Of stories...

I love stories… all kinds of stories… happy stories, fantastical stories, personal stories… your stories. The bits and pieces of anecdotes you leave for me to read in the form of comments are like fantasy books to me, where I get to sit comfortably in a favorite spot in the garden, and listen… yes, listening, because although your thoughts are transmitted here in a written form to me they are messages and stories and anecdotes convey in a vivid form… like a child sitting at your feet listening to what you have to say to me… that’s how I see it.  I am enchanted. 

Remember when I shared with you on a couple of posts down how someone had mentioned the name of the “pretty pretty pretty” birds singing in my garden? They were the cardinals. Or at least that’s what she thought. Well, last night I discovered another comment, from another commenter, hidden somewhere in the pages of a previous post… I so enjoyed listening to whoever wrote it that I thought I would share her little story with you... which I simply find fascinating… 

“Cielo, the "pretty pretty pretty" singing is from the mockingbird and is one of many they have. Here in Texas they have quite a repertoire and this is one of many they repeat over and over. As I do my gardening I hear them as if they are saying actual words such as pretty pretty pretty, scary scary, teacher teacher! It is so funny to listen to them. Funny that this came up in your post the other day because I was laughing and telling my husband how I was leaving out the door that day when right above my head chanted "pretty pretty pretty!!" I felt like saying well thank you very much!! He laughed about it because he hears all this at 5:00 AM every morning when he leaves for work. The mockingbird's favorite perch is a telephone pole across from our bedroom window and he starts up very early! Thank you for sharing your stories.” 

Thank you thank you to all of you who come by and leave bits of your life behind for me to read… love it all… love you all. 

Oh oh dears and can I tell you what I discovered this morning hiding in the privets? Oh you would not believe what I saw!…

Have I told you that hidden behind all those bushes out there in the privet there’s a little wooden bridge that connects our cottage to the magical woods? Yes there is… I have never crossed that bridge before, because, well, the bravest thing I have done is just steeping on it… on the old wooden bridge and peek among and beyond all that madness of trees and shrubs out there… but that’s about it. I wonder if I ever would muster all the courage needed to go farther down into the mysterious woods.  Would you go with me?

Oh yes, I do believe someone has arrived… do you see her? Right there behind those trees… Or should I say high above the trees?

There are creatures of the Kingdom beyond the Enchanted Woods behind our little cottage for sure… but I’d have to share more on that at another time, because right now it just started raining again and I don’t want to miss the enchantment of it… got ‘a go see!
 

 See you soon! 

Garden improvements

Our garden it slowly taking form. We are finally defining all the flowerbeds where we want them to be and have amended the soil and added the bark. A darker brown bark, which I love, although my husband disagrees. The flowerbed below the bedroom window was higher than the cement floor of the porch and thus it used to get flooded by dirt and water when it rained. We had corrected the problem and after the downpour of this afternoon we discovered, to our delight, that the problem has been resolved. 

We found a little nursery in a neighboring town and I brought home with me a gorgeous First Editions Jetstream Oakleaf Hydrangea.  Perhaps, only surpassed in beauty by roses.  This lovely shrub has oak leaf shaped dark green foliage with spires of bright white, cone-shaped flowers that cover the plant through the summer and as the blooms fade, they transform to a dark, dusky pink. The dark green foliage shines in summer, then turns to an amazing orange-red in the fall… I bought a smaller plant, but there was a larger, more mature plant at the nursery which was incredibly gorgeous. I felt in love with it at first sight.  I think I must return for more.

The old swing has been given an improved look with two cans of Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X in Wildflower Blue, and two new sit cushions that match in color.  We moved it to what I think is a better spot in the garden—a special little place at the edge of the creek with just the exact amount of space.  Perfect for the old swing.  I could not be any happier.  It was meant to be. 

A couple of days ago I discovered a little place down the path in the privet where the wild vinca grows.  I’m not sure whether they were purposely planted there long time ago by some stranger’s hands, or if perhaps it reseeded naturally and now it flourishes in astonishing abundance so that I can go there and transplant them around my garden and collect happy bunches of it to arrange my wildflower bouquets.  I am thankful.

 

This is just a humble beginning of what we envision.  Plants are small, roses are scarce and only a few flowering bushes, but we’ve been putting a lot of effort into making our little oasis happen and we are guided by this belief:  “The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized – and never knowing” (David Viscott)

I think our little plot of earth is already looking so much better.  I am exhausted, but my spirit is alive with joy and thankfulness.  God’s blessings are new each morning… His mercies begin afresh with each new sunrise. Great is his faithfulness.

LINKING TO FISHTAIL GARDEN PARTY

Roses

My girly room embellished with roses I brought from our rented home… 

My new antique flower vase.  Love it.

Roses, what's not to love about them?

I have planted several roses in my wild garden; but mostly the candy apple-red double Knockout roses.  They’re sturdy and very reliable in this type of climate and soil, they grow to almost gigantic proportions in this area and they get awash in vibrant red hues from spring to fall.  So I'm trying with these roses first.  There are such a variety of plant specimens here that you just have to be careful not to buy the entire nursery.  I am enamoured with the Tropical specimens they have here, and I've been delectably selecting some.   One in particular—the Hibiscus, had me dreaming with sunshine-filled days and remembrances of a long ago little girl pledging to herself that one day she will grew hibiscus in her garden.  Many years had gone by since that day, but my dreams have finally come true.  I have bought and planted two exquisite hibiscus shrubs, one in mandarin color and the other one in a bright and supple and divine yellow.

One can never tell how many years will have to elapse before your dreams can become reality, but if you keep that flame alive within your heart and thoughts, eventually they will.  Dreams do come true. 

One of my favorite quotes ever reminds us:  “Focus on the powerful, euphoric, magical, synchronistic, beautiful parts of life... and the Universe will keep giving them to you”.   So true!

Hope you have a lovely peaceful evening...

Juices...

I am going to close my eyes and imagine that I’m that woman on my blog banner in her serious life of leisure. If fact, the moment I saw that painting something stirred in me… and it was so profound and mystic that for a split of a second I thought it was really me out there. But I’m not there yet... I mean, we have to give up leisure in order that we may have leisure later on.  That’s how it goes, doesn't it?

So I keep dreaming, but also guiding my dreams toward its happenings and working arduously from sun up to sun down in the garden. I am tired, there’s no place in my body that doesn’t hurt and I’m getting so tanned… well, at least my arms, chest, neck and face are… hehe.  The only thing that is saving me from total exhaustion, in my opinion, are my juices… 

When I went to see our daughter after she had her baby, she and I both bought a NutriBullet and started making supercharged super food nutriblasts right away. I've been blasting everything since then... spinach, kale, beats, cucumbers and all kinds of goodness… 

I sprinkle my juices with chia seeds, or pumpkin seeds, flax-seeds or oaks. 

Do you have joint/body pain?  Fight inflammation with pineapple

I recently bought some organic spirulina to begin using it in my regular juicing routine. Spirulina is an astounding superfood that can drastically affect your health. 

 

One or two tablespoons a day

It makes your juices very green… but healthy

Salud!

 The wild garden is still offering its jewels… 

 

 So I keep bringing in quite a few lovely bouquets…

Oh, and green nails this time...

to match my kitchen and juices....  ;)

Hope you're having a lovely day...

 Cielo

The kitchen

We’ve been working on the banks along the creek; removing all the underbrush and cleaning the area off of debris and such, so that we can add some prettiness there. I am adding some hostas in the shady side under the privets and some Shasta Daisies on the other side where is sunny and clear. And today we planted some butterfly bushes. We have also planted what I have been dreaming of planting for the longest time ever and never had the opportunity to do it simply because they don’t do good up north—the Crepe Myrtle. I am excited. My hypothalamus is overworked, sending off messages over messages to my sweat glands, and my body is tired. It is definitely a bath house out there, but we keep planting, digging, tearing down, building up, weeding, soil pepping and frolicking about the wild garden like a couple of sun-loving green thumbs fairies. I’m so loving our little piece of earth on this world… 

And inside the house… oh dears, I’m dancing with joy. Why? Because my kitchen cabinet doors have finally arrived!! Yes yes they have! They have been installed and I’m frantically wholly absolutely happily in love… 

A lot of work and a lot of waiting, but I cannot begging to tell you how overjoyed I am with the results… remember how my little kitchen looked originally?

Before

 Now

 Before

Now

 

Hard to believe this is the same kitchen... 

I'm so loving it... I cannot stop changing things around and taking pictures

Fireflies...

On those late nights when my husband gets to come home after a long day, I’d usually greet him with the same sleepy words: “Oh please dear could we go outside and see the darkness?” Of course, by that time I’m already in bed and typically talking in my sleep. Hence, we usually end up postponing our little night outing to another day. Tomorrow… we’ll do it tomorrow. 

To tell you the truth, I’ve been wanting to do this since that first day we moved to our little cottage and later that night went out for a late dinner.  Coming back home to the darkest of dark night was a truly magical experience… you see, city lights don’t reach our out-of-limits neighborhood, but I didn’t know that back then, and this only came to me as an unexpected and beautiful surprise… when all of a sudden we were enveloped by the most wonderful and peaceful and magical darkness you can ever imagine… it was like walking on some enchanted holly ground. And thus, I’ve been wanting to repeat the experience ever since that night… 

Last night, however… it finally happened.   A miracle. A little taste of Wonderland... and a once upon a time in a fairytale and magical lights and fairies pervading the night air with songs and itty bitty little magical lights all in one place… 

We had been out all day at a nearby city and by the time we got home, night had already fallen upon the privet.  Anticipation, excitement… the joy, the scope for imagination. Can you see me… oh can you feel it too? 

 

Singing in my spirit I hurridly walked out the car; smelling the night air; inhaling the aroma of darkness, walking on shadowy clouds made of stars and mysterious nocturnal sounds… 

 Something moved... something crossed the path somewhere in the dark and scurried away… 

And over there… over where the darkness enveloped the privet, the stars… Ah yes some of the stars of heaven had fallen down onto my little piece of earth…. or was it more the night fairies playing games atop the canopy of trees, and branches out in the privet? 

Shining... twinkling here and there intermittently… 

Imbuing the darkness with jewels of light 

and allure and magic 

and the most splendid thing I had ever seen… 

We stood there… silently holding hands. And watched in awe… 

The night fireflies.