Color My World

I woke up this morning and looked out of the window to be greeted by yet another blanket of white against a backdrop of alternating shades of grey ... with a few brown branches sticking out for texture. Another few inches of snow had fallen overnight and now the familiar sounds of plows, shovels and snow blowers are playing their daily tune. I swear I have a slight case of snow blindness even indoors. Even though I try to make sure there is color inside my home, the light from outside bleaches everything inside. I need to do something colorful to change the light in my own eyes and in my soul. So I'm digging out my coloring books and colored pencils.

The kids have been gifting me with these wonderful adult coloring books for a while now. At first I used them all of the time, but when the weather started to warm up and the world splashed its own box of colors around, I spent more time walking outside to invite color into my life - there's nothing like the original. Now that the world seems to be devoid of color, I am taking them out again. Since most of them have to do with nature, they are just perfect for this outdoor lover and retired gardener. Some of them even come with inspirational sayings or famous quotes designed to touch you as much as the act of coloring itself, for in picking the actual colors and moving your hand across the page, you find yourself in a sort of meditative place where you can touch the soul of your creativity. For everyone who has ever said: "Oh, I can't paint/draw, etc. I'm not talented that way," this is the way for you to put your own colorful stamp on the world. And on a day like today, with nothing but grey and white light all around you, sitting down with a coloring book and letting your inner child out to play is like a painter sitting in front of a blank canvas with a palette full of paint ... the sky is the limit!

So you'll have to excuse me now as I sharpen my pencils and find the coloring book that is calling to this inner 5 year old today. Hmmm? Yes! I think the book with all of the butterflies is what I need. Today I feel a calling to start fighting my way out of my cocoon. 

And so it is. 

When The Wind Blows

I'm writing and posting this blog a day earlier than I usually do. Our area is under a High Wind Warning from late this afternoon until mid-day tomorrow. We have all been advised that there could be downed trees and power outages and that we should be prepared.

Of course, having been a Girl Scout in my youth, one who fervently embraced the motto: Be Prepared, I wasted no time in getting my tiny home in order:

• Flashlights and backup batteries - check.
• Candles (both small ones and big ones, mobile and stationary) -  check.
• Little candle powered fondue to make hot water for coffee, tea, or soup - check.
• Lighter - check.
• Containers filled with water to handle drinking/cooking, washing, and flushing - check.
• Purse packed with important items like ID, bank cards, medication, etc., in the event that giant pine tree I am always writing about (the one that sways back and forth in a storm like a palm tree doing yoga) decides to come down and take out the roof - check. 
• Alternate sleeping arrangement in the event that said tree mentioned above, which is outside the window next to my bed, is trying to do a complete back-bend and I'm too scared to sleep in my bed (which in a studio apartment means the spot on the love seat furthest from the big window or my desk chair propped up with pillows and a foot rest next to the front door) - check. 

My Girl Scout Leader would be so proud.

We have no control over the weather, and there are many other storms in life that we have no control over either, especially if they involve the behavior or actions of other people. All that we do have control over is how we respond to those storms. The best way that I know how to do that is to follow the Girl Scout rule and always Be Prepared. A regular spiritual practice like prayer, meditation, journaling, yoga, or anything else that gives us the tools we need to respond with love, acceptance, and courage can keep a storm that is just blowing through from becoming the storm of the century in our lives. And as our Native Americans teachers taught us: "No storm lasts forever." 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get this posted in case we lose power. Then I need to pull out some heavy blankets and my Christmas flannel pj's in case we lose heat, and maybe make some sandwiches ahead of time, and, and, and, ... ok, maybe a person can be too prepared, but once a Girl Scout, always a Girl Scout.

And so it is. 

Seeds Of Change

“Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has

been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed

there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.”

― Henry David Thoreau

Even though I thought I had deleted my name from all those gardening magazine and catalog mailing lists (now that I no longer garden outside as I used to it seemed a waste of money and paper), a few still seem to be floating around out there. One of them sent me a gift as a way of enticing me back into the fold. It was a small packet of seeds for a new, fancy type of parsley I'd never heard of before. It was a nice surprise, but I doubt that I will be using them. When it comes to parsley, the traditional Italian parsley is the one I use. It's what my mother used, and it's what I use. For some of us older folks, change doesn't happen easily.

What is it about older folks and change anyway? Some people would rather hold on to old ways and ideas with a death grip rather than try something new, or do something in a different way. Is it that they think it means they were wrong all this time? Does it demean them or invalidate them in some way? I think the idea of change scares most people, the old, universal "fear of the unknown." Personally, I usually don't mind trying something different, or looking at things from a different perspective. I certainly don't want to wind up 80 or 90 years old having lived the same year over and over 80 or 90 times! I want to be exposed to new ideas, new ways of seeing the world. That's what keeps life fresh and exciting. Besides, as the philosophers and spiritual teachers tell us, nothing in this world really stays the same. Everything changes, every minute of every day.

So I'm going to take my cue from my dearest and oldest mentor, Henry David Thoreau, and plant a new seed where nothing was planted before and expect wonders. Maybe, after all, trying a new type of parsley will open up new ways of cooking new kinds of foods, and wouldn't that be a delightful culinary adventure?

And so it is. 

If Wishes Were Seeds

February for gardeners is like December for kids. Just like all those Christmas catalogs come in the mail to tease and taunt the little ones, February brings hopeful gardeners all those beautiful, inviting seed catalogs to their door. One by one, page by page, we are pulled to the images of lush, beautiful flower borders, vibrant veggies bursting with flavor, delightful garden ornaments and brightly-colored seed packets, each one promising the best yield God ever created! 

Now that I no longer garden on any kind of grand scale, restricted as I am by location and brittle joints to container and tabletop gardening, I still haunt the magazines, catalogs and especially websites (which saves paper, which makes me and the trees happy) looking for new ideas about things like vertical gardening, grow lights, indoor plant foods and temperatures ... the list goes one and one. Once a gardener, always a gardener.

Wouldn't it be nice to have, instead of a seed catalog to grow plants, a seed catalog that grew wishes? Can you imagine the joy of opening the mailbox and seeing a Wish Book, knowing that you could order anything you wanted out of it? Can you picture each page, full of color and excitement, luring you to chose one wish over another, promising you so much happiness that it would, indeed be, "the best yield ever?" Some folks might jump at the chance to own such a catalog, but age and experience tells me that over time it would take over your life, just like those gardeners who always have to have more, different, better, bigger, etc. At what point would we be satisfied with all that we had?

The best wishes are the ones that bring us joy regardless of the size or quantity. These are the ones that we have the power to make come true ourselves, and aren't they the ones that are the most cherished? I don't need a huge, wall-sized vertical garden. What I want are a few pots of my favorite herbs, to help my little bamboo plant to flourish, and maybe a little color in the form of variegated leaves or tiny flowers to brighten up my space. All of those things are the kinds of wishes that I can make come true all on my own, and those are the ones that will bring me the most joy.

 So, what are you going to order out of your wish catalog today?

And so it is. 

And Now A Word From Our Sponsor

I woke this morning to a sound I haven't heard in months. At first I thought I was dreaming, but as the sound started floating to the surface of my consciousness, I opened my eyes and discovered that it was real ... I heard birds singing!

I grabbed my phone and checked the time and temperature. It was 7:20 A.M and the temperature was 36 degrees. 36! Pulling back the curtains I could see the sky, completely clear of clouds and the sun reflecting on the hills in the distance as it came up over the top of my apartment building. I was so happy to hear that sound, and see that sight, that I thought I would cry.

We've just come out of a nasty, seemingly forever Arctic cold blast that almost brought our little corner of the world to a standstill. The high temperatures never made it out of the single digits and the wind chills hit -38 below zero. The normal lows without the wind chills were below zero every night for over a week. So you can imagine what a blessing it felt like to not only see and feel the end of the frozen nightmare, but to hear the birdsong outside of my window as if the birds were singing a new and better day awake. At that moment I remembered something I'd heard somewhere in the past: the sound of birds singing after a long, cold snap is God's way of telling you "hang in there, it won't be much longer." 

I know the winter outside can sometimes feel as if it will go on forever, but it never really does. Spring always comes, just as summer will come, and then fall. Mother Nature never makes a promise that she doesn't keep. The same is true for the winters in our own lives. No storm lasts forever. The sun will rise again, a new day will be born, and each day is filled with infinite possibilities. It's up to us to sing the new day awake and make the choice to look for the songs within all of us. 

After church this morning, I went home and drew back all of the curtains to let the sunshine in. The forecast is for warmer weather for the next several days although not all of them will be sunny and we may even see some rain and snow, but just like the reminder I got from Mother Nature this morning, I know the birds will sing again soon, and the sun will come up, and winter won't really last forever even if it feels like it will. After all, if you can't believe the one who sponsor's spring in the first place, who can you believe?

And so it is. 

Nothing But The Best

My little tabletop fairy garden is not doing well. In fact, it doesn't look much like this picture any more. The big window over my desk that I love so much doesn't love my plants at this time of the year. While winter is traditionally a dark and dismal time of the year in terms of sunlight, this year seems to be taking the award for most dark and cloudy days in a row without sun. As all the windows in my sweet little studio apartment are west facing, they only get direct light in the afternoon, and at this time of year it is mainly from about 2 pm to 4:30 or 5 p.m. So my little plants are struggling to hang in there. The only two plants that seem to be holding their own are the little bamboo plant I bought on a whim in the autumn, and an as-yet unidentified plant that looks like the top of a pineapple (for all I know it could be the top of a pineapple) that I rescued from a departing office member 8 years ago which is now about 3 feet tall. I suspect it is trying to be a tree but is having an identity crisis as it's stem is way too thin to support its weight. I have it staked and am awaiting its decision.

A friend suggested that I get a grow light to help my plants get through the winter. Another friend suggested that I just break down and get some really nice artificial plants. There are some on the market that look remarkably real and only require a damp cloth to wipe off their leaves for care as compared to the constant feeding, watering and nurturing of real plants. I have to admit that I did give that one some thought. I was even swayed temporarily by the photos online of big, handsome plants with large, green, shiny leaves, giving the room the look and feel of a tropical paradise. However, at the core of my being, where the ever-present gardener lives, her little voice whispered to me, " but oh, dear one, you so deserve the real thing." 

Yes, I do. And so do you. We all deserve the best. No one should have to settle for second best. Mother Nature doesn't give us her second best trees, or flowers, or animals. She gives us the very best that she can create. Why? Because we're worth it. If she thinks so, who are we to argue? We are all deserving of the best that life has to offer us. A fake plant may look nice, but a real plant is a feast for our senses. Besides, nothing speaks to our hearts as much as being a part of the birth and growth of something beautiful.

So this weekend I am going to do a little comparison shopping for grow lights and boxes for my little tabletop garden. I may even treat myself to some herb seeds and get an early start on spring. No more cooking with the dried stuff any longer ... I deserve the best, and so do you!

And so it is. 

The Great Human Myth

For some reason humankind has embraced the idea that they are in total control of their lives and the events surrounding their lives. One has only to look out of the window today in my neck of the woods to be reminded who's really in control. After a weekend of more than a foot of snow and winds gusting to 35 mph, I woke up this morning to a temperature of -7 with a wind chill of -21. If you think you have any control over any of that, you are either seriously delusional or you believe in myths.

There is so much about being human that is totally out of our control. Besides the weather, the most prevalent myth in our society is about aging ... we are all going to get old. Some of us will age better than others. Some of us will wake up one morning, look in the mirror and, much like what I thought when I looked out of the window this morning and saw five foot icicles, say to ourselves: " What happened?" No amount of hair dye, face lifts, and dressing like our grandkids is going to change Mother Nature's most important lesson of them all: things are born, things serve their purpose, things get old, things die. It's not what happens to us, it's how we respond to it. Some of us will let ourselves go gray gracefully, some will not. Some will trade in those three inch heels for comfortable, sensible shoes, and others won't. Whatever we decide, it will make the difference between enjoying the wisdom and freedom that comes with age, or fighting it tooth and nail. In the end, we're all gonna get old. As usual, Mother Nature has the last word on that.

So today I am spending the day in my favorite plaid flannel nightgown with matching flannel PJ pants (thank you, Granddaughter Gabby for this warm and thoughtful gift) and binge-watch decorating shows on TV. If that gets old, I have tons of books and movies to entertain me. In fact, I might just take a nap. I am officially taking a Snow Day. Thank you, Mother Nature, for this gift. Now, where did I put my tea pot?

And so it is.