Today I picked the last hydrangea blooms, filled the old blue and white jug to overflowing with shades from pale blue to deep purple.  I can not stop admiring them.  I know there will not be any more until spring and so they have become more valuable now, rare, less common place and I wonder why, when the house was full of fresh cut flowers all summer long I didn’t notice them like I do this last bouquet of the year.

Just a fleeting thought, but maybe, in this world of abundance we live in, we have become accustomed to having it all and we forget to notice and feel deep appreciation for each lovely gift we are given daily.

Concrete parking lot.

Steel post.

How did a tree happen to be here?

But it is here,

growing as best it can.

Prognosis,

not great.

Future

not too promising -

still it grows, thrives,

doing the best it can with what it has

where it is,

being

here.

I don’t understand how it works, but somehow an old friend, like a comfy old sweater, just fits into the day as if they’ve been around forever.  We talked, laughed, looked at the album of the 50′s I brought to share and no one would have guessed it has been years, many years, since we’ve been together.

She was one of my bridesmaids.  Before that she was the one who I rode bikes with, slept in the camper trailer beside, walked to school with, had my first babysitting job with, talked about every thing with.  We were in grade four together.  That was a long time ago and yet, there we were sitting together, laughing and bouncing our memories off each other as though they were just yesterday.  Now we’re grandmothers!  We’ve each faced what life handed us without judgement from the other, we’ve lost and won, grieved and celebrated much in our separate lives but somehow that childhood bond has never worn too thin.  We still recognize the girls we once were.  No treasure is worth more than one good old friend.   I’m so glad she called.

I’ve just finished watching a DVD series I borrowed from the library. (Did you know most libraries have sections full of DVDs, CDs and VCRs for you to borrow? How simple is that, free, watch them, return them.  No need to store them.)  Wanda Urbanska walks you through some great ideas for simplifying your life.  Some of the catchy thoughts she shared:

Less stuff = Less money to earn = Less work = More Time.

Make a shopping list and stick to it.  Don’t need it, don’t buy it.

Every time you bring something new into your home, take something old out.  Donate, sell or re-gift those things that you haven’t used in two years or more.

Clutter is a contagious disease. Say no thanks to things you won’t use, even if they are free.

Don’t get caught in the trap of miswanting.  What we thought would make us happy, does not.  When we have what we need, we have enough and are happy.  This is a decision and you need to tell yourself that until you believe it.

And finally “Inhale Peace – Exhale Fear”

Simple, right?  Like everything else in life, it’s what we feed that grows.  It’s what we tell ourselves over and over that we come to believe.  I for one am practising gratitude, thanking God for that which I have – beauty surrounding me, people who love me, enough of everything I need, enough to share.  It’s simple enough to say thank you and somehow thanks opens up our hearts to what is important.  It isn’t what we have, it’s who we are or who we are becoming.  Simple folk, living a simple life.  That’s what I want to be when I grow up.

I like what someone called the Mount Vernon method of cleaning.  Apparently it is based on the system used to keep historical buildings spotless year round.  Start at the front door, working your way around each and every room, dealing with every item, shelf, knick knack and surface.  Wash, dust, sort – putting back only that which you love – those things that are useful and beautiful. Carry along a bag for giving away, a bag for garbage and a basket for things that need to be relocated.  At the end of your energy,  place  a precious ornament there, right where you stopped.  Take the give away bag to the thrift shop next time you go to town.  Put the garbage in the can and relocate those things that belong somewhere else.  Next time the cleaning mood hits, carry on from where you left off, moving your lovely marker around the rooms throughout the house.  Soon spring cleaning will become second nature and you will only be surrounded with what you love and what you use.

Why do we hang onto things we never liked like some strange need possesses us to remember a friend’s penchant for ridiculous gifts or rub into our self thoughts that we don’t deserve beauty or order or an uncluttered life.  Just because someone gave us a gift, is not a reason to feel we must keep it or use it forever.  We can gift that thing and that memory to someone else who needs it or likes it or wants it and fill the space it left with something we love.  Or leave that space full of emptiness.  I’m learning to love empty spaces more,  spaces for  dreams, ideas, poems yet to be written.

Soon the garden will be full of organic vegetables to share, fresh fruit for jam and canning, flowering abundance to enjoy and inspire.  And maybe, this year, my home will also be filled with only that which is lovely and useful.

If your kitty likes to garden too, this will make sure it gets the point – stick round wooden toothpicks in your pots, pointy end sticking out of the dirt enough to make an uncomfortable sitting spot.  Also old used teabags sprayed with muscle spray and buried around plants will deter kitty coming to that spot.  They don’t like the smell.

Spray a band of WD40 or smear a band of vaseline around the outside of a large pot to keep slugs and snails from crawling up and into it.

Line terra-cotta pots with a plastic bag. Make a hole in the center for drainage. It won’t dry out as quickly as clay pots tend to.

An old apple corer makes a great dibber for planting little seedlings.

Paint over your plant labels with clear nail polish. That will make sure your labels can be read right through the season.

One banana skin per rose bush will feed it all the nutrients it needs. Chop up the peel and bury around the rose bush in the spring. We’ve been doing this, eating a banana a day is good for us too.

I’m going to try this one with the climbing rose on the new pump house. Just a dab of silicone seal on the wall, wait a few minutes for it to dry some, press the rose stem into the silicone, voila – it will stay put. Can’t wait to try this, I have tried everything from staples to twist ties to keep my rose on the wall and nothing has been very satisfactory.

One more and I hope you’re heading for your garden because that’s where I’m off to.

Grated soap is a good squirrel deterrent sprinkled where you don’t want the cute little critters.

Happy Gardening!                                   

The thing about light,
it reveals what is not seen in the darkness -
luminescent colours on miniscule hummingbird
hovering at my window,
amazing purple of hyacinth in the side garden,
fingerprints of grandkids on French doors,
corners missed when vacuuming.

Light reveals all,
illuminates where attention is needed,
where energy must be focused to make a change.
Once light shines on a messy spot,
in my home or in my soul,
I can never again pretend
it is not there.

It was a beautiful laptop, silver metal body, slim, light, back lit keyboard, nice typing feel to it.  His Nibs loaded all my files into it and I leaped in. No tippy toeing slowly in for this girl.  Uh, two finger scroll, three finger drag, stretch the page with finger and thumb?  I’m not playing Lego here, I’m trying to type a poem!  And where are the words on the tool bar, it’s all pictures.  Pictures of things I have no idea what they are supposed to represent. Pictures pop up when I move the cursor around.  This feels like a game and I’m not winning.

Keep in mind, I am a writer.  A pen and real ink person at heart.  I typed out stories on an Underwood typewriter for goodness sakes.  I moved from a typewriter to a desk top computer back in the 1980’s when His Nibs convinced me I would never have to use ‘White Out’ again. Just push delete and it’s gone.  But pictures have no meaning to me whatsoever. I didn’t read comic books, I read dictionaries when I was in school.  No, I’m sorry, this will never work for me.

Back to the store. Fortunately they have a return policy, no questions asked.   I explained to the sales lady I was a writer, a typist, I needed a computer with a standard keyboard and no pictures.  “Do you want a number pad?” She asked. “No. I don’t play games, I type.”  She led me over to a Sony Vaio.  A little smaller than my Toshiba, shiny black. I tried out the keyboard, standing on tip toe to reach the shelf it was on.  ‘The sly brown fox jumped quickly over the sleeping dog.’ Same keyboard I was used to.  She showed me the comparisons between other computer return keys, size of screen,  I am happy with this one.  Off we go with my new laptop.  Again.  His Nibs worked all evening moving files and configuring tool bars. Finally it’s loaded and I try it out.  It has a number pad!  I didn’t even notice that in the store!  The whole keyboard is off center so it has to sit off center on my lap, a most awkward way to type. The fan sounded like a rocket ship about to take off and the cursor seemed to have a mind of it’s own. No mail program in it.  We find one online and install it.  It has pictures on three large tool bars that look like they were developed by a four year old.  Messy, ugly and full of unnecessary choices I’d never use. It could not be customized.  No, sorry, I can not live with this one either.

Going down for the last time, ready to chuck technology and buy a typewriter. I wonder if there are any for sale on eBay.  The salesman approached, we told him our tale. “A computer is a computer,” he pronounces as though to be in such turmoil over which one to buy was ludicrous.  His Nibs suggested we just look and try them, dismissing the salesman politely.  We found only four computers without number pads and two of them had the standard keyboard.  The others had extra keys between Enter and the letter keys.  Some were bilingual with red letters all over the keys and some had so much information and pictures on each key you would need a magnifying glass to read them.  I chose a Certified Data. Made in Canada.  Smaller than the last one but clear and quiet.  This is it, if this does not work it’s back to pen and ink for me.

This is a long story and does not end quite yet because His Nibs is still customizing the tool bars to look like my old Toshiba with classic Windows and words without pictures.  None of the programs on my old Toshiba will work on my new laptop, so I’m going to use Open Office to replace Microsoft Word which has the feel of my old Word program.  We had to resort to a very customized Windows Live Mail but got rid of all the Live programs for social networking and messenger.  I’m not that social and don’t intend to be.

Why has Outlook Express disappeared completely?  Why is Windows more like Mac than Windows?  Why do you have to pay almost $800. for a computer filled with web cam and programs you’ll never use if you live to be a hundred but none of the programs that have worked perfectly for the past eight years?  And no mail program.  Who are these geeks who rewrite and reconfigure to keep buyers forever in a state of stress?

If it works, don’t fix it.  Get those brains working on finding a cure for cancer and leave the keyboards alone.  And while you’re at it, if you want customer loyalty, keep those good programs that work beautifully and stop trying to look like the competition.  Pictures will never be competition for words as long as there are writers alive.

PS. I wrote this on my old Toshiba and I’m having a hard time letting it go.  Where will it go? Where do all those old desk tops and lap tops go every year as they are forced into obsolescence.  How green is that?   I had to pay a recycle fee to get rid of something I would very much like to keep if it still worked.  It’s like buying a new fridge that’s full of food you’ll never eat but you have to take it full, whether you want to or not.   This is progress?

The resort was hopping, must have been spring break somewhere, lots of kids.  They have made it family friendly, and what a great place to bring your kids and enjoy family time!  Whole families including grandparents and aunts and uncles were playing board games in the lobby or watching one of the several movies offered in a meeting room.  The pools were full of happy kids just being kids. It was noisier than most resorts you’d choose to stay at but there is something about the happy sound of kids  just having fun that is contagious and everyone seemed to smile and not mind the noise so much.

We walked along the lake, had tea in a little tea shop, explored the hotel, shopped in the fascinatingly different shops in the resort and in town.  We had dinner at the pub and another first for me, we played pool.  Elder daughter thought it hilarious and I guess it was, especially as I seemed to have quite the little hop and skip to my shot every time I took one but I did manage to sink a few balls.  We soaked in the hot pool under the stars and allowed the healing minerals to do their magic.  I’ve come back home more energetic than I’ve felt in a long time and I’m dreaming of the garden, my album project and digging out the summer clothes.

Sometimes running away is just what you should do.  If you can find a place to run away to that is healing and energizing I’d highly recommend it.

Today I want to appreciate the fact that I feel so loved and known.  Birthdays can do that for you. Getting a year older could be depressing but when those you love give you cards that make you laugh and flowers that make you smile and gifts that you’ve always wanted – well there’s no need to feel anything negative at all.

An hour long telephone conversation with an old friend is something that rarely happens but when it does it is delicious.  I got that for my birthday too.

It’s not so bad getting older when you’re well loved.