Life in a garden...

I've been entertaining some very special people for the past few weeks and the woods are alive and magic is afoot...  the heat of summer is causing us to plead for mercy, but even so, the garden is still the place where I dance on the ripples of hours... 

Zinnias as in full bloom...

And there's a mermaid living in our pond...

The goldfish are doing wonderful. They have adapted beautifully to their new environment. They remind me of little children running freely in the opened fields behind their country homes when I see how happy they are. Magic is felt everywhere. Flowing along the wind, some mysterious creatures have been seen lately and strange songs have been heard coming from the woods too... who sings? Oh I want to know... it leave no trace of wings in the air, that song. 

The Elephant Ears bulbs I planted in late winter are popping up in the most unexpected places... have they decided to bloom in their own chosen place and perhaps have moved without me noticing it, or have I forgotten the exact location where I planted them?  All the bug-infected and damaged roses of early spring have put up new, healthy leaves and now the pretties of buds painted in the color of a baby's room are embellishing healthy bushes everywhere...     

I work the ground I entertain my guests and consider life, I plan a new project, a better project to work on, a new dream to bring to fruition, I try nurturing this old soul, I think I can handle life's stresses, I dream I cry I hope and go back and forth throughout my days and don't reach any destination.  Life is a moving cloud hanging from God's fingers.  

The other day, a very strange woman stood in the shadows just at the edge of the forest...  a gypsy? 

Look at your cards again, milady, and tell me if you still see these woods in my future? 

My mother keeps asking the same questions over and over.  She resembles the mother I once knew. But who's this woman now?  I listen.  I answer her again and again. My heart is filled with silent tears.  I know what's coming:  “You're so beautiful," said Alice. "I'm afraid of looking at you and not knowing who you are." "I think that even if you don't know who I am someday, you'll still know that I love you."  "What if I see you, and I don't know that you're my daughter, and I don't know that you love me?"  "Then, I'll tell you that I do, and you'll believe me.”  (Lisa Genova, Still Alice)

And then there's my ageing father.  Have you ever seen a man crying?  No. Not just any man--your hero.  Your father.  A lost child before the impending future.  I look up at the sky and feel certain that loneliness and helplessness are just a lie... 

Oh, what's the word that's burning in my heart?