My little life...

Mornings are pleasantly cold, and we are still stacking wooly blankets on favorite sitting areas and beds for extra coziness and warmth.  Dark clouds and rain have hung over our woods for a while, but right after mid-day things start to pleasantly change around here... and it is almost as if by then the sun starts to wake up and all of a sudden remembers what his duties are—to warm the earth, and shine upon my little soul in a thousand blessings... 

And thus, I've been living my days outside again; enjoying my surroundings, touching the earth, and dancing with my wild nature. I have started spring cleaning my favorite place on earth; painting every flower pot and garden furniture I can take my hands on, as I'd do every year at the end of winter, and I'm almost done getting all the roses ready for the upcoming season; cleaning up the area around them, fertilizing and adding new soil.

It is so amazing to me to see all my rose bushes fully clad in new shiny green leaves already.  It's hard to believe this is only February!  Which brings to mind the fact that we are pleasantly three months ahead in the growing season from my gardens at the house in the roses, where I had to wait until May to start seeing the first few new growth on my dear roses... how did my garden-lover soul endured this back then, I don't know.

The pond is all done now.  We have installed the liner and have lay all the stones around it and in it... overlapping them among each other and using smaller ones to fill those sizable gaps.  It is so nice to see the water level not dropping any more!

Today we brought home ten little goldfish that we're hoping will survive the grasps of raptors, at least until spring arrives... soon we'll be adding aquatic plants and maybe a koi or two too, then I will sit down and wait for the frogs, tadpoles and snails to find their home here.  Right now the area surrounding the pond is unfilled and bared of vegetation, but soon all those big leaves of the Elephant Ear plants will be gracing flowing waters, and the huge lime green pom-poms of the Annabelle hydrangea will reflect their shapes on dancing waters again.  I'm hoping that the Astilbes I planted around the pond last year and never saw, will thrive this year, and I'm thinking I need to do something with that bridge... like mosaic it, or paint it?  

A few months ago this winter I finally got to meet our new neighbor across the street, Don Manuel, a 70 plus year old retiree who in many ways reminds me of my father and who's always working on improving his home; doing this or that. I love to see him digging a new trench around a flowerbed or working on whatever new project he's on from across our little white cottage whenever I'm outside. The other day, Don Manuel decided to change every single door in his home and yesterday he offered me to take as many of his 'old' doors as I wanted... and how could I say no to an old door?  I picked a small double door, separated them and painted them in Lagoon blue to match my old shutters and garden furniture. I then placed them on each side of this window, and brought this statue to the pond.  Behind her I will be planting some of the Hyacinth Bean seeds I collected this fall from the vine on the front porch. I can hardly wait to see this lovely vine producing its dark crimson red foliage and deep purple flowers on this corner of the pond...

Can you believe this is the same angle of the pond as in the previous pic...

only in summer!

You can hardly see the wall

I'm thinking I should remove the irises out of there and find a better place for them where their beauty can be better appreciated.  But that will be later, when I start dividing hostas and lilies...

I'm also planting more Creeping Jenny around the pond.  I like how this ground cover grows long enough to cover the sides of the pond almost to the water; blending it to its surroundings... and I think I should come out more often at night and see if perhaps I can finally hear the mermaids sing...

I'm excited and can hardly contain myself whenever I think about my garden and the magical feelings brought by the growing season.  I'm determined to planting more flowering shrubs in containers and have started with a lovely Azalea Formosa.  I want a camellia or two, and if I knew it will survive, I'll also plant a lemon tree too!  

I'm still trying to find the time to start working on the dresser I have sitting in my garage, and I know I need to do this soon, but the garden has kept me busy and light-hearted, and dizzy with excitement I haven't been able to think of working inside.  Life is so beautiful and unpredictable.  We must find the time to enjoy every little moment that's given to us.  Find the time to love more, to listen more, to pray more... so like the season, we can grow in spiritual fruits... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.