March Musings on a Three Year Anniversary

The wild plum are blooming here in the foothills; a sure sign of spring. 

It has been sunny and warm the last few days and I have been outside preparing garden beds, planting perennials and roses and cleaning up after a long winter. 

Suddenly, everything is bursting into bloom, little by little. 

I can't tell you how welcome these sweet little blossoms are to my winter weary soul. 

We had buckets of rain before these precious sunny days and everything was flooded. 

My front walkway had 6 inches of water! 

(Something new after the neighbor above us did some drainage work. Guess we need to do some now!)

The river down below us was raging and we had a fast flowing stream through the property in what is usually a muddy drainage ditch.

 It did sound very pretty ...

Finally the skies cleared...

But the clouds always linger over the mountains. 

As the Indian Plum bloom, I am reminded that 3 years ago this month I started this little blog. 

It's been a wonderful experience of learning and connecting and inspiration.

Sometimes living here can be isolating and blogging connects me to the world.
I started my blog one month before my Mother died. She never got to see it or know that I named it after her own Mother.

It was hard losing my parents - my Father to Alzheimer's and my Mother to heart disease.
They lived within walking distance of me for 30 years, always willing to open up their cozy kitchen to a weary mom with pie, coffee and good advice.

Raising 4 children kept me home. I could never keep a job or leave for very long with 4 spirited kids always getting into trouble. One weekend my husband and I went away and the party they had was legendary.

Some of the neighbors have never forgotten....

When I found myself with an empty nest and both my parents gone,
I lost my creative desire.

Being out in the gardens or sewing was so quiet and contemplative and all I could think about was sad thoughts of missing them.

But blogging helped me reconnect with the world.

A beautiful world of caring and interesting people. 

My saving grace. 

I have learned so much from all of you - crafting, photography, gardening, cooking, life....

Sometimes I get so excited to put what I have learned into practice, especially gardening right now.

The gardens have been neglected these last couple of years.

The cleanup from the ice storm we had two years ago has taken all our time and is still ongoing.
Every tree in our little forest lost branches or broke in two.
We still have a shed to demolish after it was crushed by a falling tree.

And my grief has also been crushing.

But time takes away the sharp edges.

Now I am ready to dig in once again.

I am excited to feel the satisfaction of working the earth and nurturing my creative spirit once more. 

Thank you, Dear Friends, for sharing this journey with me. 

Blogging has opened up a world of inspiration and learning. 

And beautiful friends. 

xoxo

'It would be unreasonable to demand that anything as lovely as an herbaceous border in full bloom be achieved without a little suffering.'

Eleanor Perenyi

Green Thoughts (1981)