April Hodgepodge

Joyce From This Side of the Pond  -- who is really on the other side of the pond from me -- has some great prompts for us again this week, so here goes:

1. April is Lawn and Garden Month. On a scale of 1-10, what's the current state of your lawn and/or garden (10 = a showpiece, 1 = send in the professionals). Tell us about any lawn or garden plans you have for this month.

Hahaha... at this point, we have no lawn and no garden. It was torn apart last spring, and we'll be working on it again this spring and summer. Worn out trees needed to make room for new healthy specimens. What is to be green lawn again is still dirt brown; once the snow is really gone for the season, we'll lay sod.

So, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 2 = we're working on it so please don't bring your camera. Our goal in this monumental project is to make our yard require less maintenance with simpler care, and to be more conscious of using plant material that is more adaptable to local climate changes, ie, warmer winters and less snow, less rain in spring and summer. Even though I still love flowers and gardens, I am not the enthusiastic gardener I used to be. Less is better at this stage -- I much prefer enjoying my garden's Edenese loveliness from my study window or while sitting on the patio in my lounge chair as I read or watch the birds.

2. "Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there." ~ Thomas Fuller. What does this quote mean to you?

On first thought, I take that to mean that the gardener has not deliberately sown those seeds that now grow in her garden. There are other forces at work -- some seeds blow into the garden on the winds, some are left behind in bird droppings, and yet others voluntarily spring up into willing new shoots from the mother root.

Weeds show up without prejudice in anyone's garden or lawn, and will choke out the desired plants if the gardener is not careful to tend to her treasured plants. When a lawn is kept healthy and lush, it creates a thick thatch that disallows weeds from sprouting in it.

Which reminds me to a favourite quote that comes from the 1993 film The Secret Garden, based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 children's novel of the same name. "Where you tend a rose, a thistle cannot grow." I think it was the old gardener who said it.

It seems if we want good things in our gardens, we must carefully tend the desired plants and be ruthless about tearing out those we never sowed or desired.

3. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about God? I have happy thoughts about him, and I talk to him often throughout the day. When I listen, I hear other-world thoughts in my inmost being and often I feel his love around me.

4. If we were chatting in person, how would I know if you were nervous? I might be a little fidgety and I'd probably be chattering about some inane thing.


5. Do you like the colour yellow? Would I find any in your home or wardrobe? Daffodils, tulips, roses, sunflowers, day lily, black-eyed susans ... which yellow bloom on this list is your favourite?

Oh yes, yellow is a household favourite. My house is painted in soft yellows for the walls, which actually surprised me when I first thought about it. When I was a girl, the colour yellow was never a first choice ... I'd pick from the crayon box colours of pinks, purples, and pretty blues. The yellow was reserved for the sun in the blue sky. But years later, when it came to decorating my home, I knew I wanted bright and cheerful -- yellow tends to go with the lighter moods of summer and it lends cheery notes when it's cold and grey out. Yellow also seemed my best choice to go with my favourite colour combination of blue and white. 

Yellow is not in my wardrobe, except for one creamy yellow silk scarf with a French motif on it. It's a scarf from a dear friend, and I love both the scarf and my friend.

As for flowers, I LOVE yellow daffodils, tulips, sunflowers, and black-eyed susans. Not to mention those yellow roses I saw at Chartwell, Sir Winston Churchill's former family home. I took this photo when we visited there last summer. You can find more about the visit in my post here.

  

6. Flip flops or bare feet?  Flip flops please ... I'm much more comfortable in shoes than barefoot these days.

7. Tell us about any Easter plans, celebrations, or traditions you'll carry out this month.  Rick and I will be in Oxford over Easter. I am so very excited about being in a city where Sunday Easter Service is celebrated with bells ringing and choirs singing. And maybe daffodils springing out from church gardens and alongside river banks.  

8. Insert your own random thought here. You may recall that, in an earlier post, I mentioned beginning a project to create a photo slideshow "60 Years in 60 Photos" to mark the milestone of my upcoming 60th birthday. I wanted to create a collage of photos, one for each year, much in the style of one I saw made for the Queen's 90th birthday.

I'm happy to report this sweet collage of memories is now complete. It was so much fun to work on, sorting through old photos, deciding which ones to select, and then eventually turning them into the photo video slideshow you see below. Not having done this before, I kept it pretty simple, but I'm pleased with the outcome, and delighted to share it with you. If you like music as you watch, you can turn up the volume.

Note: It might not be as bright or clear on this post, as Blogger may have had to adjust the high definition so it fits here. It is clearer on my Facebook here; you are welcome to friend me, if you like.

  

On that note, here's wishing you glimpses of heaven in unexpected places.

Many hugs,

Brenda

xox

Joining Joyce for Hodgepodge fun