look like I've done much this month!  But I started the month busily reading more about Beatrix Potter so I could draw this map and write a new post for this month's entry for A Year with Beatrix Potter & Friends. . . .

View Outside My Window - April

♫In the Garden♫

This is the view from my dining room picture window. . . .

Out and About - March 2015

♫Across the Universe♫

The month of March has been a mixture of Out and About.  I finished the painting on the 1st and was ready for the floor to be installed on the 2nd, but it turned out they weren't planning to come until the 4th.  It only took them one day to do the dining room.  Poetry immediately claimed it as her space. . . .

Out and About - July

♫Here, There and Everywhere♫

July has been more About than Out except we did go visit our grand- daughter a couple times to babysit. . . .

View Outside My Kitchen Window - May

♫A Love Story♫

As you can see, there's much more green to be seen from the view outside my kitchen window on this fine May day.  My thoughts of late have been of new life.  Spring not only brings the sprouting of flowers and leaves, but for us, a granddaughter.  Yesterday we were delighted to spend the afternoon with Olivia June (aka Olive) and capture these many faces of our three-and-a-half-week-old newborn grandbaby....

Let It Be Easy

♫Let It Be♫

Alan Cohen in his book "A Deep Breath of Life" asks this question about his life:  How would I be doing this differently if I were willing to let it be easy?  By easy he means "honoring your aliveness.....acting from the place in you where life is meaningful.....and releasing any notion that you must participate in activities that deaden you."  With this in mind I examined my own life....

How do I honor my aliveness?

Caring for pets....

Poetry and Gabriel add a richness to my life that is special because animals have no guile and love with their whole hearts.  They get along with one another, but the times when their wild side emerges they never hold a grudge afterwards.  It is pure entertainment when both are feeling frisky!

I especially love it when they join forces in their escapades!

Making a home...

My home has always been very important to me.  Over the years I've enjoyed finding ways to make it more comfortable for my family and me.  It has been a place to express my creativity.

Gardening...

Making a garden engages all 5 senses--sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.

Playing with dolls...

I love miniature things.  Decorating a miniature house is like having a second home to dote over--and much cheaper.  Finding just the right items, especially when it's been found in a yard sale, is very rewarding.  Making it myself is even better.  I made the kitchen rag rug, straw broom, and kitchen and coffee tables.

Collecting...

I collect children's picture books whose illustrators appeal to my love of pretty pictures.

In my basement my husband had to build shelves for all the books and matching dolls and stuffed animals I'm collecting to share with my future grandchildren.

I collect the books of my favorite illustrators like Susan Branch...

And Beatrix Potter...

And Tasha Tudor

Reading...

I read instead of watching TV.

Writing...

I write stories about Poetry and Gabriel.  

Travel...

The Arizona desert is breathtaking.

And driving through West Virginia in the Autumn is always inspiring.

What makes my life meaningful?

My family and friends...

My family is all grown up and on their own now, but they are still very much a part of my life.  

My family history...

I've researched my roots and written my ancestors's stories.  They've all contributed in some way to who I am and show me I, too, have a legacy to leave.

My blogs...

This was my first Blog, a daily devotional.  I actually wrote it in 2004, but did not post it until 2011.

My second Blog filled my need to continue looking for the ways in which God is in all of life.

The stories on this website were written between 1997 and 2003.  They are very special to me and I just wanted to share them.

This is this Blog.  I wanted a place where I could share my thoughts about my life.

And finally, what activities have I released that deaden me?  

Anything that doesn't fall into one of the above categories! There will always be something you will have to do that does not appeal, but when you have a choice, ask yourself, will this make a difference in my or someone else's life.  Life is too short to waste doing things that really don't matter in the scheme of things.  

♫The Beatles - Let It Be♫