First flower arrangements

. . . soaring temperatures and sunny skies, today began like a dream and is filled with the promise of wonderful things . . .

On my kitchen table, the first flower arrangements of the year… lovely perennials from the garden.

Pink wigela, photinias and ninebark flowers… They fill the room with heavenly spring fragrances...

What's blooming in your yard?

Rain rain bless my friends' gardens

All of a sudden, it got really really windy this afternoon. Swish, swoosh—the sound of the wind put a spell on me. So I grabbed a blanket and went to sit on the porch to watch the leaves swirling and whirling in the garden.

The air smelled like sweet sugar cane and I could see the vanilla fragrance of the honeysuckle and lilacs dancing like ballerinas in the air. Moon flower petals were everywhere… garden fairies made head garlands with them.

Wind blowing through the trees, wind playing in the leaves turned my garden into a paradise of wonders. It was pure bliss! Rain makes me so happy! And I’m sure the garden loves it as much as I do! Right now, is so green and lush and so many wonderful amazing things are unfolding and happening before my eyes that I can hardly contain myself…

Oh there is so much here I want to show you, so many tales to tell, so much I want to share with you, but I know I would never be able to capture the true essence and beauty of what I’m seeing, and feeling, in words... I can only hope I can transmit some of this magic to you... So I’m bottling it up in a lovely blue glass bottle, an ancient turquoise color that looks like it belongs on the walls of an alchemist’s shop, and sending it your way via billowing blue-black clouds. Who knows... maybe you’ve been begging for some rain lately? Well, here you go!

Rainbow

Sometimes, life scares me. Does it happen to you too? Bad scary thoughts usually fill my mind on those occasions. Then, I run to the garden and hide from the world...

I go to a very special place in the garden, a lovely seclude path where I know nobody can see me, and I kneel down before my Creator.

I tell him how I feel, and then I listen.

Last Saturday after my conversation with God in the garden, I lay down on the grass for a long long time and searched the lovely blue skies for signs... signs of God’s love. I didn’t do this because I doubted God’s love, but because I knew that God’s heart yearns to communicate with his children—give them special gifts. And thus I searched everywhere for God’s special gift. And He gave me one! Something wonderful—a rainbow or what it looked to me like a rainbow in the sky.

Rainbows have always fascinated humans every since the early days. For some cultures, the rainbow is the road between the worlds of gods and men, the Greeks used to believe that it was a sign from the gods to foretell war or heavy rain, Indians believed that it was a bridge between life and dead and the Irish believed that a pot of gold lies at the end of a rainbow. Most of us believe that a rainbow is an arc of light separated into bands of color that appear when the sun's rays are refracted and reflected by drops of mist or rain. But it wasn’t raining, or had been raining that afternoon. In fact, it was the first truly warm day of the year... and it was sunny, and lovely, and the grass where I lay down was like a blanket of soft green wool...

The Holy Bible says the rainbow is the sign of covenant between God and all life on Earth, and that is what I chose to believe. I’m sure that God brought his rainbow out that afternoon just to remind me that His promises are real, they never fail, and I should always remember that.

And so, I don’t have to be afraid of life, not even afraid of death because God has promised to always always be by my side... “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me (Psalm 23:1-4). Now, do you see a rainbow on those photographs, or perhaps you see something else? Most probably it was a rainbow, but to me it was clearly a bright spot of shining colorful lights in the sky. It wasn't the sun. This I know, because the sun was shining on the other side of the sky. Mystery. A door to God’s dwellings--I like to think.

Ah yes, someone very special visited me in my garden this past Saturday afternoon. But can I tell you a little secret? You don’t have to feel anything special or extraordinary to know that God walks by you. You just have to know that his promises are real.

Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Hello to you! And welcome to Show Off Your Cottage Monday. If you're new here, thanks for stopping by and if you've visited before, thanks for returning! For our next Show Off Your Cottage Monday I’m suggesting we celebrate “Pink”. Anything pink! If you rather show off something other than our theme feel free to link that up too!

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Last week I suggested a theme of White for this week. I love white, and although I don’t have as much white as I would like to see in my house, one can always tell my preference in decorating style… even in my garden! Be sure to stop by on Mondays for "Show Off Your Cottage Monday" to simply celebrate your blessings and enjoy seeing how others live their life and decorate their nest and gardens and to participate by posting a link to your own cottage and gardens-inspired blog post. Everyone is welcome to participate. And, please share your ideas, thoughts and insights freely... your words bring so much inspiration.

Rules:

Link your post, not the main page of your blog. Please include a link to the party or the party's button in your post (IN YOUR POST PLEASE). Celebrate life and see how others celebrate theirs by visiting!

Happy Sunday

This is where my soul belongs. A garden serenaded by birds, the grass is clad in a new gorgeous gown; woven in life green, and leaves and blooms are budding and unfolding almost instantly before my very own eyes...

The transformation is almost unbelievable. My delphiniums are growing like crazy, gorgeous lilies are coming up as is the purple Salvia and the Shasta Daisy, Columbine, Japanese ferns, Hostas, Korean lilacs with their intoxicating perfume and Sweet Williams everywhere! My peonies are also coming up, and oh yes, there's my creeping Charlie peeking out from under the roses and Candytuft... greens on butterfly bushes and purple on Russian sage... and the roses... oh the roses!

I so love this little green space of mine; this ever present life energy of plants, water, birds and earth... I cannot have enough of it and I'm practically living here all day long. If I could, I would sleep here too... Nature surely has a way of lifting me up out of myself and into communion with my Creator. This feeling is the heart of my garden experience and the basis for all it's done here...

"If I keep a green bough in my heart the singing bird will come."

- Chinese proverb

Early morning in the garden

A quiet, wet spring morning on my enchanted garden, with only the company of the yellow tanager and, floating in the cool air, the promise of the softest pink New Dawn climbing roses, like billows of hoop skirts.

...can hardly wait!