Five on Friday: Things I've Been Pondering

 

1. Goodbye hedge. Our back garden is hedged in on two sides with very tall cedars providing a green wall seen in the blurred background of the junco. Unfortunately, roots have invaded the vegetable beds and the flower beds just in front of the hedge, making them very difficult to work in. After discussing the pros and cons, Tim has cut the back hedge on the north side down to stumps. Next he will pull the stumps out. Our garden is much lighter now, but not as private. After the stumps are gone and new dirt laid down, the fun begins. What to plant?

2. Our soil is acidic because of all the rain, and doubly so because of the hedge. I suggested rhododendrons because they are evergreen and also flower. Last Sunday we wandered through Finnerty Gardens, part of the University of Victoria, where rhodos abound. I didn't think we'd find any blooming yet, and was so pleased to find a few bright pink buds. In a couple of weeks it will be stunning. We're thinking of a clumping birch tree to anchor the bed, and rhodos in the back, along with hydrangeas and some of the perennials that are there already.

3. Beautiful hellebores were blooming under the rhodos. 

Do you remember chain letters? How annoying they were - promising this that or the other thing if you followed the directions. I'm afraid that I broke a lot of chains. But lately I've been mulling over how something I read in one book leads me to another and to another and so on, and how rewarding it is. For example, I'm reading Laura Pashby's Little Stories of Your Life, and in it she mentions Ross Gay's The Book of Delights, which I ordered from the library and am now reading, too. And that led me to think about the practice of writing, and how I want to be more faithful in writing regularly. Not just here, but in my personal journal, and a couple of other projects. Each piece of nudging is a link in a chain. Where it ends is up to me. 

4. On Wednesday morning I looked out of my window to see the fat round moon glowing in a soft pink-streaked sky. I was up early to drive to Ashley's to watch the girls while she went to physio. I caught glimpses of the moon, so pale, drifting among the trees as I drove. I've been holding the grace and beauty of that moon close this week that has been tumultuous in several ways. 

5. I've run across some lovely words from other people this week and will leave you with a few of them.

"Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake."

Sir Francis Bacon

"Some journeys take us far from home. Some adventures lead us to our destiny."

C. S. Lewis

"We need joy as we need air, we need love as we need water. 

Maya Angelou

I hope for a good weekend for you all whether you are in the midst of storms physical or spiritual. I hope you have  something beautiful in your mind to hold during these troubled days.