Dear Reader:

Every now and then we need to remember to pause, then stop, and finally look up. When I did this yesterday, as I was finishing up watering and putting up the hose…I saw a wondrous site… beautiful orange “wild flowers” growing up and spreading all over this wooden trunk that separates my property from my neighbors on one side.

I sent the picture to Doodle to see if it was some kind of wild honeysuckle and she texted back “No…I believe it is an orange trumpet vine.” I was thrilled…everyone knows orange is my favorite color. For a few minutes I excitedly stared up at it and then suddenly I remembered …two or more years before Vickie had suggested the orange trumpet vine as a fence cover between my property and my neighbor’s…much better than that aggressive bamboo I fight daily that tries to invade my back yard.

Something was nagging at my memory…Didn’t I order the seeds and plant them? I pulled up my amazon orders from the past and there it was…I had ordered orange trumpet seeds. But it was at least two years ago, maybe three, and they were just now appearing? As I followed the vine…it covered the entire fence finally coming to rest on the old oak tree where the rope swing is. Pods were hanging down from the vine in intervals along the fence.

After looking it up on the internet, I read that the orange trumpet vine takes years, sometimes, to get going…now I knew I was just reaping the benefits of my “sowing” from years before.

I ran and got Vickie to show her since she was the one who suggested the orange trumpet vine as a cover for the fence so I wouldn’t have to stare at the bamboo forest on the other side and now, over two years later, my vision is slowly coming true!

As if that wasn’t exciting enough…something else happened yesterday that made me smile and then laugh out loud. Both Anne and I, along with many thousands of other Louise Penny reading fans, are suffering mild to severe withdrawal symptoms waiting on the next novel in the detective series…not due to come out until later in November. So a few weeks back I ordered Anne a coffee mug that read…”got armand?”  (For some reason this little mug must have gotten lost in the mail…because it took weeks, instead of the usual days, to arrive. In fact I forgot I ordered it.)

Then yesterday morning I opened up the door to go out on the porch and there sat the package…I had some daisies left over from Easter…so I put some in the mug with water…and attached an Anne Peterson ‘original’ note card of watercolor daisies.

I ran the gift over to her and got to go in the garden to see all her floral surprises popping up…like her moon flower seeds that are sprouting…and a beautiful little pink dogwood…blooming for the first time after planting three years ago.

On the way home…I thought to myself…’I wonder why I didn’t order a mug for me’…something to remind me that time will pass and soon I will be reading the next thriller in the series.

When I got home there was a package with two bags inside… waiting for me…the last two Louise Penny books in the series (were in one bag)  I had loaned them to Donna Clark. Then there was another little package. I pulled out the tissue paper, opened it, and there was a ‘Three Pines’ logo picture from the series on the front of a coffee mug. What a God Wink! What a friend! Thank you Donna…I love it! It will sustain me until the next novel appears.

I think this incident surely demonstrates…“Give and you will receive”…unbelievable!

So until tomorrow…When I survey the wondrous orange trumpet vine…I want to blow out ‘trumpet’ notes revealing how awesome our God is!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I forgot my sunglasses…left them in church Sunday…When I went to retrieve them yesterday I passed the Memorial Garden where the decorated cross had been placed after church service…the hot weather had wilted the flowers somewhat but it still took my breath away.

* I have received some other Easter photos from Mollie and John I will share with you to end the blog today. We all took turns holding Eloise so everyone had a chance to eat.

Great memories…it is nothing short of a miracle to get a picture of me with all the grandchildren (well…minus Eloise) and especially looking in the same direction…an Easter miracle…thanks John for making it happen! (*So glad I could reciprocate by getting a great family picture of them after church.)