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~ standing at the corner, pondering the detour ahead

jane, candid

Tag Archives: flowers

bloom

28 Thursday Oct 2010

Posted by Jane Bretl in Photography, seasons

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

bloom where you are planted, flowers, gardening, Mary Engelbreit, petunias, weeds

I did not plant the bright pink petunias that I found growing out of a pot of climbing mandevilla late this summer.  Yes, I had noticed some unplanned greenery starting to sprout up in that pot on my deck.  I assumed they were weeds and being only 3-4 inches tall, they fell low on my weed removal priority list, somewhere behind the thistles bigger than the dog, and the mystery weeds that were taller than me and had already gone to seed.  Why would I crawl on my deck on my hands and knees to tweek out some little green shoots when I clearly had much bigger horticultural projects to tackle?

So I forgot about those little shoots and was surprised to discover some weeks later these petunias that were thriving unlike any I had ever planted before, tumbling over the edge of the deck in a riot of ridiculous pinkness.   It took a minute to stop congratulating myself on the improvement in my container gardening skills when I remembered that I had never planted those petunias.

They were a spontaneous eruption for which I take no credit, unless you count not keeping my containers tidy as an accomplishment.  I am left to just enjoy their bright color and envy their gumption and wonder how many things I pull out actually have so much potential and how many things I keep are weeds in disguise.

I have often heard and seen the phrase ‘bloom where you are planted,”  on greeting cards and magnets and notepads.  Mary Englebreit tells us that this is a good idea, and it is.   Of course, she also tells us that life is a chair of bowlies, so we take her advice with a grain of salt.

Yes, I can keep working to bloom where I am planted.  Or I can make like a petunia and plant myself where I want to bloom.

(Perhaps this is a good place to note that the petunias I did plant this summer, a proper and rather conservative white variety, all shriveled in the heat in a matter of days, even though I watered them.  Hmmm.)

~~~

Tonight is a hard freeze, so these beauties will be gone.  I am glad they stopped by for a visit.

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spring is in the air

05 Thursday Mar 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in Photography, seasons

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

crocus, flowers, spring

Here’s a little ditty from my youth:

“Spring is sprung, the grass is riz.  I wonder where the flowers is?”

Wow, that looks even more bizarre written out than it did playing over and over  in my head the last 40 springs.

Yes, folks, now we know why I became obsessed with grammar and words.

Anyway, the flowers are riz blooming.  The gold, then the yellow, followed by white, lavender and purple crocus, opening in that order.  That — plus the cat weaving maniacally around our ankles and purring like an outboard engine — both sure signs that spring is nearly here.

crocus bloom

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hope springs eternal

04 Wednesday Mar 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in Photography, seasons

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

flowers, garden, hope

I have planned to snap some photos of the crocus in my garden as they begin to peek out from the cold ground.  Crocus are my favorite flower;  they are to me the first beautiful color after the winter of gray and brown and white.  The grand idea was to document their emergence as a symbol of hope that spring will, indeed, arrive on its own time — with day-by-day photojournalistic updates of them poking out their little green arms and gradually exploding in bloom.  Now that I write it down, it does not sound that exciting…  (as in, maybe this summer I could take pictures of the lawn and you could watch the grass grow, etc. etc. )

On my way to the *mailbox* today, I learned something:  instead of spending my time stalking the mailman, if I just look down at where I am, today, I will find what I am looking for.

It’s too late for the crocus cam, but never too late to learn.

hope

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jane, candid

In 2009, I started this blog to share my sometimes thoughtful, sometimes funny, occasionally irreverent thoughts on motherhood, writing for publication and myriad creatures that got along as cats and dogs.

One day, I felt like stepping away from living out loud for awhile. Eh, life happens.

Fast forward five years -- I'll gloss over the details for now -- save to say that lucky for me an unexpected detour has provided some new material.

So here I am, standing at the corner. I've been here before, wondering which way to go. This time I choose living.

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