Happy Valentine's Day My Friends!

Click to enlarge*

Wishing you a day of really excellent chocolate~

xoxo,
gail

* Thanks Flickr Creative Commons

Need A Break From Wintry Weather?

Let me suggest a wonderful vacation spot. I promise you it will be one of the best vacations you will take. It's not crowded, there's an excellent restaurant nearby, no real transportation issues, a casual atmosphere, comfortable beds, just the right pillow and reasonably priced. The views are...just wait and see.


You need to head immediately into your photo archives!

Immerse yourself in them.
Don't pay attention to the clock.
Let yourself relax into the experience.


Here's how I spent my winter vacation.

I've just spent the most delicious few hours wandering around the photo garden.


My heart skipped a beat when I saw photos of the bees and butterflies that find my beloved natives and exotics so appealing.


I was transported to another world...It didn't matter if it was winter outside...
It was gardening time inside.

I sighed over summer beauties

Salvia azurea

and delighted in fall lovelies.

hamamelis and iteas

...and, there was an unexpected bonus!I totally fell in love with my garden ~~All over again.
It's a beautiful garden.
Not a perfect garden, but, a perfectly wonderful garden for me. It makes me smile. It makes me laugh....(can you spot Priscilla)

It nourishes me, it feeds my soul.

I can't wait to get back into the garden. To hear the birds singing their spring song, to see the hellebores blooming, to watch the crocus open, to count the daffodils, to hear the hum of those early bees, to smell my adored Practically Perfect Pink Phlox pilosa.

I need to garden.

So, I am going back into the archives to give my spirit a lift.

I hope you can join me.

Gail

“If you ask me what I came to do in this world....I will answer you: "I am here to live out loud” Emile Zola

I Planted It For My Mother

The spring she passed away.
For remembrance
For honoring
and because planting a witch hazel was
a funny nod to our complicated and loving relationship.

Hamamelis vernalis blossoms in the winter
When we have just about given up hope
that spring will ever arrive.

On warm days
the crepe paper streamer petals unfurl and
its sweet scent drifts about.

Believe me when I tell you this~
I know that my mother is somewhere laughing
that her remembrance tree is a witch
hazel.


Gail