It is spring. And this year, I am no longer in the city. Instead I have flower beds and gardens and beautiful warm sunny, quiet days.
A few weeks ago, when my parents were visiting, we unpacked and set up my studio. Something I had been wanting for months. However, I haven't had a lot of energy these last few weeks and therefore have not actually used the space yet.
When I do have enough energy to be active, I find myself with dirt under my nails tending to and organizing my flower beds. The house we moved into has very beautiful, mature perennials beds. I love them. In Pittsburgh, I waited three years for flower beds and got them months before we put the house on the market. It is a very different experience to start with nothing than it is to start with twenty year old beds.
We have pulled out the "snow on the mountain" or "gout weed" that had taken over the front bed. We have moved a lot of plants that needed to be split or had self-seeded to close to others. We have added a few things of our own--strawberries, a raspberry bush, some dahlias, chicks and hens, and some more seedlings that should be transplantable in the coming weeks. I realize that this has been my creative outlet.
This morning in our small group, we discussed the use of time, and how by giving ourselves time, we are more open to experiencing the blessings that we have. It was a timely theme and I had many things to say on the topic, but never got around to sharing anything. I know that the time (2 months) I spent recuperating from a surgery two years changed who I am and in what ways I am driven. I know that the last five months have been hard, long, months and now that life seems to be stabalizing, my body is shutting down to reclaim the space and time that it needed to process the stress and anxiety that we have gone through. In many ways, time is all I have wanted, and yet I haven't been able to ask for it.
For as little as I have been blogging, I have definitely increased the number of blogs I am reading. I am constantly amazed at how much people are willing to share. I don't know if they are naturally that open about everything or if they don't realize that it is actually out there for anyone to see. I struggle with knowing how much I want to say or how trivial I'd like to keep the entries. I still haven't decided. However, I decided to share some of my understanding of time because I seem to need to be retaught this again and again. I believe that it is important and okay to take time for ourselves, and I just want to try to continue to remind myself that it is more than acceptable.
During our small group time, the children were asked to describe their perfect day. This afternoon as Nick and I were planting the garden I realized that my perfect day would be to have all of the time and energy in the world to work outside in the garden and beds with him. That's all I really want...the energy I need to do the things I love.
So, after this ramble of thoughts, I wanted to share some pictures. The first pictures are more from the flower beds. Maybe it is obvious, but I like to take close-up pictures of flowers. I find the details, shapes and colors to be amazing and always just want to take a closer look at each flower. The final two are pictures of my studio(in process) that I hope to get into someday soon.
Not that I get many comments on my blog or anything, but if you're willing to humor me, I'd be interested in knowing how you'd spend your perfect day if you were to take the time for yourself.
