Palm Sunday

I caught a rainbow yesterday...

perhaps to remind me that there is hope... despite the pure bleakness that haunts my heart...

to push the feelings of grief, hopelessness, despair and pain to the side, if only for a moment...

to offer promise of better times ahead for us... a family living under three roofs...

to gently remind me that the universe is not controlled by me...even though I think I know what is best and should be happening now, damn it!

to cause me to wipe the tears in order to see the beauty that I behold....

I caught a rainbow yesterday...

I shall not let it go....

and they came...two by two

Well, sometimes the best laid plans go amuck... case in point...

After working so hard a few days ago to spruce up the back garden and create my own little herb container garden, I realized that, perhaps, placing catnip in a bucket with herbs was not so beneficial for the herbs! What do you think? The catnip on the left is looking a little sad. And coincedently, my two white cats are looking a little dirty! Oh yes...the joys of rolling in a dirt pail of catnip all night long! So, I've moved the catnip out and into a little spot all its own along the back wall garden. And in its spot, a lovely plant of sage!

On the flip side of gardening, my front yard garden is full of wildflowers getting ready to blossom...and one of my favorite flowers - irises!! This is the first one of 2007 - and I was so happy to practically skip over, stick my nose down deep and slowly inhale that oh, so delicate scent that only irises gift us with! I just adore irises...goes back to being a little girl in Ohio and having them along our back yard. I'd sit down on the grass, smell their heavenly scent and study their form... they are unlike anything else! I have more that will hopefully blossom during the next month or so...but just loved this little one yelling "IT'S SPRING!!"

Not to be left out was this little shot of Queen Anne's Lace... a romantic favorite! My front garden is full of this, but it's just beginning to bloom and will continue to bloom for at least a couple of months!

I spent today cleaning up, planting, watering and sprucing up my English Garden on the side of my house. It, too, was in need of some T.L.C. I need to take a pic of it soon.

Here's Bella.... checking out the iris and Queen Anne's Lace...

sorry Bella... no catnip in this one!

and here's Skittles.... just being Skittles.....

I'm now the proud mom of a new dog as of today... that makes two dogs. I'm not a 'dog person', but my son had to find a new home for his pooch until he has a place of his own, so Tank now joins our menagerie. He's a five month old golden lab/sharpei mix. He's huge. He's slobbery. He's dorky. He's a pup. And now he's ours...for a while. I just hope he doesn't think all of my hard work in my yard is his playground!

Good lordy, I live in a zoo!

Call it what you want...

Kismet... 'fate'

Serendipity ... finding something unexpected, especially when seeking something else...

Call it whatever you wish, but I call it a gift....

The N and I ran up to Prescott to deliver a jar of 'sunshine' for a friend who visits my blog and I visit hers... the 'sunshine' being a quart jar of freshly squeezed homemade lemonade! We were itching for a road trip and we thought it would be a wonderful excuse for running up the mountain for some good-natured adventure! We found my friend at her shop...an 'oh, so cute!' shop that was full of good finds! A suprise of a visit and a really wonderful time visiting with her just made our trip complete! ... and we had just gotten there! My friend is wonderfully charming, sweet, extremely intelligent and has a heart of sweetness! We have known of each other through our blogs, so to meet was really fun and N and I were happy to deliver her a cold jar of liquid sunshine!

But as the title of this post indicates, there was a force behind this meeting which was a gift to me. For whatever the forces are that had our paths cross, the result is truly a gift for me. I am most appreciative of my friend sharing her spirit with me. I may have left a jar of lemonade with her as we drove away, but what I received in return... well.. my heart could barely hold it all... truly....

Tomorrow I need to return back to my gardening... finish up the English Garden and whatnot. My one week of spring break has felt like a month off! I've been so busy...is that why it feels like a long time? This week has been so different from my usual routine... AND I LOVE IT!!

I'll get you...my pretty!

The weather is just too beautiful! Gentle breezes sway tender boughs of new green, sunlight dapples on lawns, lakes, through gardens... birds come back to their nests of last year; happy to see it waiting for their return...hummingbirds drink heartily from feeders; so happy that spring is arriving.

After cleaning the inside of the house, it was time to move outside. It's not in too bad of shape, but in oh-so need of some t.l.c.... so after taking Ross for a walk (my dog has gained 13 pounds in the last 4 months!! good grief! he's on a diet now) and sprucing up the kitchen, weeding the garden and taking Mr. Ross in to the vet's for some bloodwork, it was time to stop by the nursery and pick up some pretty little flowers. I was able to get a nice assortment of little pretties, some bags of soil and yippee!! some herbs!! I chose four... basil, garlic chives, thyme and catnip for the kitties! I had this old metal tub laying around and it's perfect for an herb garden...I love it and it will always make me think of my friend, Karyn, who has an adorable home and an even cuter back yard...of which she has a couple of herb garden containers which she happily plucks when she's cooking! So Karyn -- you! : )

I planted half of the flowers in my back yard garden - pansies, stock, crysanthemums and a new type of tall pink flower. (I'm saving the other half for my English Garden tomorrow. ) One of my favorite things to do when the planting is done is to give my garden a shower... soaking the roots of the newly planted buddies and letting the soil tuck in around their stems and roots. Everything looks so fresh, colorful, pretty... So I turned on the soaker hose and attached my little bunny sprinkler to the hose and was rewarded with the sweetest little rainbow!

I wonder if there was a little leprechaun nearby??

This is an old, cast iron kitchen sink that I rescued from an old adobe home being demolished years ago. It use to be on an old wooden base, but that finally fell apart, so I left the sink there where it use to stand and I continue to use it as a planter...I love it! I think these flowers do to!

After their afternoon shower, these little cuties were happy to settle into their new home and drink in the rest of a beautiful afternoon. I was
happy to peel my clothes off and run upstairs for my own afternoon shower! Afterwards, I indulged myself with a freshly-squeezed glass of lemonade! Oh, so grateful for the neighbor's lemon tree that hangs over the wall and drops big ol' globes of yellow for me!! Nice and tart and icy! The back door open, birds singing, the soft call of the wind chime... oh this is pure

JOY !!

"Earth laughs in flowers"

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

it's true.... I'm having an affair

Yup, I must come clean... I'm having an affair this weekend. I had a few minutes between all of our escapades to confess. I know I should be descreet, but this man has consumed my thoughts, my actions, my every minute since Friday night. And at the risk of being unladylike, I must even admit to being so sore this morning..I can hardly walk!! But when you see him, you'll understand why. He's big and rippling with muscles everywhere! He's bald, but I find that quite attractive and it certainly is no detrement to our activities! He has arms that could crush every bone in my body, but yet, he's never hurt me. His smile is charming and truly belies his inner strength. And get this...he wears an earring! How naughty! He's such a rennigade! I've spent the last 24 hours with this guy, and geeeeshhhhhh!!! I AM SPENT!! I'd like you to meet the new man in my life...







You were expecting someone else ?!?!





It's officially spring break, and the M and I are in the throes of cleaning house... and I mean... CLEANING HOUSE!! Yesterday was brutal... I cleaned things that hadn't been cleaned in years! Three sets of mini-blinds - into the tub and cleaned and rinsed and put back up, five sets of curtains, cleaned and back up, five ceiling fans - cleaned and all glass globes washed, dried and put back on (which wasn't the easiest of jobs considering the family room ceiling fan is 14 feet up and has 5 globes to clean... I reach it by putting my ladder on top of my antique coffetable...it just barely fits, but if I climb to the almost top of the ladder, then I can reach up and do the job), sheets washed and line-dried, antique windows hosed off and cleaned, two 12 ft. high plant shelves washed and scrubbed, the foyer light cleaned (again, 12 ft. high...but with a ladder...), 12 ft. high front window washed, oven cleaned, bedroom dusted, about 8 loads of laundry done, rugs washed, various decorations taken outside and hosed off, sprinkler head replaced (thank you, son), hummingbird feeder washed and refilled, too-many-to-count spiderwebs gotten down (again with the ladder and an extended duster, I can reach the top of my family room ceiling (18 ft. high) where the spiders seem to congregate!), doilies washed (good lordy, how deceiving those little things are...they hold a ton of dust!), light fixtures throughout the house dismantled, cleaned (even the light bulbs!), burned out ones replaced and put back up, air filter changed out, and various other jobs that took our entire day. I was trashed when I went to bed last night and sore when I woke up this morning. But, I've already accomplished a lot this morning as the M and I plug our way through spring cleaning!

Our goal today is to finish the basics, washing down the oak railing (there's a ton of it), tackle her bathroom, lemon oil my cabinets and put everything back in order. Then we are trecking to Bath and Body Works for some girlie pampering items, popping into Walmart to restock paper towels, kleenex and other items, then heading down to Trader Joe's (the other guy in my life) for some spring flowers for both of our bedrooms and the kitchen! I plan on making chicken and dumplings for dinner, taking a hot, hot shower and toasting to a clean house.

Tomorrow... ? The back yard...and a new man to stir the dirt up with... John Deere.

no words needed...

just

haven't disappeared...

just working through a rough spot that's tripped me up...

just mending a scar that was opened and is oozing...

just letting the flames of 'guilt' settle down again...hopefully

just girding my loins for another fight against the greedy inept...

just hugging myself because I'm scared and fear the dark now...

just fighting the feelings that I can't do this because it's all too much...

just trying to stay focused so that I don't panic...

just trying to be a good person and do right in the world...

just trying to meet all needs so that everyone comes out 'okay'...

just trying to find where I set down my 'joy' because I lost it somewhere ...