Dear Reader:

I find that in this stage of life my imagination has been re-born. It isn’t that it ever truly disappeared…I have always loved creativity…it is just that it had to take a back seat to the reality of working and raising children for a few decades.

Now that I have time, these days, to unlock it from my rather dusty treasure box of memories…it pops out unexpectedly…more times than I can count.

So come with me and let me share my imagination through nature in the ‘every day’ of life.

1) I have decided since it seems so hard for us to get a pretty snowfall in the winter…that the Lowcountry Snowfall makes up for it… arriving at this time (early spring) each year in the form of falling white petals from Bradford Pear trees.

While Anne and I were busy working (on the front porch) on the morning glory and moon flower planters Monday afternoon…the wind picked up and suddenly I looked out at a “snow storm” consisting of the most beautiful elements…the soft white petals from a pear tree.

I stopped my planting and dreamed of falling softly into cotton, clouds, and pear petals to make angels in the “snow.”

2) When I came across the side part of my front yard and saw the different azalea bushes blooming with the butterfly stake nearby…I imagined a conversation going on with Mr. Butterfly commenting:

Butterfly: “I sure missed all of you this winter…it was lonely here all by myself with just your bare sticks and branches left to tell me where you once bloomed.

“I looked kinda dull with just brown sticks surrounding me…but now that you are back to encircle me with your beauty…I am beginning to shine again…because, I realize now, that my beauty shines through you.“

3)    These past few mornings when it has been gray and cloudy (and I have decided to sleep in) I have been awakened by geese flying over. I find myself going out on the porch to watch them fly by and am always happy that they are in groups…sometimes three in one and two in another…but no matter the combination…they all seem to have a friend or friends to fly with….it reminds me how lucky I am that I have friends to fly with, through life, also.

4)   Going down Palmetto street the other day…I had to stop and take this picture…it doesn’t do it justice…there were literally hundreds of robins feeding on Doty Field….I had never seen so many robins congregated in one area like that before. I stopped, pulled over, and watched in amazement….another sign that spring was coming…no matter how hard Old Man Winter was trying to prevent it…the robins were winning!

5) Since Anne and I had several moon flower and morning glory seeds left over…after finishing up four planters on the front porch…we decided to plant the rest in the back.

The moon flower seeds by the magic moon gate (of course) were a given… but we didn’t stop there…we planted morning glories and moon flower seeds by the tree with the green chair so it would be covered in periwinkle blue…we added morning glory to the two other wooden columns under the apartment (next to the clematis, two seeds by the yellow bench and tree house….

In my imagination…my backyard and garden will really be a secret garden this spring and summer…covered in vines of mystery and faerie homes and magical moonbeams! I am so excited!

The smell of a newborn was calling me yesterday and it was time to rock Lach some more, let Mollie run a few errands and get caught up with Walsh now that he has some time off too…for the first time in a long time.

Besides Lach has been with us for a whole week…hard to believe that everything “went down” a week ago on St. Paddy’s Day…what a whirlwind of emotions since then.

The nice thing about being around babies and children…one’s imagination jumps right back into action and we, ourselves, become children again…re-born in the next generations.

I am sure you have probably picked up on the fact that Rutledge does nothing without his ‘twucks.’…skateboarding, riding in the wagon, swinging…you name it. He, also, goes nowhere without his “twucks.” (Meant to take a picture of Rutledge eating with his “twucks” in the high chair…but I was too busy stuffing my face to remember.)

This is the only “action” shot taken without his twucks…since he had to hold the ball to dunk this basket.

Paraphrasing…Dr. Suess said that imagination and fantasy is like looking through a telescope from the wrong end and laughing at reality. We can all use a good laugh so maybe that is why I choose to live in both worlds.

My first day in chemistry class in college…we had to all line up and look through a microscope at something the professor wanted us to see ‘upclose and personal’. I closed one eye to look into it…but then used the closed eye to look. (or not look)

You can only imagine the rather sarcastic remark when the chemistry teacher said, “Miss Barbour…closing one’s eye to look into a microscope is a quite common reaction…but in all my years of teaching I have never seen a student use the closed eye to make the observation. I strongly encourage you to use your open eye since the success of your passing this course, most definitely, depends upon it. ” (I barely did pass)

So I reckon I have always looked at life upside down and with one eye closed to excessive reality…but that is all right too….in fact…it is all good. My imagination has saved me many times from the stark realities of life.

So until tomorrow…Let’s use our God-given imagination to picture a world without violence- instead a world as seen through a child’s innocence…a beautiful world filled with love.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Yesterday was Jakie’s sixth month birthday…a 1/2 year…it is hard to believe…and what a joy he has brought into our lives…such a sweetheart with the disposition of an angel. Happy Birthday Jakie…we have both grown six months older! (It looks better on you!)