Saturday Stroll

This morning afforded me a rather rare commodity these days....

with three of my girls still snoozing in their beds and hubby and son off to work on a job elsewhere, I found myself strolling through the sun drenched morning with my camera in hand...

the whole world has burst into a song of green and I for one am a rapt audience....

      down the patio stairs through the shrub arbour...(sometimes forgetting to prune can be a good thing:)

there is love, there is duty...

                                                       then there is lilacs.....

                                                       still.

                                        the sheep and horses have returned to pasture....

                                                         potential in a pile of gravel...

                                   

                                            my hubby makes these beautiful cement birdbaths...

                                             my vegetable garden is slowly coming to life...

I continue my stroll...past silent swings

                                          floral fusions...

                                       
         to the front ;where the morning sun lends itself to tranquility in the shadowed yard

 I see the tree. Last week I came home one day to see the crew of hydro workers cutting off some of the trees that were growing too close to the wires. I know they were simply doing their job, but it made me sad...I remember thinking to myself.....trees are like children. We think they are ours, but they're not really. :)

I have planted some of my planters. Took this baby in the last few nights as there has been a risk of frost...

                                    a favorite spot to sit in the afternoon...

                                        Back inside I pour myself another cup of coffee.....

                                           
                        I notice my latest thrift store finds ...a tin bread box, and a new toaster...
(I joked with my husband that I was blessed for buying him his long coveted white bread for finally finding my tin bread box I've wanted...:))

                 I gaze out the window to a world which is constantly changing, a world that at times leaves me feeling small.....

but I am grateful to the One who loves and is over all.

Happy Saturday!

Becoming

It's funny at first when I'd hear my Mother's words from my mouth...I'd cringe a bit...Not anymore....I feel blessed beyond words to have a mother who cared so deeply for her family, and still does. ( she has ten children, and over forty grandchildren!)

                                           

                      I wrote this in the card I gave her today....

When I choke up at the certain part in the story...

I am my mother.

When solace is tending gardens and healing comes from the earth's soil...

I am my mother.

When I marvel at how fresh the laundry smells and how nicely the damp shirts iron up...

I am my mother.

When I linger over my coffee after most everyone has left the table...

I am my mother.

When I stay home with a good book for real comfort 

I am my mother.

When I set aside my own agenda, in turn caring for someone else
I am my mother
When I give practical gifts with the knowledge of how useful they will be
I am my mother.
When I hear me say words like "yes it's warm but the wind is still cool."
I am my mother.
When I continue loving through times of heart ache.
I am still my mother.
I am not yet; but slowly on my way of becoming....
My mother.


                           Her price is far above rubies...
                                               Proverbs 31:10        

More To Give

And then , I conclude...I can always give a little bit more.

It's been the sort of week where there seems to be a need at every turn. I'm sure you've had them too.
As I felt myself wearing a bit thin on the  giving end, I remembered who it is for...

                                      

And I say YES, as long as I live....may I have something to give.


I celebrated my one lavender plant that made it through this winter, by giving it a place in the sun. :)

                                              

                          and a favorite photo from about ten years ago....


                                                           

                Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and mothers at heart.
                             xo~ Lucy~

Beyond The Abstract

                                     

One of the things that I find myself thinking about  sometimes is how little I know of all the thoughts, emotions and events that are emitted in the inspiring and thoughtful images I come across as I traverse the bounteous crop available to me through a click ,click of my mouse.

I find myself looking at a snippet sometimes and wishing I knew more about it. 

I wonder about the author, artist and photographer.

I wonder what makes them happy and what makes them sad. I wonder about their dreams.
I think about how beautiful what I see and know is; and I wonder...





I considered this one evening as I was washing supper dishes. My two youngest girls had perched themselves outside the screen door and had turned up their favorite radio drama series, Adventures In Odyssey  to a volume that was certainly distinct from where they reclined.  In my passing I noticed them and decided that looked like a cute photo opportunity. As I was ready to take the picture, brother who was on the porch below returning from his barn chores and the filling of the dog's water bucket, decided to aim the hose at his two unassuming sisters. This inevitably drew a smile from me as I was able to capture their candid reaction to his brotherly affection first hand.

                                                                                                                 

Somehow this antic was my muse as I hopped on my bike for my evening bike ride...

Life's proverbial hose sprays us all at times. The unscripted and unplanned make appearances regularly.  I grin, face forward and press ahead.

We do not know or should we, what is to come. The beauty lies in the art of surprise. We can surmise and commiserate all  we want. We can live good, and well adjusted lives, and make fruitful choices. But the true intrigue lies in the unknown.
                                                           

It is that hidden part that fuels our faith and our TRUST. It is that equivocal longing for something beyond. Something that concludes this picture in motion.

It is these yearnings that make our temporary picture incomplete. We live our lives in search of that hidden gem, that Hope we have not only in uncertain days but even the mundane. 
                                              

           second daughter Katrina...ready to return to the city..(yes she has that far away look in her eye.
                  yes I am glad that heart strings are made of elastic:) 

   I am thankful for the mystery in the picture I see of my life and others. 

   The mystery is the grace, the mystery is the mercy and that is enough to keep         me mesmerized and dancing.

                                                                         

                                                       

And now I'm glad I didn't know, the way it all would end the way it all would go...

our lives are better left to chance. I could have missed the pain, but I would have to miss the dance.... ~Garth Brooks.~