Magic unfurls

Each new morning is a new song, a new jewel under the brilliance of the sun.  I sit outside in the long settee, and listen to the birds sing from the various perches, and I listen... listen to the songs of water and to the silent notes of the earth singing a sad song...

Breathing with unconditional breath the freshness of morning air... 

...the quietness of little things

...the color green under my skin.

...and just now, as I was writing this, a most cruel battle between two bright orange-chested robins unfolded. I just sat there and watched as these two feathered little things flew along the garden in a terrible battle cry... making a ruckus of their twitting and their fluttering of wings.  What were they quarreling about?  One only has to wonder.  And why would the animal world fight like it is with humans in the world of men?

I have been feeding my roses with an organic magical potion called fish emulsion and indeed this works like magic, the roses are growing lush and strong leaves and I have never seen the peony bushes as lovelier and as plumped as they are this year.  The birch trees I planted last years are spiraling up like mad, and I’m hoping that the one little birch tree which had been desperately trying to survive for the last two years would come to life as well, and grow and be as tall and as beautiful as its older comrades—eyes and all.  Because, yes, these trees grow a very poignant and clear eye in the center of their trunk, which I assume it must be where their brain reside.

The lilac tree has started putting out their purple jewels and I guess I could never look at this tree again and not think of the miracle of the flowering branch, that winter after mom's passing.  How great is our Lord; how marvelous His love toward His earthly children... How well He knows us, how well He knows our circumstances, nothing is ever lost from His sight concerning those who loves Him. 

I spray painted the old pink bowling ball in yellow this time and sometimes I like to think that the morning sun came down to nest in my garden. 

The garden floors have been painted in fuchsia with petals from the crabapple tree.  It is always the same around this time of the year, magic unfurls, it snows petals, and it is beautiful, so very beautiful everywhere I look... my soul can’t get enough of it...

This garden it truly is magical my friends... just as I was putting my camera away, I spied a huge black bird flying away from the farthest end of the garden... what was it, I couldn’t tell... a raven, I supposed, although I’m still in doubt.  

The magic of our moments

Margarita sits in the middle of the garden... no, she isn’t some kind of a fancy drink.  She isn’t a flower either... she’s a Soul.  Yes, a Soul.  And I can attest to that, because I’ve seen her with my very own eyes more than once... in my garden, of course!

Every day is the same thing... I go out for my very first stroll of the day—first thing after my coffee time, and there she’d be... already sitting in the heart of my garden clothed in petal whites, singing love songs to the morning sky.

Hidden in the morning dew she’d be, and hidden in the light that shines dimmed and muted in golden tones from cloudless blue skies, she waits.  She sits and waits and stretches out her skirt of petal whites, just as what we used to do as kids when playing children’s games and singing children’s songs.  I can still remember:

“Estaba la pájara pinta

sentadita en su verde limón.

Con el pico recoge la rama,

con la rama recoge la flor...

Ay, mi amor... ay, mi amor”

It is no secret this Soul waits for us to join in. But, if only one thing is to be true in this story, that would be this:  you’d better pay close attention to details in your surroundings or else you’d miss your chances of seeing or meeting her.  For this magical Soul is well known for vanishing into thin air in a single puff of instances!  Yes, just like that!

You see, everything in life is so quickly vanished, so fast the moments go by, so wildly the world spins around, that if we don’t pay close attention to what’s going on around us, the entire magic of our moments could vanish before our very eyes.  Puff!

I can hardly stand this thought.  Moments go by way too fast if you ask me... days come and go, and almost in a blink of an eye all the precious moments are gone.  Like if when in an opera or a play all of a sudden lights start to go off... one by one.  Puff puff puff! Bringing everything to an end and cutting you off from all the splendor and joy and beauty of the moment. So it is with our days, and moments.  You want to retain the best of them forever, but you cannot.  Sad, isn’t it.  But that’s just how it is.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, slow down and enjoy the moment you're in and live your life to the fullest.  If you do not enjoy a moment, you lose it forever. If you enjoy it, it is yours forever... love with your heart, let your heart be the compass of your life. 

Hasta pronto!

Life

Sometimes I feel as if the days of my life are coming to an end—like some sappy soap-opera I don’t want to be part of, but I am.  Is that what ‘depression’ feels like?

Depression isn’t a straightforward explaining of one’s feelings... it is more like the weather, I think.  And around here, in this little house which is my heart, it’s been pretty stormy... it’s been raining and it’s been windy and cold and hot and humid, I perspire profusely, and cannot write. 

Oh, I wish I could talk to Merlin... I’m sure this is what he would say to me:

“The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

...but what have I been learning?  I only wish I knew.  All I could think of is that one day... maybe, maybe I could look back and see that all along this awful time I was blooming... like what the flowering trees in my garden have been doing.

or like my winter geraniums...

...or the faithful tulips

Or like the brainless-man flowerpot in my garden, who even without soil in his brainless brain, knew how to grow flowers in it.

A woman from a neighboring subdivision who had been making masks for her church, friends and family put an announcement the other day on our “Next Door Neighbor” App, saying that she was making masks for neighbors who might wanted them... for free!

So, one morning this past week I drove to her house and went to get my masks.  She had them ready for me outside her door. They are so well done, and so fashionable... they are double sided with two different types of fabrics on each side, and they are breathable, and comfortable to wear too.  And what a nice thing to do for others... I wish I could do something for others in times like these, but I just can’t think of what.

I’ve been working hard and continue on working hard in the garden.  I have pulled out so many wild violets from the flowerbeds I have come to think it’s only been a dream, and still find myself working on this unending task every time I walk out here... 

Yesterday, we brought in about 20 bags of topsoil; dark and crumbly, and spread them throughout the garden's floors.  Soil amendment is an important process for good plant health. Doing this increases aeration, beneficial microbes, nutrient content, water retention, and more. Plus, how beautiful the garden looks right after doing this!

It is always such a great satisfaction to finally been able to sit down and see how manicured and orderly the garden looks and feels after the long winter.

I love the feel and scent of soil... good soil, and walking in the garden now is like walking on my own type of a beach and feeling under my feet my own type of a sand.

Blessings in disguise...

I know we’re living in difficult times... times of trouble as we’d never seen before but, in a way, what a blessing those ‘stay-at-home’ orders have proven to be to our tired old souls.  A blessing to those who rather hide in their hiding secret places, and just be... until the storm passes by.

And thus, not having to go to work these past weeks have been an incredible blessing—a blessing in disguise, we may well say, nonetheless, a blessing indeed in many ways. 

Ah, the amount of work I have been doing—inside and outside.  Work it could had never been accomplished or done otherwise. 

It has been cold and very windy for the past few days, or perhaps for this entire past week?  And even today, this most annoying April weather had been misbehaving so bad, I can only wish I could get my wooden spoon out and spank it with gusto.  Isn’t that what parents and teachers of old used to do with kids that would not cooperate?  Well, you know. 

Even so, I can now say with satisfaction:  My work has been done.  It is done.  The garden is back to its beautiful methodical form, and although only the faithful tulips and my inside geraniums seem to be the sole form of color around here thus far, it is already looking spectacular...

Hosta heads are popping out from sleepy pots...

...and the wild rose covered wall I made last year is already filling in and looking magnificent!

Green grasses, new young shoots on every bush and every hedge plant, and some of the trees have already starting to put forth their flowers... 

It is a paradise of the most agreeable kind around here, and my little heart feels satisfied and full of expectancy. For better days and a better world, for healing and peace and a more compassionate humanity...

But nothing gets to look good or turn into a thing of beauty without a definitely amount of pain, don’t you think so? Particularly a garden! Yes, and I lot of work I should say.  And thus, it has been a few days and weeks of super hard work around here, and I had manually pulled out more wild violets from the garden floors than I can recount. I have been going to bed with an aching body most every night, and almost unable to move, but everything is looking neat, and tidy, and I’m loving it.

"Come to me", says the garden, and its voice is the voice of God.

My little pond is looking marvelous!

...and everything I planted last autumn in mom's little garden is flourishing!

I haven't been able to fill the flowerpots yet, because we're only allow to go shop for food and such necessities... but I can hardly wait to fill these with all sorts of beauty!  Soon, my heart hopes!

I have put aside a few things from the garden which I’m donating. Old chairs, pillows, and an arraignment of weathered garden adornments that I no longer care for it.  Sometimes, you just have to close your eyes and let go... let go of things that may have been important to you in the past, things that you may have loved dearly at one point in your life, or things for which most probably you spent days or week saving for... things you just couldn’t even imagine living without. But things change, life changes, we change, and letting go is a catharsis one must allow in many aspects of life, in order to grow.  

Tomorrow, I’m scheduled to work from 8:30 to 5:30—my entire day in a cubicle, alongside two other coworkers in an otherwise empty building.  What a waste!  But life goes on, and this is what I had chosen for my life. 

It will be the same next week, or the next.  That’s what they’re doing with the employees these days—dividing our schedule among two or three to enforce social distance and thus prevent employees from getting sick.  So... until next!  Be good, be kind and take care of yourselves...