A Bridge Across Time
It’s been some years since I learned to harmonize with nature. I stood outside this morning and captured these photos to demonstrate a seasonal bridge across time.
Some of the patio plants are getting their second wind, mostly due to the night’s cooler weather.Â
Yet others have given up the ghost to the high daytime temps, and have moved on along for their long sleep until spring and summer.Â
The daisies are not quite ready to turn the page. See the bloom in the bottom photo?
If you are still wondering how ornamental grasses will do in containers, just look at this one. It is probably three times higher than the galvanized container it is in.Â
The textures of ornamental grasses add so much to your garden, container or otherwise.
Most of the cone flowers are brown and dead-looking. But this one still wants to shine its pretty petals in the sun.
My favorite music is the wind soughing through the branches and shaking down the leaves.Â
The birds I can hear, but I’m finding them so hard to photograph because they fly away when I open the patio door.Â
Right now I hear the male cardinal singing to the female, calling her to him.
There was a time when I preferred music from a radio or the sounds of a TV. As though I feared silence and had to fill it up.Â
But now, in this season of my life, I just want to hear the sounds of nature outside my window.Â
And so the current season will blend into another. And another after that if we are lucky.
The leaves are falling, scattered around the patio. The plants are shifting into gear. The flowers are few and far between.
Another chapter in our lives comes to a close.Â
There was a time when I feared the years passing, as though somehow time was being jerked out from underneath me unfairly, and I wasn’t ready to let it go.Â
But now, I go with the flow. I let it sweep me along like I’m floating, face toward the sun, down a river.
I understand that, like nature, to everything there is a season.Â
Life is not an endless journey. Nothing is promised.
So enjoy the moments. They are the most precious things we have.Â
And many moments ultimately make up a lifetime.
Lovely picture and thoughtful words Brenda!
Very thoughtful post, Brenda—I got a little melancholy. I need to realize that time is fleeting.
Wondering..what plants do you have that last all thru the seasons-if any? I always thought you had an abundance over the winter months—true?
Jane x
Hi Brenda
Recently found your blog and look forward everyday to what you have to share. I'm very interested in your blog about Asbergers syndrome as my niece was diagnosed with this.
Thank you for this lovely post.
Learning to live in the season I'm in. ?
LaDonna
You have such beautiful thoughts. You say so much in a few words.
I too enjoy the sounds of nature and miss the sound of the wind in the tops of the pine trees in north west Louisiana.
Beautiful words Brenda. They touched me. I have followed your blog for a year and this is the first time I have commented. Thank you.
Linzey
So beautiful Brenda…and so very true…
Reading your post was a beautiful end to my work week. It's always bittersweet watching the changes take place around me each autumn. The fall colours create breathtaking scenes for me to enjoy but as the plants in my patio containers slowly die off (or are put painlessly out of their misery by me), I feel sadness.
The part of Canada that I live in has a very gray and drab winter. Come November, the sun seems to be hidden behind a never-ending blanket of gray clouds and it doesn't come back out until March. I didn't grow up in this part of Canada. I grew up on the prairies. Hot, dry, sunny summers and frigid but brilliantly sunny winters.
I just despair over losing my sunshine every winter. I don't suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) so I don't need to use that special lamp. I just need to have the sun shining! The sunshine just makes everything look so beautiful!
I love the grasses in your containers, and yes, I do have grasses in my yard! Reminds me of my prairie home. I do get a good 'teehee' when I'm at the nurseries in the spring and see them selling all the 'exotic' grasses to the locals here. They were considered weeds where I grew up and I spent many an hour pulling out their vigorous root systems to rid our yard of their menace. Now I delight in them! Perspective and time changes everything.
I forgot to say that the weatherman is threatening us with a snowfall tonight. Noooooooooooo! I haven't planted my tulip bulbs yet!
Love your words Brenda. Very heart felt and touching. We are under a frost warning tonight so fall is coming on strong. Love your beautiful garden.
Kris
Thank you, Brenda. I needed reminding.
Theses you at your best. I prefer silence a great deal of the time, too.
Your words are so eloquent and touching Brenda. Like you, I prefer the quiet of what nature brings. It's getting chilly here, almost below freezing is expected tomorrow night. Enjoy, and thank you for a lovely post today.
Beautiful words, Brenda! I've been so busy the past few weeks (unbelievably busy), and these words calm my soul, as well as your beautiful photos. I love ornamental grasses. Every garden should have them. My husband brought in a couple last roses from our garden yesterday. I'm surprised they've lasted this long. Silence is truly golden!
Many years ago I liked to keep the TV or radio on to keep me company, but I found that I stopped liking all that noise. Now I much prefer the quiet sounds of nature and even the street sounds of life passing by. I brought all of my houseplants inside as we are getting a hard frost this weekend. Our beautiful summer like weather has finally left. xo Laura
Oh, Brenda, this is a lovely post! Thank you for reminding us to be in the moment. Your flowers are still gorgeous…..mine will all be dead tomorrow with temps in the 20's overnight, and teens the following night. I have to get ready to put the garden to bed until spring. Happy Weekend, friend.
What a beautiful post, Brenda. I'm not usually tender-hearted, but this post touched my heart to the point of tears flowing down my cheeks, especially as I read "to everything there is a season." You see, my brother recently succumbed to Parkinson's Disease and Ecclesiates 3 was read at his funeral. If I may, I'd like to share with you and the other ladies here a portion of what was read from Ecclesiastes. If you don't like it, you can delete it.
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."
Thank you, Brenda, for sharing your writings with us. Your stories are so lovely and poignant and I appreciate them so much.
Georgia
Of course I won't delete it. I enjoy reading the beautiful words. I'm so very sorry about your losing your brother.
Of course I won't delete it. I enjoy reading the beautiful words. I'm so very sorry about your losing your brother.
Thank you, Brenda. <3
A beautiful post, Brenda ~
Such a beautiful post Brenda. Your gorgeous photos reflect your words so brilliantly. I love to just hear nature with no urban or technology chatter. Have a lovely weekend x
Very nice!
What a lovely post with beautiful photos. Like you, I much prefer the sounds of nature (birds, wind blowing through trees) over the radio or TV.
Beautiful post and beautiful photos, Brenda. It is true we should try to just enjoy the moment. Wishing you a happy weekend.
Helen xox
Yes, you're right Brenda, enjoy the moments. I love how you write, how you capture a feeling on paper. In Phoenix, I'm anxious for Fall to finally start, but as I get older, rushing from one season to another seems to go faster, I need to stop and enjoy even the hot and humid days I was granted. Have beautiful day with nature and your adorable pupsters. Kathleen in Az