Dear Reader:
Yesterday as I walked slowly around the yard… it was pretty depressing… the extreme cold , over Christmas, had left once beautiful hanging vines and flowering pots moldy, black, lying all askew … ” death” scenes at different angles. It must feel what police or detectives witness at a crime scene filled with carnage.
And because of the erratic weather and then my unexpected illness… pots had not been cleaned up… or put up… so the gardens resembled a devastated bombed out area.
The only flower still surviving intact is the camellia… the royal tea plant that serves as ambassador to a southern winter….
As I started through the garden gate an ugly brown dead-looking mum stared back at me forlornly. The least I could do I figured was give it a haircut… it was then I saw it… hidden deep inside protected by the ugly dead stems… life… vibrant green life.
After staring at this once beautiful vine daily that earlier hung proudly in my side garden…it’s deplorable condition now saddened me.
Then as I rounded the porch I noticed my spell-binding pink vine …just as gorgeous as the day I got it. The HOPE sign holding strong- I smiled… hope was alive and well indeed!
Today we see many sculptures of Janus, the Roman god, for whom January is named. The dual face looking back and forward… a metaphor for past and future.
I was thinking yesterday someone should make a ” Janus” gardener sculpture – to help us remember the beautiful gardens of past seasons and the future of even more innovative flowers and plants in the new year. The thought makes me happy!
So until tomorrow… Let’s be thankful for the beauty in our presence now… and not be in a hurry to toss poinsettias but enjoy every beautiful moment of joy they give us…
Today is my favorite day-Winnie the Pooh
