What I Learned From Death

Some of us are touched early by death, others have to wait.

When I was about eight years old I knew a woman named Rosemary Thorne. Tall and white-haired, she loved to create little wreaths out of twigs with dried flowers, and she loved photography, even if she was terrible at it. My clearest memories of her include one afternoon when I read a story aloud to the cozy, cluttered afternoon sunlight of her house. I can only imagine how broken and childish my reading must have been, but she smiled and seemed to enjoy it. A little while later she succumbed to the cancer that had tortured her body for years. My mother watched by her deathbed, and I looked on in frightened wonder.

Beauty in the graveyard, a photo by amalakar on Flickr.

Ms. Rosemary taught me to never lose an opportunity to bless others. I cried for days after she died, because I had only read one story to her. How many more opportunities were there to help and do good to this darling lady? Now I'd never have the chance again. That was probably a result of an overactive conscience, but it made a huge impression on me. 

Spring Has Sprung!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody! I don't know if there's an early spring where you are, but here in Northwest Arkansas it feels like the middle of April already. I think last year at about this time we were under a few feet of snow....

Here are a few photos to celebrate the new season; there's plenty of green going on here! 

The Missouri Botanical Garden

Our first full day in the big city of St. Louis was spent sightseeing! We drove for hours, got a taste of several fascinating sites, ate our weight in the local fare and got a great first look at the Gateway to the West.

Since I took more than 200 pictures on this first day I think I'll divide the sights into separate posts rather than barraging you with everything at once ;)

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

Our amazing guide! Mindy
helped us navigate St. Louis all day
long. Thank you, Mindy <3

Stuffed to bursting with fascinating species that you certainly won't find anywhere near Northwest Arkansas, this beautiful garden is just acre after acre of perfectly trimmed shrubbery, exotic trees, flesh eating plants, and gorgeous flowers in nearly every color imaginable. The whole experience impressed me with how creative our God is! I could think for years and years and never invent some of those plants that we saw today. Here is a sampling of the amazing specimens:

First of all, here is a piece of art in the front atrium by the famous glass blower Dave Chihuly. His work was sprinkled here and there all around the garden.

Most of the following photos were taken in the "Climatron", a very large geodesic glass dome housing over half an acre of tropical plants and animals.

Another display of Chihuly art.

Isn't this cool? Looks a little like an elaborate lantern.

Water Lettuce

Aaaack! It's an Abby!

And an exotic Cameron flower from Costa Rica.They grow best in hollow trees.

Behold--the pineapple ginger plant.

This is the carnivorous pitcher plant. See the little insect who is as-yet-unaware of his doom?

Did I mention that we were taking a side-trip to the Mediterranean?

Cameron and I were really "feeling the zen"
 in the Chinese and Japanese gardens!

And, last but not least, some floating onion-things--Chihuly style.

There you have it! That was the first thing we did today, in the "cool" of the morning. Before we knew it the heat index was ratcheting skyward; the sun was baking the sidewalks, bringing out sweat from every pore and seriously damaging the attractiveness of another hour of un-air-conditioned walking. 

So we decided to go to lunch, which was an adventure all on its own....

Cottage Garden Update!

So here we are in July, and my "bit of earth" has gone crazy! I should have taken pictures of it a little earlier when things were still small enough to stand upright, but better late than never.

I planted some interesting new things this year. Most notably borage, an herb that has grown to gigantic proportions (about four feet high now). I made borage lemonade - which was delicious and refreshing - and I hear that you can eat the prickly leaves like a vegetable. I adore the flowers, they are so unique, exotic, and scream their Creator's genius.  

Here's another new one for me: love-in-a-mist. I read about this and borage in an awesome little book called Creating a Cottage Garden in North America by Stephen Westcott-Gratton. It's another exotic looking flower that was popular in 16th century gardens, and complements my lavender nicely. 

I planted four o'clocks last year; they self-seeded and have officially taken over! I left a few bare patches of my garden, intending to fill them with a variety of store-bought seedlings, but these pesky rascals said otherwise. They color the place up admirably though, and are so thick and flourishing that I've given them mercy and let them stay.

Another plant that has gone out of control - blazing stars. They have grown so tall that I had to stake them to get the long purple stalks from blocking the pathway! The bees absolutely love them (did I mention that they are also wild about borage?) so whenever I go out to my garden I am surrounded by swarms of fuzzy friends.

And then there are the calendulas, another remnant from last year. They were terribly wimpy the first time they grew - limp and smelly and late-blooming - but after sitting there over the winter they have revolutionized into clumps of perky yellow sunshine.

Hope you enjoyed this update. Feel free to leave suggestions as to future posting topics, I could always use some inspiration!

Tata for now,

Abby

Cottage Garden: Further Down the Road

Yes, I know, it's been ages  since I last posted :( But I've been a very busy girl! One facet of my schedule lately has been pottering about in my English Cottage Garden, so here's an update on that for all you fascinated masses.

The picture above is one of the columbines that I planted last year, which was so shrimpy and blossom-less that I almost gave up on it. Now my little columbine plants have skyrocketed into full growth and bloom, putting on these gorgeous, many-colored, complex flowers.

And here is the peony (Bowl of Beauty) which I thought might have died during the cold winter:

God does work some marvelous miracles, doesn't He? 

Were you wondering how those little seeds I planted earlier turned out? Well, most of them survived, I'm glad to say, and they have now taken up residence in the garden.

Above you can see a tiny little sage plant. Cute, isn't he?

And here is a basil seedling. I hope to get a lot of pesto out of this puppy.

So, that's the garden update. Are any of you guys busy getting humus under your nails?

Tata for now,

Abby