Another beautiful day to commune with nature.
I have been piddling in the yard this morning. I can not get too involved because for some reason there are no gardening tools here. Hum-m. Must be at the shop in town. I need to make sure they get back to their rightful place in our garage.
Instead of giving my grandchildren tons of chocolate for Easter I gave them zinnia seeds and peat pots and potting soil along with gardening gloves and just a little bit of chocolate. Children need to be taught to love nature. They are so busy having fun they can just miss out. Last night I got a call from Leann. Excitedly she told me how she and the kids planted their peat pots and have cultivated them and now the seeds are emerging. She and the boys are excited over it. It warms my heart.
When I was a little girl my mother loved her flowerbeds and I watched as her plants grew and impatiently waited for the blooms on her Lady's Slippers or Sweet Williams or whatever else she had planted. I remember in the cool of the morning when I would wake up she would be outside piddling in the flowerbeds. As soon as I would see her outside I would scamper out there because I loved her flowerbeds. Sometimes she planted beans and tomatoes in the garden and I loved to eat the beans.
One year she gave me pinto beans to plant in the flowerbed. She went out with me and in a little spot in the flowerbed where nothing else was planted she helped me clear the soil and plant the beans. I watched them and watered them daily and when it came time to pick the beans I took in a small handful of beans. I remember the look of surprise on my mother's face. She had forgotten all about the bean plants in the flowerbeds. The little handful was not enough for a pot of beans but after a few days we had enough for a pot full and they were the best beans I ever ate I thought. I was so proud.
Now years later I am so thankful I was taught to love nature. It represents serenity and peace to me. The garden is a perfect place to look back on your day or your life, problems are put into perspective and it is the perfect place to draw near to God.
Interesting, wasn't it a garden where Jesus poured out his heart and soul in prayer before he went to the cross?
Darla, I'm so happy you are blogging; your words flow so openly and I feel I can see a side of you perhaps kept apart in a crowd. Today, you reminded me of working in Daddy's garden and of making sure the corn kernels were in a line, of eating raw beans and making corn-shuck baby dolls.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
I share your memories of Mama in her garden. She always had something growing. I remember the roses in the front yard. I wish I knew what kind they were. I think they were just old fashioned red floribunda roses. She never had to spray them and to me it seemed like they were always blooming. Remember picking the rose buds and pretending it was lipstick? I find that I keep trying to recapture the feeling of our childhood gardens. Yes, it does represent serenity. We saw a side of our mother that not everyone saw. She came alive in her garden. She still does! I think God placed "man" in a garden when he created him because it fulfills a deep need in us.
ReplyDeleteDoodling In My Mind. If I had a cell phone that had to have a Fav Five, this blog would definitely be there.
ReplyDeleteGardens and gardening bring up so many memories. One of my favorite memories is the day my Dad, Mom, brother, Bruce, and I planted trees and rose bushes in our yard on Vilven in Houston. A warm spring day making family memories. If nothing else, this young, elementary age boy got to play in the dirt.