October Flowers

Tags

garden, gardening, photography

Amazing to me is the resiliency of a flower, especially when that flower is cared for. We are blessed this year with flowers that are continuing to produce beauty. It’s October 10. I don’t think I have ever had this much luck. The petunias have responded well to attention, and are rewarding my persistent snipping. It took me a few years to figure out, but I think I may have gotten the hang of proper deadheading a petunia, as well as marigolds. The marigolds just started pooping out yesterday, but they are still blooming. It makes me happy. I discovered the joy of simple flowers a few years back, when I was newly single and living in a second floor condo. It just keeps getting better. Now, I am married, in a wonderful house, and am experiencing what it’s like to have a home that is also a retreat.

Of course, as soon as I typed those last words, an angry father yelled across the lake at his daughter. Apparently, she was hanging out with the boys who fish on the lake. Dad was f bombing and screaming ‘get the f in the car’ until she reached the car. Not pretty.

The fisherman didn’t stir during the entire demonstration. He’s been fishing that same spot for a few hours. I haven’t seen him catch anything. I don’t think I have seen anyone catch much from the little lake.

Our neighborhood, the town we live in, seems to be a bit of a throwback. Cortland’s population shows 1400. Our neighborhood makes up roughly half of the town population. I am a bit amazed at how laid back it is here. Kids play freely in the streets. People walk all day. There is a group of boys playing basketball in the driveway a few houses down, which brings back memories from my own childhood. I would go outside to shoot baskets, just as the boy down the street was doing a few minutes ago, and it didn’t take long before my friends would hear me bouncing the basketball and join me for a game. All evening, children have been riding their bikes past our house on the sidewalk. It is so cool. I didn’t think I would ever see children playing like this again!

Twilight is settling in. Our solar lights are beginning to blink on. Lisa loves those lights. So do I. My hoodie is on to protect me from the slight chill in the air. The fisherman just reeled his line in and is packing up. I am going to bask in the peace of the waning light, mesmerized by the twinkling lights, soothed by the gently splashing fountain on the lake. This is so good. So good.

I wish all who read this the same type of blessings. God is good.

Tree Talk

Tags

garden, gardening, nature, plants, trees

Thankful am I this day for plant recognition phone apps. My phone houses an app called Leafsnap, and lately it has been used a great deal. With a new abode comes opportunities to explore the plants that come along with it. Lisa and I are relishing the adventure of discovering the green friends that share our home with us. We are learning their names, and recognize the varieties of trees that surround us.

Trees are a distinctive feature of our yard. Front, back and side yards are shrouded in the varying shade rendered by the arbors. There is a nice magnolia next to the large picture window that overlooks the backyard, large dark pink blooms beginning to bloom at the top. A twin to that magnolia is directly opposite, in the same corner of our front porch, a large picture window in the front allowing us joy. Our living room has picture window bookends, with magnolias capping each. Our next task is to identify the type of magnolia, which we know can be done by the color and size of the blooms. I am trying to find out how to care for them, not wanting to do damage in my zeal. Tuesday evening, I pruned the lower branches and got rid of the cross branches, but managed to reel in my enthusiasm enough to save from giving the trees a bad haircut. Our back and front views from our living room are significantly better, as a result.

A large honey locust enhances our view of the pond lake behind us. Our back yard slopes down to a large pond that we prefer to call a pond lake. ‘Lake’ sounds so significant, ‘Pond’ so serene, thus our reluctance to restrict the description to just one word. Lisa likes the calming effect of the fountains used to aerate the pond lake. We both find the view through the honey locust an appropriate accent. Monday evening, while we lounged outside after a late dinner, a heron clumsily cruised over our heads to perch in the honey locust, a delicate outline on the horizon, wings outstretched while it settled in.

A tall river birch nestles next to the magnolia at the back corner of the house. There is a beauty in the paper like off white bark that seems to peel off the trunk of the tree. River birches are prone to pests, and the tall stump remains of an oppressed river birch stands at the far left corner of our back yard, a stark yet soft presence, and we can’t help but wonder what kind of beauty it added before it needed to be cut down. The squirrels like to frolic in the tall branches of the other river birch, use it for rooftop access, much to my chagrin. Squirrels are pests, IMO, but they are drawn to the many trees in our yard, and despite their pest status they are fun to watch. There have been plenty of squirrel encounters in the few weeks we have lived in the Warbler house. Our squirrels are spoiled brats with an entitled attitude, and they openly display that attitude when challenged.

There are three majestic, dense spruces living with us. All are as tall or taller than the house. Once again, they are a squirrel haven, but the squirrels have to fight for space inside the spruces with the variety of birds that also are drawn to our haven. I have yet to learn all of species of birds we see, but there are a number of doves that live in the branches of the spruces, and their soothing coos are heard each morning and evening. Cardinals also flit from branch to branch, something that is so fun to watch.

Other fibrous residents in our back yard include a white birch, poplar, black oak, several maples. Our front yard has another type of birch, a honey locust, and an oak. There is another spruce next to the driveway. The garage side of our house has an arch entrance that leads to the back yard, with a canopy of yet to be identified shrubs lining the sidewalk.

We love the house on Warbler, recognize the blessing God has given to us. Our dreams are filled with ways we can make our own mark on our surroundings. Lisa spends a great deal of time looking at other plant possibilities, has already order several different varieties of bulbs to plant for next year’s new arrivals. If there was room for new trees, there would be more to plant!

One thing I need to say in closing — I am brought to my knees before God in thanks for the blessings that have become so much easier to recognize. Six years ago, when I was in the doldrums of separation and divorce, the blessings were hidden from me by the dark cloud that surrounded me. How wonderful it is to be able to break through those clouds, to easily recognize what I have been given. It’s changed the way I approach God, has allowed me to see His glory and to seek His glory. I pray for that each day, want to give God the glory He created me for. To God be the glory, His mercy and blessings are great.