Morning Surprise

The Morning Glories were planted in the early Summer, and yet despite a show of prolific folliage, sadly NO blooms.

Just when The First Sergeant and I had decided 'that's our lot' for this year, look what we were greeted with this morning...


The vines are bursting with tiny flower heads, and so hopefully in the next few weeks, we'll be once again surrounded in the garden, by a splendid display of Summertime 'blues'....

THE MORNING-GLORY

Was it worth while to paint so fair

Thy every leaf - to vein with faultless art

Each petal, taking the boon light and air

Of summer so to heart?

To bring thy beauty unto perfect flower,

Then, like a passing fragrance or a smile,

Vanish away, beyond recovery's power -

Was it, frail bloom, worth while?

Thy silence answers: "Life was mine!

And I, who pass without regret or grief,

Have cared the more to make my moment fine,

Because it was so brief.

"In its first radiance I have seen

The sun! - why tarry then till comes the night?

I go my way, content that I have been

Part of the morning light!"

~ Florence Earl Coates ( 1850-1927 )

Summer's Waning

" When summer gathers up her robes of glory, and like a dream of beauty glides away. "
~Sarah Helen Power Whitman

The flowers are fading fast. What remains are mostly wildflowers and perennials. Autumn gardening chores are patiently waiting.


Divide the Water Lilies and Iris

Inside the potting shed

A nightly visit from moma deer and baby, eating from the apple trees.

Rose of Sharon

"How sociable the garden was.

We ate and talked in given light.

The children put their toys to grass

All the warm wakeful August night."

~ Thomas Gunn, Last Days at Teddington

Autumn Longing

Ooh, it's been a glorious day......

One of those days, where the temperature has cooled, and the humidity has returned to the point of  tolerable.

A breezy porch-sitting day.

You can feel that Fall is in the air, just around the corner, and I'm excited,  because it is my favorite season.

I've always thought that because I was born in early November it's like a coming home of sorts, a kinship to my genetic roots.

"Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,

Ripening fields lush- bright with promise;

Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing

Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn."

~  Michelle L. Thieme : August's Crown

Rambling On

Oftentimes a person has no other choice than to pick themselves up and dust themselves off.
That has been my goal today.
My work day finished early, enabling me to take a ramble in the countryside, roll down the windows, and let the wind blow the cobwebs out of my clouded view on life, these past few days.

I actually rode to the cemetery, and sat by Linda's graveside for a little closure. 
The serenity and peacefulness held great healing powers;  I  didn't say goodbye,  instead  a " see you later " slipped from my lips.

This old antique store always makes me smile, with it's endless collections of memorabilia.

There are plenty of old barns dotted around the county, this one still in use.

Bygone signs

Grand old farmhouse

Cedar rail fencing

Timeless beauty

Tobacco barn

Things that made me smile along the way

Man's Testament.

Question not, but live and Labour
Till yon goal be won,
Helping every feeble neighbour,
Seeking help from none;
Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.

~ Adam Lindsay Gordon
Courtesy of Kipling

Bloggy Break

Thank you so much for all of your kind thoughts, prayers and support during this sad time.
I am truly touched.

I'm taking a few days off from blogging, when I can gather the wind back in my sails, I'll be back........

Hugs,
Jo
x

Going Home

It is with a heavy heart, and a saddened mind that I write this post.

Friday evening I spent the night at the home of my dearest next-door neighbor who for the past two years, has been fighting a brave battle against Pulmonary Fibrosis.
Linda has never smoked cigarettes, her disease was hereditary, and had already claimed the life of her mother and brother.

Her condition in these past few months had deteriorated immensely, family members faced with taking care of her every need, exhausted.

I volunteered to stay with Linda, and give what relief I could offer.

She underwent a difficult night, her breathing shallow and labored. I fed her a small bowl of ice-cream, wiped her fevered brow, massaged her blue-tinged feet, and told her how much I valued our friendship, and loved her as a sister.

The following morning, the Hospice nurse arrived.

I offered to stay, although family members were present, and I felt it best give them their privacy and so returned home.

Exhausted, and filled with despair I laid down to sleep.

Within an hour I received a text-message that simply read "Heaven"

I knew my dear friend had passed and was now on her journey 'home'........

Fifty eight years young, a true friend and neighbor.

A hard-working lady, never married.

A proud country girl, who loved her family and church-family.

A true-animal lover in every sense of the word.

A dedicated sister and daughter, who cared for her ailing family.

A lady who loved life, and shared that love with those around her.

Godspeed you on your journey 'home' Linda.

There's a triumphant welcome awaiting you.

I already miss you my dear friend.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I did not die.

~ Mary Elizabeth Frye

The Difference A Day Makes

The total rainfall for our county was officially twelve inches in the last twenty four hours.

You read that correct, twelve inches !!

Passing the local community park this morning, it looked more like a lake, than a park, not a patch of grass or walking trail in sight.

Isn't it peculiar, that just a few hours earlier the creeks resembled raging rivers, and now as daylight turns to dusk, they've once again regained composure and receded within their banks.

We're All Downstream

We've had rain....
The kind of non-stop gully-washing rain, that drenched the parched grass and flowers, and gave a respite to the Summer heat.

Non-stop rain.
In some nearby areas, up to ten inches has fallen since midnight last night.

So much rain.
They've canceled the County Fair events this evening....can you imagine ?

I puddle up the neighborhood
I make the postman mad
I wake the worm and spank the frog
Sleeping on his lily pad
And when the tulips in their beds
Nod happily, it's true,
I shake the petals of their hands
And say, How do you dew?

Here's My Handle, Here's My Spout

I'm not alone, when I say "I love teapots".
I've never met a teapot, I didn't like.
All shapes and sizes, earthenware, and fine bone china.

Some of my favorite teapots are considered collectors' teapots, "themed" from English landmarks, and famous characters. They are James Sadler teapots, and can be quite whimsical in nature.

James Sadler was founded in 1882, and is one of the leading manufacturers of teapots in the UK. It began with James Sadler, who built a factory in Burslem at the heart of the ceramic industry in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. He went on to make a name for himself by making fine earthenware teapots.

I'm always on the look-out for a new teapot to add to the collection.

Guess Who's Been To Dinner ?

Around the garden, flowers are looking bedraggled, the excessive heat being the culprit.
Several of the old trees are already showing signs of an early Autumn, their leaves yellow and fading.

I've noticed a few of the bushes, their leaves becoming sparser and sparser, and then it became obvious why; not so much the heat, but our resident deer, chomping away merrily.......

Water Cooler Conversation

click to enlarge

"Poor indeed is the garden in which birds find no homes."

~ Abram L. Urban

The Little Home

The Little Home

The little house is not too small

To shelter friends who come to call.

Though low the roof and small its space

It holds the Lord's abounding grace,

And every simple room may be

Endowed with happy memory.

The little house, severely plain,

A wealth of beauty may contain.

Within it those who dwell may find

High faith which makes for peace of mind,

And that sweet understanding which

Can make the poorest cottage rich.

The little house can hold all things

From which the soul's contentment springs.

'Tis not too small for love to grow,

For all the joys that mortals know,

For mirth and song and that delight

Which make the humblest dwelling bright.

~Edgar A Guest

Cottage Dreams

I can see from the window a little brown house,
And the garden goes up to the top of the hill.
And the sun comes each day,
And slips down away
At the end of the garden an’ sleeps there . . . until
The daylight comes climbing up over the hill.

I do wish I lived in the little brown house,
Then at night I’d go up to the garden, an’ creep
Up . . . up . . . then I’d stop,
An’ lean over the top,
At the end of the garden, an’ so I could peep
And see what the sun looks like when it’s asleep.

Beauty In Flight

" We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever. "

~Carl Sagan

Shades of Blue

Searching For Shade

"Heat, ma'am! it was so dreadful here,
that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones."

~ Sydney Smith, Lady Holland's Memoir

Cooling off with a walk through the woods.

Shady canopies.

"Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,

Ripening fields lush- bright with promise;

Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing

Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn."

~ Michelle L. Thieme, August's Crown

Gentle and airy Queen Anne's Lace.

Wild Blackberry Vines.

State wildflower, the Passion Flower.

Sunny squash blossom.