Busy hands keeps your mind strong

I have been silent for so long I have a lot to say! When the sun shines I can't stay still very long because where I live it doesn't last but a couple of days and back to gray days.

Today is another beautiful day and I will be heading to the Garden store to pick up some Hydrangeas for the side of the house.  I promised my hubby not to go overboard because we just downsized and he
doesn't want to be out trimming and cleaning up brush all the time.  I don't blame him but I just love the
gardening with flowers and a couple of vegetable plants.  This year only one tomato plant because I planted too many last year and couldn't keep up with them.

Each day I see the leaves of the different trees taking turns to open up a little more each day.  My pear
tree is in full bloom and looks like its been snowed on.

Well the driver is ready for the garden store.  So you all have a great sunny day and enjoy the outside
today as I plan to do.

Hoping the sun is shining where you are.


The smiling Gardener

Keep your Hands Busy

What do you do when you have nothing to do, and that probably seems like a very silly question if you

are always busy doing something.

Life has a way of keeping us from the things we love and enjoy doing.  I love to paint and draw.  This past few years "things" seem to get in the way or something is always pulling me to get my attention.

Why is it our "First Love" always takes a back seat?  I ask myself that question all the time  Of course, I

haven't gotten a very good answer from myself as of yet.

When we love someone or enjoy doing something that brings out the best in us, we do all we can to 

do more for that person or the "what brings the best out in us".  Somehow life gives us curves to knock 

us off track.  Well I have been off track for sometime and this Spring my goal is to love more, laugh more and walk barefoot in the grass.  I will pull out the paints and brushes along with the canvas to begin letting out the creativity just begging to get out on the canvas.

In the Spring with new life it is always a draw to nature to put it on paper and hold it close to the heart.

If someone you love needs attention, give it.  If yourself needs attention, give it.  Of course I can always 

give good advice but more difficult to give it to myself and take it and run with I know.

This is the beginning of taking time to bring out the paint and brush for a day of painting.  

I surround the house with flowers and shrubs that draw the beauty they are intended.  The bees, butterflies and hummingbirds along with the hangouts at the birdbath keep my camera going all the time.

This is not from where I stay in the south and the colors are so vivid there.  All we have to look through   is a camera and snap and look at what you can hold onto forever on gray days and days you just don't feel good.  I try to surround myself with beauty and loveliness in this dark world of troubles.  Trust me at  70 I have seen dark days and there is so much ugly in this world we need to look for the beauty because it is out there.

Have a lovely day and find something to show someone the beauty around you.

 

New life has begun "It's Spring"

It is amazing to see the beauty of life begin all over again each Spring!  The new life of a human being,
flowers of all kinds, trees in their preparation for protection from the sun and a place for the birds
building their home for the summer and fall living and bring forth new life of their own.

As I watch the flowers pop out the tops of their plant I am excited because of the event of the flower
is the next attraction.

Soon the bees will be humming around the flowers gathering the pollen and the butterflies will begin the beauty of showing off their beauty.  I surround the house with plants to draw the bees, butterflies
and the hummingbirds and my birdbath is a gathering place for the birds.

I have the privilege of watching all of this from my back porch as I sit on my swing.  I play music that I know will attract the birds, don't laugh it really does work!

This is a Spring I really looked forward to and share with my husband of Fifty {50} years and I had reason to believe we would not be sharing this together this year.

In Sept. of 2012 my dear husband was diagnosed with a mass in the abdominal cavity of which was not
clear what it was.  Through many scans and test and biopsies, finally on January 15, 2013 I watched them take him back to surgery that lasted 8 1/2 hours and two hours in recovery in ICU.

This was a journey I really didn't want to walk, but we don't get to pick all of our journeys in life do we.  Was I happy and want to do this?  Absolutely not, it was a scary day for us both.  I sat in my living room four weeks before surgery, praying for peace within me I couldn't seem to receive.  That afternoon I stopped what I was doing and realized I wasn't anxious nor unsettled anymore.  God gives the Peace that is beyond all comprehension and understanding.

As I sat with a few close friends and a son on watch with me as my dear husband lay in the operating room being opened up, I sat with such a haze around my mind, which I believe was to protect my sanity, and the peace was still with me.  After 6 hours I must admit, not hearing from anyone how he was doing, I was getting anxious.  I jumped up and went to the nurses desk and ask if they could check on him for me.  They let me talk to the nurse in the operating room and she assured me he was doing fine but still had a few hours to go.

When the called me to the "little" room to wait on the doctor to come and let me know how it went, my son came in with me and we just sat smiling at each other like to lost souls.  He finally arrived to tell us the mass was much larger than expected and that part of the pancreas had been removed and they felt they got all the cancer from there.  Next, the spleen had been removed and in between those two organs there sat five lymph nodes in the middle of the mass surrounding the pancreas and spleen.  My heart felt like it skipped several beats when he said "lymph nodes".

My husband had lost a tremendous amount of blood and had to have transfusions and had to have platelets replaced.  I was expecting to see him the gray color he had before surgery but when we walked into his room he was "rosy cheeked" and tried to smile and talk but with the tube just being removed he could only whisper and the first thing he said was "I made it back didn't I".  I held back the tears until my son walked me out into the hall and we both cried together.

The Doctor came in later in the evening and Dave was sitting on the side of the bed dangling his feet.  He said he was totally amazed at Dave and how he came through.  I said we have an Amazing God.

It takes sometimes up to three weeks for the pancreas to function because of disturbing it for such a long time and removing part of it.  It sort of gets tired of being bothered and goes to sleep.
Let me tell you they all took notice to see it function in three days as if nothing happened.  Dave walked out of the hospital on the fourth day after his dramatic surgery and dramatic miracle.

Today we are celebrating life and watching Spring come in rejoicing with Nature the Power of God
and the new life he gives us daily through his Son Jesus Christ.

We are getting ready to go on a trip to see a couple of grandchildren and celebrate this life with them.
Between surgery and today we have had two Great-Granddaughters born, how blessed we are and so
thankful for them to come into our families.

This is where you will find me on nice days watching the birds, bees, hummingbirds and butterflies put on their show of beauty for us.  There is something to be said about having a swing to sit on and enjoy all thats around you .

May the Mighty God of Heaven be in your hearts today and may Jesus be the one you recognize as the way and only way to be with God.

Read the Word of God today and find the path of Peace only that comes from God which I am so thankful for today and everyday.

I also am blessed to have a friend who sits with me through the good and not so good and she is like a sister to me who keeps me going in the right direction when I veer of to the left or right when I should be going straight.  I pray you have a friend like that.

May the Sonshine on you as he does on me!

I love the little things

What is laughter with someone or even to yourself? It is a little thing
that make you love life!

Do you hear what I hear?

What a beautiful morning it is  today.  The air is warm (not hot) and a slight breeze, the birds singing
what more can I ask for to begin my day.

Just thinking of my wonderful family and all they have done to make me so proud of them and how
they include us in daily phone calls to see how we are doing and how their day is going.

I hope the sun is shining upon you and you find something to be thankful for.

Happy Day Thursday,

Jan

This is one of my favorite spots to walk on the beach in Florida .

Sometimes I feel I am invading the space of all the wonderful wildlife I come upon as I walk but they
never seem to mind and they seem to love having their picture taken.

They never seem to cease to amaze me of their beauty.

This is a morning when I walked out on my back porch and received the beauty
of a foggy glimpse of the woods.

You can see beauty everywhere you look, but first you have to be open to open
your eyes and seek that which is beautiful.

Life can be a bummer at times, but you know what, you can find beautiful in 
looking through the fog in your life.

I could hear the birds awakening and the sweet song they sang for me was so
appreciated.  That was only one thing I found beautiful to my ears.  Already I
found the beauty of the fog and the wondrous song of the sweet birds.

Can you believe all that before I had my first cup of coffee.

I will be back and will learn more on how to make the blogging so interesting
you will come back for a visit with me.

I will learn how to put my pictures on the blog and show you the little things
that make me smile and appreciate life to the fullest.