A Myriad of March Images

Dear Readers:

As I was reading blog comments, Facebook comments, and looking through recent photos and some, not so recent, it dawned on me that March takes on many images.

March is famous for its colorful greens, in plant foliage, new grass, and shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day…but it is also known for wild weather pendulum swings and we have certainly experienced that over the past couple of nights and mornings. Jack Frost made his return with his magic wand turning green foliage into white shimmering frost.

As I looked outside yesterday morning…the empty lot on the other side of the fence was frosty and pristine…in the shadowy early morning. Since we haven’t seen much frost this winter…I found the view quite refreshing!

I took “Big Red” in for the night to safeguard my old friend…It has safeguarded me since 2008…it is the least I can do for my health o’meter red geranium….”Old Faithful.”

I, also, made a tent to cover my Ginger Shell plant, located outside my computer room window. The funniest thing happened yesterday…Vickie’s cat came strolling by, saw the tent, stopped and went in…not sure if she was checking it out for spending the night but figured it would still be way too cold for her outside.

Being a smart cat, she figured that out too and went on home to Vickie’s later in the afternoon. Can you see her gray tail sticking out beside the overturned wheel barrow wheel?

March is International Women’s History Month and several innovative advertisers have made history with their products to commemorate this occasion.

Yes…we now have the Brawny woman on the cover of the package stating that “Strength has no gender.” (Heck, we already knew who uses the paper towels to clean up most of the time…the Brawny man hands the towel to the Brawny woman….she should have been on it the whole time! (These rolls are just going to be available this month…so girls go pick one up…an historical artifact.)

Stress squeeze women’s professional figurines have also popped up this month: Here is the business woman stress figurine and the teacher. Where was this when I needed it? I just chewed my nails!

An adorable statue has gone up in the Bull Market section of Manhatten depicting a little girl standing up to a bull. I think I will try to dress Eva Cate up to imitate the statue….You go little girl…take on Wall Street! We are short a lot of CEO’s!

*The round disk implanted in the bricks says: “Know the power of women in leadership.”

Through the long history of women to keep scrambling for equality …we each can tell our own personal story of confronting gender bias…and our hope for the next generation is that they have an easier time breaking through invisible ceilings than the prior generation.

Humor has helped a lot. The other day a friend from church, Dee Lesko, called and we talked for awhile. Later in the day she made some comments on earlier blog observations and emailed me one anecdote that was too cute not to share.

She remembered my old “Pete and Repeat” joke and she, too, had an uncle (I think there is one in every family) that told the family jokes.

“…I guess I was about 10 years old when my favorite uncle and I were running errands. We drove past a cemetery, and he asked me: “Do you know how many dead people are in Wildwood?” (name of the cemetery) My brain and eyes were trying to “coordinate” and out came a figure like maybe 200 or 175 or????”

And then my uncle delivered the punch line: “All of them!” (What memories we all hold in storage from the days of yesteryear.)

About a week ago, Janet Bender stopped by with a copy of a book a friend of hers just wrote titled: From a Hole in My Life to a Life Made Whole.

She thought I would enjoy reading it and I did especially when I got to Chapter 7. It is called “It’s Time to Prune the Garden”… I loved her metaphors about gardening and life.

This book is autobiographical in nature…simply one woman’s story of her struggles, upheavals, and victories along her journey through life. It is certainly a story that many people, men and women, can relate to or know loved ones who have met similar challenges as Janet Kay Teresa.

Here are a couple of excerpts that I certainly related to…

She found serenity within the garden ‘far from the noisy place she had been living: her own mind.’

Don’t we all seek sanctuary from the exact same thing? We can deal with screaming children, broken-down mufflers, loud thunder storms, the noise of work and large cities….but the loudest noise is in our minds. This is so true. When life has gotten too complicated and my mind is overflowing with too many scattered thoughts…working in the garden stills these voices from within and brings me peace and serenity.

The author concludes this section of the book with these observations:

“As we entrust the Lord to continue being the designer and caretaker of this garden, should we not also entrust in His hands the tools they are used? Usually they are seen as our situations and circumstances …and can be sharp and painful.

How does a soul acquire the virtue of fortitude to endure the pruning and weeding out? In the midst of our uncertainty there lives a knowing that seems to carry us through. It may not make sense, yet there is something that feels strong and it feels like:

“I know that I know that I know that it is going to be all right. The knowing is sufficient and it is grace.”

………………………………

So until tomorrow…Thank you Father for March…for blustery winds, light frosts, warming trends, Irish holidays, Lachlan’s birthday, seeds sprouting above the ground, the gleaning of the green, and strong women. Women of humor, strength, courage, and compassion….seen only as one of God’s children by the Creator Who made us.

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Eva Cate flirting with Mandy- batting her eyes as a little thing! Later at Disney World she batted them again at Minnie and it brought Minnie right over with a big hug for a contented Eva Cate.