A Summer Afternoon in a Garden

"The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth—

One is nearer God's heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth."

DOROTHY FRANCES GURNEY

There are times when I lament the vanishing of beauty in our world. There is so much ugly around us that pushes us in the face. But then we saunter through a garden that's filled with lovely flowers, shapely shrubs, and graceful trees. And we wander meandering pathways that are designed for pleasure and comfort. We are reminded, even though many destroy what is beautiful thinking beauty is not to be valued, there are so many more people who do care about our world... and who create and tend to what is beautiful for the sake of others. 

Our local St Albert Botanic Park is one such place. Maintained by volunteers from the community, it's set alongside the Sturgeon River. It's a place that invites one to come in and spend time here. Where we can enjoy the many nooks and crannies, the eye pleasing garden designs and placement of trees and plants, sitting on well-situated benches where we can rest a while, feel the warmth of the sun on our backs, watch bees buzzing around the roses bushes, maybe have a chat with a friend.

The day we visited the weather was perfect—warm but not hot, with gentle breezes. Groups of people were strolling along, including one family with little ones who thought the park was great for running and chasing in, and I think they were having great fun. After our stroll through the gardens, we sat at a patio table where people can enjoy ice cream treats from the gift shop. We watched a brave squirrel come closer and closer in hopes that a bit of something will fall to the ground. He'd be right there to snatch it up. I looked up, and there walking into the area came a former work colleague and dear friend with her adult daughter. What a delightful surprise. They sat down with us for a few minutes and we had a right old catch up in ten minutes. It was just so nice to see them... spontaneous serendipity that created a warm spot in the heart.

As I grow older the simple pleasure of visiting a garden, alone or with friends, becomes even more important to the well-being of my soul. Perhaps you find it so yourself. Today I am delighted to share the exuberant beauty of what caught my eye during our visit on an ideal summer afternoon.

Don't you want to step through that archway to

discover what lovely vista might catch your breath?

 

What a heavenly day

to be in a garden!

"Won't you come into the garden?

I would like my roses to see you."

RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN

"Flowers really do intoxicate me."

VITA SACKVILLE-WEST

❦

Wishing you a beautiful day,

Brenda

Photo credits:

Brenda Leyland @ It's A Beautiful Life

A Walk in the Garden

"For many people summer is a time of leisure: days at the beach, or picnics in parks and gardens; long, fair-weather country walks. Often it feels too brief, or comes in instalments: we pine for the six solid weeks of sunshine we believe we always had as a child. But in wanting to recapture those days we risk missing the days we still have - because what is that wish but a wish to be a child again, loosed from school, loosed from the house, and barefoot on the grass? Those elysian summers, polished to dazzling brightness by the flow of years, can never be recaptured; but we have this summer, however imperfect we as adults may deem it, and we can go out and seek it at every opportunity we can."

"Introduction" in Summer Anthology, editor Melissa Harrison, 2016

These portulacas with their eye-popping colours of orange and pink and yellow make me grin. How brilliant they are. They are like a jolt of joy when I come upon them around the corner by the garage. Did you know they are nature's fair-weather creatures and open their petals only when the sun shines on them? I took the photo a couple of days ago. On overcast mornings, the petals remain tightly curled and they look dismal. Can't say that I blame them, but a person does wonder if maybe they've bit the dust and are ready for the compost bin. Don't do thaaaat, you'll be sorry. Haha 

  

Along with these bright petaled blossoms, here is a glimpse of what else is blooming in the garden right now... hope you enjoy.

Pink penstemon, variety unknown

"I have thousands of moments

in which to be happy and joyous."

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

The Last Dream of the Old Oak (A Christmas Story)

Pink lavatera, sometimes referred to as rose mallow

Captivating pink beauty,

one petal at a time.

UNKNOWN

Hydrangea getting ready to burst out

"The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,

One is nearer God's heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth."

DOROTHY FRANCES GURNEY

Sedum

"Flowers are like friends, they

bring colour to your world."

UNKNOWN

"I come to the garden alone

while the dew is still on the roses"

C. AUSTIN MILES (1912)

Clematis 'Gillian Blades'

"Gardening is the art that uses flowers and plants

as paint, and the soil and sky as canvas."

ELIZABETH MURRAY

"Amidst a sea of green,

pink flowers bloom as nature's delicate poetry."

UNKNOWN

❦

We have this summer, however imperfect it may be—

let us go and seek out its beauty at every opportunity we can.

Heart hugs,

Brenda

Photo credits:

Brenda Leyland @ It's A Beautiful Life

Five on Friday: June's Treats

"It always seemed to me that the herbaceous peony is

the very epitome of June . . . and when it finally

drops from the vase, it sheds its petticoats with a bump

on the table, all in an intact heap, much as a rose

will suddenly fall, making us look up from our book

or conversation, to notice for one moment . . .".

VITA SACKVILLE-WEST

quote found on AZ Quotes

We woke to a summer morning that you want to hold onto forever. It was practically perfect in every way: warm enough for sleeveless but not sweltering; gentle breezes, not the hard cold winds we've endured of late; rains that finally came and made everything green, green, green and helped with those early spring wildfires in the region. Birds twittered - robins are more scarce now but the wrens and chickadees were whistling and chuckling. And baby magpies squawked as they hopped around. 

I admit not wanting to be indoors this morning, even though I'm sitting in my favourite room with the window overlooking the back garden. But I had to check in with you, dear readers, as it's been a while. Today will be short(er) and hopefully sweet, as you don't want to have your eyes fixed on a screen on such a luminous summer day. Here are five quick things that caught my attention over the last little while. Happy Friday!

One

Oh, the joy of finding a whole pot of self seeded johnny-jump-ups.

All I did was water when they first sprouted.

I love their cheeky resilience and persistence—

I could learn a lesson or two from them.

Two

We have a small flock of pelicans on our nearby pond. What a

thrill to see this one so close up feeding along the water's edge.

Three

An open-faced sandwich photo I found on Mediterranean

Tasty Recipes (Facebook) that looks so appealing to me:

Toasted sourdough bread spread with

cottage cheese

a layer of sliced ripe tomatoes

a drizzle of olive oil

a spritz of balsamic vinegar, and

a finger sprinkle of sea salt.

I would add some fresh basil leaves.

Four

Words that I had to write down for the light in their message:

❧

"I saw that worrying had come to nothing.

And I gave it up. And took my old body

and went out into the morning

and sang."

MARY OLIVER

❧

"May all that has been reduced to noise

in you, become music again."

ATTRIBUTED TO DAVID TEEMS

❧

"Joy doesn't cancel out the heavy things

but gives you little pockets of

strength to carry on."

from SHARECARE, on Facebook

❧

"I will not allow my life's light to be

determined by the darkness around me."

SOJOURNER TRUTH (1787 - 1883)

Five

Recently finished and enjoyed reading the following:

While Still We Live

by Helen MacInnes

(historical novel, 1944)

Unfinished Portrait

by Mary Westmacott aka Agatha Christie

(fiction, 1934)

Farmer Boy

by Laura Ingalls Wilder

(children's historical fiction, 1933)

The Correspondent

by Virginia Evans (epistolary novel, 2025)

Chocolat

by Joanne Harris

(novel 1999 - library book)

Dumb Witness

by Agatha Christie

(Poirot mystery, 1937)

The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

(classic fiction, 1925)

Summer reading pile:

Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman

by Lucy Worsley

(biography, 2022)

Ordinary Grace

by William Kent Krueger

(novel, 2013)

Orwell's Roses

by Rebecca Solnit

(biography/nature, 2021)

The Nightingale

by Kristin Hannah

(historical novel, 2015)

The Story She Left Behind

by Patti Callahan Henry

(novel, 2025) 

❦

On that note, I'm wishing you a beautiful weekend,

Brenda

Photo credits:

Feature photo, Photos One, Two, Four

by Brenda Leyland @ It's A Beautiful Life

Photo Three - found on Mediterranean Tasty Recipes 

Photo Five - Image by Marketing BS from Pixabay

Guest Posting on InScribe: My Reading Life

"A mind needs books as a sword needs

a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge."

George R.R. Martin

I have a new blog post up on InScribe, my writers' fellowship blog. I'm chatting about my reading life and how it affects my writing life. I share two short book lists as well.

I'd enjoy your company—grab your cup and meet me over THERE.

Hope your June is unfolding in lovely and soft ways for you. I wish you grace for however it's landing.

❦

Wishing you a beautiful day,

Brenda

Photo credit:

Image by Nick Stafford from Pixabay

A 'Joyride' in a Garden Centre

"The greenhouse overflowed with a dazzling array of beautiful plants.

And as I scanned the beauty spilling out of innumerable planters and pots

and baskets, I realized that the beauty now on display had always laid in

the seeds. And if the seeds had not been cultivated the beauty within would

have certainly remained, but it would have remained forever hidden." 

CRAIG D. LOUNSBROUGH, as seen on GoodReads

I'm sure you, too, have experienced that 'dazzling array of beautiful plants . . . spilling out of innumerable planters and pots and baskets' when visiting your local garden centre. Would you agree it's one of the delectable treats of Spring? They delight our senses. They beguile us. They give us a thrill of anticipation from the moment we walk in. With all the array of designs, textures, and colours, it's hard to know what to look at first. And soon the buggy gets fuller and fuller. I am SO glad for the gift of sight and the ability to take in the colours of the earth... and the greenhouse. I do relate to Sir Winston Churchill's joyful phrase when, as an artist, he expressed his own 'joyride in a paintbox'. Though I'm not an artist with paint, I certainly appreciate those joyrides in a garden centre. They are so hope-filled.

Below are a few photos from our visit... plus a photo at the bottom taken yesterday morning during our walk: the first sighting of our Alberta wild rose with its pink scented petals and very poky stems. These are always a joy to come across.

Today I'm thinking of my dear girlhood chum, Linda, who can no longer get out to enjoy her usual jaunts to the garden centres or take walks in the breezes, spotting those much welcomed familiar pink blossoms of the wild rose for herself. This post is for you, dear Linda, with hopes this bit of garden beauty in a post will lift your spirits even though you can't get out there to see it in person. ( ( ( 💕 ) ) ) 

"Summer, don't be shy, stay awhile!"

UNKNOWN

"One benefit of summer was that each day

we had more light to read by."

JEANNETTE WALLS

"Summer afternoon; to me those have always been

the two most beautiful words in the English language."

HENRY JAMES, The Portrait of a Lady

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a

world where it was always June."

L.M. MONTGOMERY

"In early June the world of leaf and blade and

flowers explodes, and every sunset is different."

JOHN STEINBECK, The Winter of Our Discontent

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

and summer's lease hath all too short a date."

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the

grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to

the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float

across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."

JOHN LUBBOCK, The Use of Life

"The Alberta wild rose, also known as the prickly wild rose, was

designated the floral emblem of Alberta in 1930 and is a symbol

of the province's natural beauty and strong prairie spirit. It's also

cherished for its unique characteristics, including its vibrant pink petals

and sweet fragrance. The rose's ability to thrive in harsh conditions is

is seen as a representation of endurance and resilience."

- info found from several sources online

Before I sign off, I want to give you a heads up that I will be away from the blog for the next few weeks. To spend time in the garden. To enjoy the warm weather. To go on little road trips. To spend time with family. Plus, my oldish computer has been sending me various error codes and have been showing up more often. So it's high time to update. Thankfully, I beaverishly got everything backed up (in the cloud and on my external hard drives) last week so I hope things are safe, fingers crossed, while we get all this sorted.

And now I wish you a beautiful June . . . please take care, and I hope you have a wonderful start to summer.

❦

Heart hugs,

Brenda

Photo credits:

Brenda Leyland @ It's A Beautiful Life