Dear Reader:

Yesterday the sun returned with temps in the upper sixties…the kind of day that felt wonderful in the sunlight and just a little cool in the shadows. What an improvement over the previous three days of damp, rainy, chilly weather!

As soon as I got out of bed I was in the garden…picking up sticks and branches fallen from the heavy rains at times, cutting back bamboo shoots and dead limbs off trees. As I was taking some branches to the road for pick up…a strange light caught my attention. An orange light was shining through the ivy…I crept closer to see if some plant from last year had come up…but no it was a dead plant in an overgrown ivy pot surrounded by dead, brown oak leaves…like this…

So how did it turn into a startling beautiful orange display with even the dead brown leaves sparking an orange color…like this…

And then I found the source…the early morning slanted rays of the sun were reflecting off the orange glass bottle on the bottle tree…just at the precise angle to turn a dead plant into a ‘burning’ bush plant.

Yesterday’s discussion on the difference between being alone and feeling lonely sparked some great insights that I would like to share with you today.

Gin-g: When we pray “Give us our daily bread” we aren’t just asking God for sustenance for our bodies… we are asking for the perseverance and guidance to handle one day at a time…and that is all God expects of us. We just have to stay open to allow Him to work through us and try not to get ahead and take charge without Him..

Mev: Mev agreed with the idea of connections with others being a life raft from God (a nod of head and heart) but reminds us all how hard this still is with the loss of the love of your life…but “because of the depth of the heart connection, there is still joy and beauty in loneliness.”

Joanna: The topic of never being alone brought back an old song to her mind…”Reminds me of an old-time favorite hymn, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” (I love that song too Joanna!) That is God’s promise to us!

Dr. Diksha: “Very true ! Nature is alive all the time ! What is needed is just a little awareness. I have written an article on The Sound of Music which means to communicate that we are never alone. Stillness and silence reveal many an activity in nature. Thank you for sharing !”

I think yesterday’s discussion ties right in with the thought that enveloped me upon finding the source of the mysterious orange plant….and that thought is…even when we are gone…like dead brown brittle oak leaves in spring and dead brown plants that didn’t survive the cold winter…we can still shine a most beautiful light on anyone whose eyes are open to the possibility.

So until tomorrow:

Our loved ones will always remember the light of our lives, the light in our lives, the light that was who we were,  and if they are open to the signs that will be revealed (God Winks) then we will never be but one ray of light and one blink of the eye from bringing joy back into their lives.

So until tomorrow…. “Only light can drive out darkness”….Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Here are my great “finds” from the garden and cleaning up the potting shed yesterday. Another Easter egg “find,” (can you find it?) Eva Cate’s tree is providing shade around a chair this year, a gorgeous tin dolphin Honey gave me years ago is flying through the surf and a Clemson Tiger sign (showing bark from the tree behind it)…is really cool.

As I was throwing out an old lid-less Tupperware box…I realized a  family of birds had made a nest in it but were now gone…leaving just a white feather as a calling card.