It’s time to start cleaning up in the garden.
Be careful you do not remove some future friends.
We must not compost our companions.
You may recall my writing spider friends
named for the plants they lived on.
Two of the three left behind egg sacs.
Lucy (on the Lucifer) hid hers beside the gutter’s down spout.
Fern (on the Autumn fern) attached hers to the highest fronds.
I most be careful to leave these in a safe place.
It’s nice to know there are future friends
waiting in the garden.
Flow
When everybody leaves
and you are alone with yourself
will you be quietly content
with who you are?
Can you keep yourself company?
Will you know your own voice?
Will you be solid or hollow?
Will you have the strength to sit quietly alone
or will you feel the need to leave yourself
and seek other company?
Everybody leaves.
Who will you be then?
Flow
The seasons change and there are surprises in my garden,
but I know this place like the back of my hand.
I can close my eyes and walk around my garden as I fall asleep.
This place is part of me. The nurtured part. The cared for part.
There is harmony and balance.
Outside my garden is an alien place.
It’s noisy and crowded.
There are people who puzzle me and noises that scare me.
I have been spending a lot of time outside my garden lately.
The outside world exhausts me.
I smile through the fear. I watch in wonder.
I try to focus amongst the chaos.
Why must I shop with loud music?
Why are folks rushing and rude?
There is angst and anger outside my garden.
I must be brave.
I wear my armor.
When I get home, I will relax.
I will water my plants and watch my little friends.
I will slow down. I will pause. I will pray.
Thank God for my garden.
My heaven.
My haven.
Flow
These tiny plants transform themselves every fall.
They change from little rosettes to tall towers.
Most plants just throw up a stalk of flowers,
but this little succulent turns into a mama stalk.
I watched a bumble bee climb the flower towers over and over yesterday.
I do not know its name. I just call it “Ghost Rose.”
I hope a reader can help me identify this “All-In Mama.”
FLOWER
I found a surprise while hiking in the mountains last week.
How lucky to find a lovely grouping of Jack O’Lantern mushrooms on a fall afternoon.
These orange Omphalotus olearius may look yummy, but they are poisonous.
These were perfectly positioned right beside the trail.
I have heard that the gills glow green in the dark, but I have never seen this.
The leaves had not transformed to their lovely fall colors yet here in North Carolina.
I am glad the Jack O’Lanterns stepped in to add color.
Flow
Back in March I posted about a stick I purchased from a local nursery.
https://floweralley.org/2019/03/22/the-expensive-stick/
Mr. Flower saw it as an expensive stick, but I saw more.
I saw lush green leaves covered with dew drops.
I saw speckled bark the color of cinnamon.
I saw white tight buds that will turn into yellow chandeliers in winter.
My visions have come to fruition.
This is what brings me joy.
My Edgeworthia / Chinese Paper Bush a treasure.
Flower
It’s about staying up as you go down. Strength and balance are key.
That’s where I am in life. It’s not a time to move forward.
I am pausing and assessing.
There is no bar to get over. No hoops to jump through.
This is all new to me, this life in limbo.
The pausing and pondering .
I am not planning or preparing.
I am quietly balancing and bending.
Taking slow, careful steps.
The season is about to change… again.
Flow
What a difference a difference makes!
Be the difference.
Flow
All my life I have tried to be a tree.
I wanted to stand on my own. I wanted to be tall and strong. I wanted to shelter others.
But I am not a tree. I am a vine.
I reach out toward enlightenment.
I cling to things that I love.
I grow in all directions, not just up.
I get attached to things.
I am not independent. I am interdependent.
I must embrace my vine-ness.
I cannot be a tree, you see.
Flow
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