Life in the Garden

Matters of Life and Death

three beautiful things

Build Me Up Buttercup

Snowdrops and daffodils are strong and beautiful.  They survive  harsh weather conditions, neglect, and continue to multiply.

City planners and developers love the Bradford Pear tree and it’s always an early bloomer.

The Bradford Pear has a distinct odor. Lately? I’ve been smelling a strong cat pee odor.  Turns out?  It’s the Bradford Pear trees!

Forsythia brings the explosion of early spring color. My neighbor sculpts and manicures his bush, trying to keep it contained. Personally, I think it looks better on the wild side, like fireworks.

For Those About To Rock

Three Beautiful Things:

Lighting Bugs
No Car Payments
Pulling out of a funk

Things are a little brighter in the garden. We’ve been flat, fat and unmotivated.

Apologies to the blogs I hit with regularity. Someday I’ll get the feed, so I don’t corrupt your stats with my obsessive search for updates. Please excuse, just means I love ya.

Have a glorious weekend!

Partly Cloudy or Partly Sunny?

The title of this post comes from this haunting story. Our hearts go out to the family, co-workers and community. By appearances, John Winter was living the dream, and it wasn’t enough. Suicide is a mystery. But so is day to day living.

Although we are not doctors, we have played one on t.v. We diagnosed and classified “Storm team” personalities as either “partly cloudy” or “partly sunny” personalities types.

Since it’s arts fest weekend, we’ll showcase our last collection of vintage mourning jewelry. This group features skulls, a popular theme in early English designs from the 15th and 16th centuries.

The Death’s Head motif (skull) was still used on mourning rings in the 17th century. A ring presented after the execution of Charles I in 1649 shows a portrait of Charles I on one side and a skull and a crown on the other. Inside the inscription reads, “The glory of England has departed.”

The presentation of mourning rings was a status symbol in the 17th and 18th centuries. The wealthy specified the ring design and quantity to be made in their wills.

Samuel Pepys, English diarist and naval official (1633-1703) willed that 129 mourning rings be given away at his funeral.

Either he had a large family or a huge ego.

vintage mourning jewelry

Mail Call

Three Beautiful Things:

  1. Hummingbird scouts
  2. Lush green grass
  3. Finally making a decision

First we go to the mailbox:

“I saw a KISS (the rock group) urn in a movie today. Do you have any idea where I could find one of these or where I could have one made? “

Evidently, the movie Elizabethtown, starring Orlando Bloom & Kirsten Dunst, has a bizarre KISS reference. At one point, a KISS Forever cremation urn makes a brief appearance in the 2 hour film. This might give Gene Simmons an idea for some new KISS merchandise after the infamous KISS Casket..?

We checked out scenes of Elizabethtown, and lost interest immediately. Bloom and Dunst on their cellphones…in the rain….how romantic. No thanks.

Regarding the urn, so sorry.

Speaking of mail, previously the earliest our mail arrived was around 2 PM. Since the route is on wheels, mail is arriving at 11 AM. This should thrill the Wilhelm’s.

Today’s tip for better living: Do some push-ups.