Dear Reader:

Saturday morning I ventured out on the back deck and stared across my garden…at first I was a little saddened…many of the plants looked dry and thirsty, a little wilted…a condition that in my normal state I would not allow to transpire. However the weathermen keep forecasting showers and unfortunately… they must have someone else’s name on the forecast list.. .because we sure haven’t seen any substantial amount of rainfall in quite awhile.

***Later yesterday afternoon during the Clemson game…it rained!

But then…it happened. I glanced over to the large bushes growing along the garage (a.k.a. Boo’s Potting Shed) and I saw white, pink, and rose colors jumping out at me…as if to say “Look! Look what has happened while you have been sitting with your foot propped up filling out paperwork!” It had to be….my Confederate Rose was blooming! Happiness flooded me!

By now most of you know the legend behind this beautiful bush….but here is a quick summary for anyone who doesn’t…it adds to the charm of the bush and explains the transition of colors from white, to pink, to rose.

“Once the Confederate Rose was pure white. During the Civil War, a Confederate soldier was fatally wounded in battle. He fell upon a white rose as he lay dying. During the course of the two days he took to die, he bled more and more on the flower, till at last the bloom was covered with his blood. When he died, the flower died with him. Thereafter, the Confederate Rose (or Cotton Rose), opens white, and over the course of the two days the bloom lasts, they turn gradually from white to pink to almost red, when the flower finally falls from the bush.”

I grabbed my iPhone and hobbled over for a quick picture and then hobbled back to the deck feeling downright joyful…filled with hope! This was the same bush that started dying on me during the spring for no apparent reason…the stems and leaves atrophied. It was the strangest thing that I (and my gardening neighbors) had ever seen. I had to literally chop off each branch (that was hard as a stick) to prevent the disease from spreading.

The drastic measure did what my neighborly advisers hoped ….it stopped the “bleeding” and the Confederate Rose began to grow again….back to its gigantic size as if it had never had the set-back. And now it is just starting to bloom….soon the whole bush will be weighted down in  beautiful colors….life continues, no matter the setbacks…it still continues.

As I plopped back down in my favorite chair, my recliner, with my foot propped back up again… I knew nature had taught me a lesson about life yesterday. Sometimes we have to stop in life, drop back and punt…surveying the field before us in order to win the game. Hopefully that is exactly what I am going through now…a simple pause to reassess the playing field of life and continue growing in appreciation of all the opportunities it affords me and you.

So until tomorrow…. If you don’t push the pause button now and then in life…it will push it for you. (Believe me…I know first-hand :)!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Speaking of my metaphor for football and the game of life…. Way to Go Clemson!…What I feared would be a nerve-wracking, nail biting game turned out otherwise…a game you could enjoy without hiding your eyes…unexpected but most appreciated. Donna your “All In” Flag was blowing by the window… along with Honey’s Clemson Rabbit, I lit the candle on the Clemson tray…the game was on!

Tommy and Kaitlyn went to the game in Clemson and had great seats and a great time with their friends….leaving the stadium last evening..the setting sun was all orange…it had been an all-in, all-orange day!

I had a most wonderful visit yesterday…Mike and Dee Lesko came over with a huge box filled with food, candy, masks, Colonial Bazaar trinkets….I felt like Christmas had come early! Dee scared the wits out of me (not much left there anyway) with this mask! She left it for me to use for Halloween….loving it!

I love this senior voodoo doll…Dee has already stuck a pin in one of its feet…what else are friends for…and  the cutest button flower arrangement in a little salt shaker. (“As you grow older…the pains get bolder…”)

And Oh how did Dee know my fondness for corn chowder? *Then add in potatoes?…I was over the moon…along with chicken salad sandwiches…I am the best kept “prisoner” around! Thank you my dear friends…Mike and Dee! What a fun afternoon! *And for dessert…my own carton of chocolate fudge ice cream with the biggest spoon Mike and Dee could find me! Death by chocolate!

Pictures from the Napa Valley…maybe one day in my parallel life I will visit it…but for now I will just live it through the “children” vicariously! Beautiful!