Peaceful Day

Peaceful day
looks like summer has arrived
Rain has left
90 degree weather has arrived

My granddaughters and Miss Callie
checking out the pond

Viewed from my old garden rocking chair
mama and daddy bluebirds sharing
feeding their little ones

Discipline - Working On It

My goal
no computer on weekends
living at the edge of the woods
continual cleaning
still this early morning
could not resist
sharing this beauty

Wishes of Happiness, Health, Safety and Peace
sent your way from a cottage in the woods......

Ever Thankful

It rained during the night
deck is wet
the woods look like a rain forest
everything is so lush and green
They say the rain is over and
high temperatures due for coming week

A day of errands
help with grass cutting to arrive

A good night
busy day
ever thankful
for this gift of life....

Shadow And 24 hours

Yesterday, early evening - I went to the church for visitation.  I like that - visitation and funeral were at the church and not in a funeral home.    A gentle man that sang in the choir for as long as I lived in this small town.   He was 99 years old.   My heart aches for his wife who is near his age.
Could not get them off of my mind last night.  Kept thinking of all of those years they had together and now she is alone.  They did not have children but do have nieces and a nephew.

Arriving home and prepared for downtime - I noticed the light and shadow coming through window in front door on a favorite painting.   This image does not do it justice - it was beautiful.  It was there and then gone - I wonder is that like life  - a shadow that is viewed and then gone.

A busy day - Gas in truck, 3 stores for best buys in each one (they are all practically side by side).  I am trying to make my trips to town every 10 days to 2 weeks and it is a challenge.  Left rubbish off at center, bank and then on to a dear friend who does much for me.  A box with a dozen orange cookies, some special fruit, a cutting of a rose bush that roots easily, 4 volunteer cherry tomato plants that came up in my "muddy and wet garden" and a piece of my dill and sage so she could enjoy the scent.  She does not plant herbs and time is spent 24 hours caring for a bed ridden husband.

Home,  unloaded truck, lunch, computer, phone calls and then took mower and went over some of the woods paths. 

Dinner consist of some butternut squash soup that was made yesterday, bath and meditation and prayer time and I am through for the day.

Blooming In The Rain

Daily rains are still visiting
I wear a long sleeve shirt
to help with the mosquito problem
Hollyhocks one of my favorite
old fashion flowers
My daughter sent the seeds
from Massachusetts
I brought cuttings from city cottage
Was hoping it was the purple plant
Do not want to hurt your feelings
was hoping for purple
have to admit
you are a beauty.....

Egyptian Onion

You surely make an interesting photo
Eagerly awaiting
how the onions form
I was told the onions
will be on top....

The rains continue
my critter has returned
with the digging
orange cookies in the oven...

Early Morning After Rain

A storm arrived
the clouds looked like
big piles of fluffy meringue
This Sunday morning
the garden looked
fresh and clean
it is growing.....

Another Day

Sun is finally shining
Not to good of a night or nights
My inflammation problem has come on full force
I know I will be fine
It will run its course
We all have something
Age brings it on - if never before.
Needed to run an errand and gas in vehicle.
A new eating place in the nearby town
 stopped for a carryout
So good - butternut squash quiche
will have to get the recipe
large bowl of fresh fruit
and a delectable cheesecake
This out to restore my appetite :)

~~The Gap Between Impulse and Action~~

It's extremely important to widen the gap between impulse and action; and that 's exactly what mindfulness does. This is one of the big advantages of mindfulness practice:  it gives us a moment or two, hopefully, where we can change our relationship to our experience, not be caught in it and swept away by impulse, but rather to see that there's an opportunity to make a different, better choice.  I think that understanding the basic neural mechanisms involved is an aid to mindfulness because it tells us we don't have to get swept away.

"The Brain and Emotional Intelligence"  Daniel Goleman

Memories And Dusting

Dusting this early morning
on the upstairs loft
memories
shells from the beach in Jamaica
one found on the bottom of a pool
grandfather's cow bell
petrified wood
crystal's from my son's collection
everywhere I look
there are
memories....

"If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing I'd like to do
Is to save everyday
till Eternity passes away"            ~~Time In A Bottle~~   Jim Croce

I might add
save some day's :)

Fragrance

I just came in from doing some cleaning in my garden.
Just wanted to be outside.
Still very chilly and the ground is so damp
Some plants have yellow leaves at the bottom because of so much rain

Took  special notice of the herbs that have lived through the winter,
some coming up from seeds that were spread and some  small plants purchased.

Rosemary, sage, chives, dill, mint and cilantro have emerged on their own
Basil, parsley and lavender were purchased.

At my other home the lavender made it through several winters and was a wonderful size.
Did not make it through the winter here in the woods.

Last year when the herbs were thriving I showed my 4 year old granddaughter
how to rub the leaves and the scent would be on her fingers.

She would smile and say "grandma they smell so good."

A trip to the garden center in a few days and will check to see if there is something else I want to add.

What Winter Is This

When I was growing up I could remember my grandmother's referring to the cold snaps in the Spring as certain winters.   Like Redbud, Dogwood, Blackberry and on and on.
I do know that for the third time I have gone to the storage room to retrieve a warm sweater and my flannel gown.
In a way it is kind of nice.   I am well aware how hard I worked on these early Spring days.  As it warms up the end of the week I will once again be outside and almost overdoing.   Still trying to learn to pace myself.
Early this morning Yoga, light breakfast with coffee.   I seldom drink coffee but for some reason this cool
morning called for it    I can remember through the years at my parents home it was the first scent I smelled when waking up in the morning.   Even now though I do not drink it often - I love the smell.
Chili is going to be made today.    Probably the last time until next Fall.   Seemed this is what I should prepare today.
I went to church yesterday and also attended a class that I went to for many years.  
Just 5 ladies and it seemed to me that time had stood still.   They looked the same, talked the same - I wondered if they viewed me in that way?    I think of myself as being such a different person then when I met with them weekly those years in the past.
Yesterday was just the way it was suppose to be.
I want everyday to be that way.

Small Kitchen Garden

Rain washed some of the seeds away

Will replace in the morning

Remaining

lettuce, collard greens, Egyptian onions,

tomato's, green pepper, potatoes

Some showers and cloudy this day

drove further into the country

for lunch with a friend.

Nice to be out

did not miss

digging in the dirt...

May Morning At Woodhaven

Flowers are blooming

Wheat is turning for

harvest in June

Sheets on line are

blowing in the breeze

Thankfulness and peace

fills my heart

this early morning...

Trespasser I Am

I moved part time into this woods home 2 years in July. Brought all of my belongings before the holidays 2 years ago this fall. It was a dream of many years and seems I have lived here forever.

All has seemed so quiet. An occasional visitor from the woods which thrilled me. Every time I saw a wild turkey, deer, frogs, toads, birds, butterflies, all my emerging plants and all the other visitors I met with my camera. I truly felt I had been given a gift.

The critter who has been digging under the concrete air conditioning pad may have been caught.

A possum found in the trap over the weekend. Holes have been filled and trap reset and will see
if anything else makes a visit

Two recent visitors have really unnerved this one woman. A skunk and Callie chased it away.

An hour ago I looked out on the deck and their was a 10 foot long snake basking in the sun.

Called 3 neighbors and no one answered their phone on this 90 degree afternoon.

A call to the young man who cut down my tree and I was in luck - he arrived within minutes.

A chicken snake.
I am familiar with them
They were at the old farm house and I am aware that they are a good snake.
But it has been a long time
since I saw one this long
I was fearful it might be something else

Brad took it further into the woods...

The last few days after all the rain and now very hot it seems I am having a lot of visitors.

Ants and carpenter bee's - do not like.
Also now that all the wildlife is getting use to me
the birds do not fly away
toads and frogs do not get out of my way
several ticks spotted and like to crawl on me
Guess this is why the snake was sunning on the deck.

So I have the thoughts - I love it here so much

Does One Woman in the last years of her life belong at the edge of hundreds of acres of woods?

But guess even in some sterile surroundings
there will be critters...

Hey some of them might be unwanted human critters.

Heavenly Scent

Whenever I have received flowers
They were always put in the middle
of the big table.
This beautiful arrangement has
just been received
They are being put in my bedroom
I will go to sleep tonight
to their heavenly scent
Thank you to one of my
special daughters....

This Morning I Noticed

A busy and sunny day in store
Was not going to write
As I made my bed I noticed what was on
my nightstand
Candles and a bottle of lotion
from my daughter's
A special book from my son
A bamboo plant
A small clock purchased on
St Thomas Island 45 years ago
My bible
A 50 year old lamp and the phone
Underneath on a shelf is a basket
filled with cards and notes
sent throughout many months
My old favorite chair
holds a pillow that was a gift
from a dear deceased friend
The lady is trimming a flowering vine
A silk pillow sent to me by my son
from Thailand
The afghan made by a special lady
Loving and special memories
Surround me...

May lst at Woodhaven

Rain all night
part of day
mud everywhere - but
look what is blooming
also red and yellow roses
but could not get a good image
My visitor still not caught
Was informed if it is a groundhog
the animal control people will take it
But if it is a raccoon
it is a protected species and
have to turn it loose on my property
If it is indeed a raccoon and I could
communicate with it
I would make it a home somewhere
other then under my heat and air
concrete slab...