Almost wordless week

Clematis Montana

Clematis Montana climbing up the Noble fir outside gate  --  inside gate with new plantings

                         

Inside gate in back of the cottage,choisya, rhodys, and cornus hybrid"Eddie's white wonder"

clarodendrum bungii taking over in tall sprouts in the hot bed

Few words here because I again took advise from Billy Collins .

Thoughts on nesting and families returning

Hanging ivy geranium basket with hidden junco nest

nest in basket

Last week, with the warmer weather, I moved the wintered over ivy geranium hanging basket from the greenhouse and placed it undercover on a hook by the back door. By the end of the day there was a junco nest in it.

I can see now that the junco had a sense of urgency since their usual nesting ground in the long border was disrupted this year in order to battle the bindweed.  It made me realize once more how much we need to be stewards of the earth. Where we take away habitat, we need to provide another spot so all can “be fruitful and multiply.”*  I didn't do this intentionally but see it was God's intention.

The nest boxes for the swallows and wrens were cleaned out last week just in time for the violet-green swallows return. How fun to see them return from the far south to our meadow for the first time since thy left last August landing right at the nest box entrances.

Our minds have been focussed on babies and families flying north. Our daughter and two babies flew north this week, returning to the area for a short visit. So we rushed down to see her and and spend time with grandkids and rest of family. So you can see why the blog focus is around families returning and nesting and babies.

Where and how have you provided important habitat for your family to grow and perhaps return?
How are you taking dominion over the land where you are placed including creatures on it?  Is it with love?

*God said,” Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:2

Can you hear a quiet voice in a storm?

Last week or so, the temperature dropped, the wind came in force, and like snow, fuji cherry blossoms filled the air.

Then it hailed. Here are the large hail, day-after remains, on the shaded sedum

and on the shaded walkway amongst the self-seeded columbine

Dramatic weather changes catch our attention. In an extremely busy week, it made me stop and think. Elijah in hiding came to mind. God met him at his hiding cave after “first the great and very strong wind,” (it could have included rain and hail). Then came the earthquake and fire and next ‘a still small voice.’”* I thought of the earthquake because we are way overdue for one. So I stopped and tried to listen.

God asks Elijah the same question I have been asking myself, “What are you doing?” Am I where God wants me? This week we stopped, prayed and tried to listen as we made great changes in our operation of our church here on this island. Today we passed on our jobs to others so we can be quietly positioned to meet needs elsewhere. I believe a greater storm is coming where we need to hear the familiar, whispered voice of God and act accordingly.

Where are you? What prevents you from quietly listening? Where does God want to reposition you? What will it take? (Hopefully not an earthquake.)
* I Kings 19:12 “…first a great and strong wind, then an earthquake and then fire and after that the still small voice of God saying, ‘What are you doing Elijah?’”
Esther 4:14 “…yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Mordecai to Esther (NKJV)

Happy Easter! The week in white

Here are pictures from this week in white

Blossoms on Fuji Cherriy trees that line our driveway

Hellebore Lenten Rose

I'll add pictures this week. In the meantime, Easter post from 2008.

Does what I do have lasting value?

Raked, weeded, mulched we started to lay a path with stepping stones

“The greatest thing a generation can do is lay a few stepping stones for the next generation.” Charles Kettering


Our garden stones are neither set secure nor step to somewhere special (We are working on it).
Stepping stones of value I believe must have a secure foothold and lead to something of lasting importance.

I continue to think, “Does what I do have lasting value or not? Do I create an easier pathway for others to follow or a rocky one? Does my life reflect Christ?

Lasting value seems to be first by our faith and dependence on Christ. Anything done by this prerequisite for the lives of our mate, families, our care for children and grandchildren, friends, and in our jobs, our life will be lasting.

  

Many would not know there is a path unless the visible stepping stones are laid in place.
Here are some stepping stones of value that we can set in place for the next generation:

An example of faith in Jesus that stands secure.

1. Love and care of family and friends
2. Prayer for His leading in all things: for our church Fellowship, outreach to the community, our lives.
3. A trust in the Lord for His direction in hard times as well as good.
   
   
   What stepping stones of value do you place in your pathway?

Five displays of Spring garden yellow to cheer you.

Facing the morning sun

Narcissus along the split rail fence in the meadow. I gather them twice a week to send to friends that need cheering

Bursting into bud

My husband planted a row of Norway maple along the entry road. Yellow pollen fills the air.

The daffodils in the potager

 Cheering and crowding a spring bare spot under the frost crumbled bird bath

Mounds of mosses

The Dicranum (I think) on the cobblestone raised bed tweaks my interest because I am reading

Gathering Moss : A natural and Cultural History of Mosses, by Robin Wall Kimmer.

Windmill palm ready for Palm Sunday frond cut

It looks stressed in the hot border. I'll give it more water and fertilizer this week.

I hope this week will not be a stressed one for you. May you enjoy the beauty around you and be fed by the living water.

"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Jesus  in John 7:37-38

Three questions when considering time and effort

Rock wall built this week using found field stone, old pump and older stone trough

How many times must I replant the peas? Every day for the last few weeks, as I checked out the garden in the morning I found the peas uprooted, what was left of the pea seed eaten and leaves cut off. So I replant the remains...every day.

 

 

Last year it was the mink, the sightings and the footprint size betrayed it. This year with a closed cage made out of wire fencing curved to fit across the row there are no footprints. The peas are still dug up and cut off. I shout, in frustration, “Peas Please!"*

 

  

While I seemingly waste my time, my husband has planned and hired Dave, Stonebridge Masonry, to build another garden rock wall. He finished it last week, adding beauty and structure to the garden. It will last long after we are gone not like the peas that don’t even last a day’s growth .

 

Consider these questions regarding time and effort in your life as well:

1. Does what I do have any lasting value?
2. What can I give up so that my time will be spent for something more lasting?
3. Are frustrations because I am doing the wrong thing or because I am doing the thing wrong?

  

Give me your thoughts. I will post another blog this week on one of these questions.

 

 

*John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” NKJ