A Very Precious Pink Saturday...

Wishing everyone a very Happy Pink Saturday at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/... especially Beverley, who works very hard to pull all of the Pink Saturday bloggers together and makes it all happen...

I'd like to introduce you to someone VERY special...

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by this precious baby's mother "Sonja "from Belgium.  She left a comment on my blog, saying that she'd just had a baby girl and had named her Neinah.  She was curious about my name, as I was the only person she could find with that name, after doing a European name search , then a world wide Google search on "Neinah" and found me through my blog... She wanted to know about the name Neinah and what could I tell her...  

So, we have been emailing each other back and forth.., and it would seem through her research that there are only two of us "Neinah's" to be found...

I am so touched that this family has reached out to me, across so many miles, sharing the joyful news of their new baby and naming her "Neinah."

When I look at the photo of this little pink, precious baby girl.., I am reminded of my babies, and how they stirred something so strong and protective in me...  Babies and children remind us of true priorities... they are great teachers, and remind us of what life is really about ~ LOVE

Thank you Sonja, for sharing a part of your life with me,

Love,

Neinah

Morning Poem..

Flowers Picked Fresh In The Morning...

I feel very blessed to have a gorgeous garden to walk around in.  First thing in the morning is the best time to pick flowers, so with cup of tea in hand and clippers in the other , I tread quietly amongst the just waking flowers, birds and bees, looking for the prettiest, sweetest smelling blooms..., and as I gather them, I say a quiet prayer of thanks, for sharing their beauty.  

Such simplicity, brings such joy.

Morning Poem ~ Mary Oliver

Every morning

the world is created.

Under the orange

sticks of the sun

the heaped

ashes of the night

turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches --

and the ponds appear

like black cloth

on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.

If it is your nature

to be happy

you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination

alighting everywhere.

And if your spirit

carries within it

the thorn

that is heavier than lead --

if it's all you can do

to keep on trudging --

there is still

somewhere deep within you

a beast shouting that the earth

is exactly what it wanted --

each pond with its blazing lilies

is a prayer heard and answered

lavishly,

every morning,

whether or not

you have ever dared to be happy,

whether or not

you have ever dared to pray.

Have you ever dared to be happy?

My Friends, The Nuthatches...

Waking early always has its rewards.  This morning, I stood and had a nice chat with my new friends and neighbors, Mr & Mrs. Red-Breasted Nuthatch sitta canadensis.  I know their nest to be close by in one of the many cedar trees in the back yard.., though I'm not sure which,,, they are such busy little creatures, darting from the feeder with sunflower seed in the beak to one tree, then another, then back to the feeder..

They're the messiest eaters hands down..., well, maybe with the exception of the Stellar Jay's..., both birds toss huge amounts of seed onto the ground to get to the seeds that they prefer - which is nice for the ground dwellers, Junco's, Towhee's and the little family of finch that live under the bank of roses...

They're quite cocky little birds and several times they swooped down just missing me by inches.., not in an aggressive way, in fact they seemed to be inquisitive, they'd chit chat to each other (sounds like "meep-meep" to me,) then stop eating and eye me with their head cocked as if to say, who are you then?

They're comical too..., this one has his foot on the feeding hole, and looks like his head is stuck...,  My caption for this should be ... "can somebody lend me a hand?"

After standing there for a few minutes, they became very friendly with me,  I think with a little encouragement, a lot of patience and a handful of sunflower seeds, they might come and feed from my  hand..., which I would LOVE...

Dahlia's... A Celebration....

A few months ago, I stood in our local bakery with my daughter,  and I fell in love with the work of a local artist who had an exhibition of her paintings mounted on the walls above the coffee sippers and scone enthusiasts...  All of the paintings were of sculptural plants - agave's, succulents and the spearlike New Zealand Flax..., all of them, except one...   This one painting was different, it was a painting of  jewel-toned Dahlia's... I was mesmerized.. My daughter "encouraged me" to buy it...

Five months later... and I now own "Celebration"

The artist is Sophie Frieda  http://www.sophiefrieda.com/       

 whom I met for the first time the other day when I went to pick up the painting.

I realize that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," and art is very much about personal taste...

  To buy this piece of art has been  a very special experience for me.., first gazing and falling in love with the art, then calling the artist up (who happened to be on holiday in England at the time...), asking if I could "make payments," as I couldn't afford to buy the painting in one go.., then making monthly payments..., finally meeting the artist at her studio and seeing some of her other stunning works..  And now Celebration is mine..., and I will have to find a place for her in our new home...

I LOVE my new painting, I love its strength and boldness, and I love its feminine curves and sensuality...

I found this poem about Dahlias to "celebrate" Celebration...

Dahlia in the Window ~ by Caroline Misner

Pale and translucent as pink lemonade,

the morning sun filtered its petals

to pure lightness;

a saffron haze 

near the stem, pallid fuchsia at its tips,

it yawns, unfurling its petals into

the summer air laden with mist

and amber seed.

The leaves cluster around its stem,

as though protecting its emerald heart

from the gardener's shears;

every day an excruciating uncertainty;

the bees burrow deep

into its fuzzy heart

the way the pestle enters

the mortar; their famished

mouths can decimate

the life from this fragile bloom.

Every day the gardener

parks his rusty wheelbarrow

by the garden gate,

green with leaves and ivy,

and considers

plucking the precious blossom

from the sill;

an executioner of the garden,

the dahlia's life dependent

upon his will.

Beach Collages...

Walking on the beach yesterday..., well more like stumbling (I was looking down, twisting my head this way and that..)  Thinking to myself..Its been a long time since I've been to the beach... I began to ask myself why?  When I live on an island that in theory is "surrounded by one big beach.." Beaches just minutes away from where I live...

With camera in my hand I zoomed and focused and clicked away happily, as I captured the beautiful collages Mother Nature had created...

Moon shell and seaweeds

Shiney pebbles with brightly colored seaweed 

Blue crab shell & Mussel 

I loved my solitary walk along the beach, looking for "collages."

Here is a quote from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's beautiful book ~ Gift From The Sea

For it is not physical solitude that actually separates one from other men, not physical isolation, but

spiritual isolation... When one is a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others, too.  If one is 

out of touch with oneself, then one cannot touch others...  Only when one is connected to one's own

core is one connected to others, I am beginning to discover.  And for me, the core, the inner spring, can

best be found through solitude."

The Joy's Of A Seaside Garden...

This morning I decided I would go for a stroll on the nearby beach.  Year's ago, when we first moved to the the Northwest, we had lived in an old, drafty cabin on this very beach.

I thought I knew how to get there, but on my first attempt I drove straight past the access road.  I turned around and retraced my tracks, and found myself driving down the familiar beach road.

I'm so glad I did, when I was greeted with one of my favorite sights - someone had created a gorgeous Seaside Garden, complete with raised beds filled with squash, vines, berries, gourds..., and flowers dripping from every available square inch of soil.

I was reminded of how very much I love a mixed landscape of vegetables, fruits and flowers... the whole effect is quite stunning, and so welcoming..., I felt invited in to ramble and pause for a while... I could have pulled up a chair, and paused for a very long time, just taking in the exquisite fecundity of it all, breathing in the scents of the rich loamy soil, sweet herbs and sea air...

Combination of climbing pole beans and giant sunflowers

Garnet colored dahlia's drenched in raindrops

Grey-blue poppy seed heads

A giant sunflower turns towards the weak sun


Do you have a favorite garden place you like to sit in?