David and I took Marley for a walk on the back road we get to by going up the hill behind our back yard. The light is always interesting there. We felt the trees waiting for spring. The biggest tree below was full of red buds. I don’t if it’s a “Red Bud” tree though since they are usually smaller and bud later. David says it’s probably a maple.
Red buds waiting for spring
I asked friends on Facebook for help identifying the trees planted as a border by a neighbor and they turned out to be Japanese Cedars (pictured below.)
Japanese Cedar
The next photo is enlarged to see the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.
Today’sprompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “calendar.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
(my current wall calendar)
Is it really March 22? The pages of the calendar are flying off faster than ever. I love wall calendars with pretty pictures. This year is flowers – a new theme since I usually have National Parks. So much I could write about National Parks and rangers being fired in the US, but wait! Judges are saying hire them (federal workers) back! So there!
Spring is here softening the fear of time moving too fast and all the political BS going on. Spring is here with flowers popping up to surprise me. Thank God for spring and the consistency of Mother Earth. May she continue to survive and heal. I know right now that may not seem likely, or at least that it’s an uphill climb for our planet, all things considered. But spring gives me hope, and hope is better than no hope. Balanced with facing reality and focusing on facts, hope keeps us somewhat sane and in better health.
Speaking of health and hope, we bought two apple trees on Thursday – a Honeycrisp and Macintosh. David likes Honeycrisp apples, and the lady at the nursery said we’d need a Macintosh to cross pollinate. We planted the Honeycrisp tree Thursday afternoon which turned cold and blustery. The high winds that night made me hope and pray the still dormant little tree would be okay in the wind. The next morning it was leaning very slightly, and the still potted Macintosh had blown over, but it’s okay.
Planting apples trees is something I’ve wanted to do since we moved here over the summer – when we enjoyed blackberries and figs, so it’s about time we got the hope of apples planted. We’ve continued to be surprised by the flowers popping up. The Tulip Magnolia is blooming. I think I’ll share that in an upcoming Tree Love post, but the gallery below includes a preview:
Blustery Afternoon David with Apple TreeOur First Apple TreeTulip Magnolia Flower
A week or so ago, I spilled some dry pinto beans on the floor amongst the dog hair and decided to plant them. They’re sprouting well in the green house! Sorry I didn’t take a photo of them, yet. I hope they do okay when I transfer them to the yard.
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
― Albert Camus
This tree caught my attention on a recent walk to the little park near our home. I think this is an oak tree. In the summertime, I don’t think I would be as likely to notice her interesting trunk features or the clumps of mistletoe in the upper branches.
Waiting for Spring
~
Thursday Tree Love is hosted on the second and fourth Thursday of each month by Parul Thakur.
I interrupted a couple of geckos on my mimosa tree a couple of days ago. I don’t know if they were fighting or courting. But as I tried to get closer with my phone camera, the closest one turned around and faced me, opening it’s mouth. I didn’t hear a hiss, but that was the effect. I backed off.
This is about the time I got “hissed” at.
Don’t they look like dinosaurs?
My azaleas are looking better than ever. Nature doesn’t know about the virus. Nature continues on, flourishing in spring abundance.
Here’s a photo I took of dogwood blossoms in twilight.
Be well. Welcome wellness!
…
#SoCS is brought to us by Linda G. Hill.
Today’s prompt was “welcome.”
You’re welcome to join us. For more information, visit:
Here are the rules:
1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.
2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.
3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.
4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.
5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.
6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!
7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.
8. Have fun!
Sitting here in the middle of March with cold wind whipping at the new buds, I wonder if my young hydrangea will freeze tonight? Do I need to cover it? I’m longing to get outside again like I did in the teaser spring a couple weeks ago. March on the Carolina Coast can be delightfully balmy. We can even have a freakishly warm day in January. But now, it’s still very much winter.
One of the good things about getting older is that we know spring will come. The storms of winter can make us stronger and wiser if we’re willing to learn new skills.
Sometimes we cover the tender plants, and sometimes we wait and see. Letting nature take its course can be scary. But waiting has sometimes worked better for me than trying to fix things my way.
I’m still learning to let go and let God work with my grown-up kids. Trying to “help” my kids too much was not always what they needed. At times, helping them was the right thing to do. But there were other times when standing back would help them figure things out for themselves. Now that they are grown, I need to step back more and let God work. It’s not easy. I’m still going to help them. But I’ll remember that even in past winters when early hydrangea leaves froze, the bush didn’t die. It grew new leaves in the spring. Even that summer when my well-meaning husband ran the little hydrangea over with the lawn mower, it came back. It must have deep roots.
I’m not going to let my adult children freeze, starve, or get run over by a lawn mower if I can help it. I’d face a lawn mower for them today, if I thought it would help. But I also know they can and have faced their own lawn mowers, and unlike a hydrangea, they can get out of the way. But I digress.
The point is, sometimes my way of trying to fix things doesn’t help.
Trying to find a husband my way didn’t work in the long run, though it did teach me important lessons about loving myself and setting boundaries. When I gave my soulmate search to God, God seemed to take an awfully long time, but it was only five years. During that time, I got to practice patience. And God did an awesome job!
So, I need to remind myself of how God comes through for us, even if it takes longer then we think it should. I have to remember that God has a plan for my grown-up children.
Is there something you need to turn over to the care of God?
God’s got it covered.
Spring is on the way.
I just love this song and have been waiting months to share it. It’s a sad-sounding song, yet, it encourages us to hang on to our hopes, because time will bring spring back around. And if we happen to misplace our hopes, we can build them again.
Here’s an uncommon arrangement by the original artists:
Her post got me thinking about a question that’s been floating around in my mind for a while:
What is magic?
Avatar Exhibit, Children’s Museum, Indianapolis
Some things that seem like magic, can be explained by science. But they are still magical. Like magnetism, fire flies, thunder, lightening, rainbows, mushrooms making fairy circles….
The Pandoran wood sprites in the photo to the right, moved magically to anything that came close to the wall projection where they lived. Of course there is a scientific explanation for that, but it was still magical. It was especially magical being there with the children who didn’t try to figure out the technology that made this happen. They just enjoyed being there.
Even when I understand the science, it’s still magic.
The true magic, I believe, is not the kind where a man with a black cape and wand pulls a rabbit out of a hat.
The magic I believe in is broad and spiritual. It has something to do with the “Law of Attraction.” But I believe it also has to do with the influence and assistance of angels, spirit guides, and ultimately, ever present, all knowing God, the Great Spirit.
I don’t like to put God in a box. God is beyond gender, beyond our understanding. Though if we pay attention, we may glimpse God through nature, other people and miracles.
God makes the biggest, best magic.
Like making things work out in the long run. And bringing long lost loves back together again when the time is right….
…..And the marvelous tapestry of things contained on and in planet Earth.
We only need to open our eyes and minds and hearts.
Magic is all around us.
Magic lives in snowflakes and ice crystals, in daffodils and cocooned caterpillars, waiting for the warm sunlight to bring new life.
Magic lives in believing that spring is coming, even though we don’t feel it yet.
Magic lives in silly things like cats playing in paper bags and baby giggles.
Magic lives in the vibration of drum beats and heart beats, guitar strings and virgin wings taking flight.
This is my 111th post on this blog. Is that magic?
Anything is Possible! 