Dear Reader:

Yesterday I planted more lantana early in the morning and it was a good thing…because it poured on and off from lunch time on…buckets and buckets of showers came down.

It was the perfect day for cat naps…like the showers…lot of continuous intermittent cat naps…I just couldn’t seem to keep my eyes open.

When I did wake up I remembered I had gotten a garden magazine at Dollar General...so I opened it and was lost in reverie looking at all the beautiful gardens. But there was one paragraph on garden pauses that really caught my attention and brought back memories of my failure to produce more garden pauses…strange incidents beyond my control. The paragraph read:

My garden doesn’t look like that…and that’s okay because I was thinking about other places where I could turn a pretty scene into something enjoyable by simply adding a seat close by…..like in the proximity of the Japanese maples.

About two weeks ago I left and went to Tuesday Morning determined to find a bench or love seat that would fit under my “office” window so in the fall when the moon flowers begin blooming I can sit on the bench and watch them unfurl…an awesome sight.

As soon as I walked in the store…there it was…a cement bench…a small one that would fit right in the space under the window…I planned to clean the spot out and maybe add gravel before placing the bench down. Since it was cement…it was really heavy…but if the store helpers could get it in the back of the car…Bentley and Luke could get the two legs and table top in for me. It had been over 150 dollars and now was $59….so excited…until….

I saw one woman drive the cart out to where I was parked in front of the store with the hood up…all by herself…to put the parts of the bench in….I looked in the rear view mirror and cried out in horror when I just saw her getting ready to pick one section up….”You need someone to help you…you are going to break your back…go get some help…I am not in a hurry.”

She muttered that she had it…famous last words. I heard the crash before I saw it. One leg toppled over the side of the cart taking the cart with it….crash, bang, splatter.

I asked, first, if she was hurt and kept my mouth closed about the unnecessary accident…she was very apologetic…so I suppose the bench…the buy of the season…wasn’t meant to be. So much for that pause place right now.

My other favorite pause location is the yellow bench facing the fountain, the hostas, the winding plant holder, the chimes and bird feeder on the tree behind the yellow bench.

This time I was the one who cut the pause moment. I was cleaning up around the oak tree…cutting back vines and ivy…when I found something that was really tough…so I pushed down harder on the scissors…suddenly I saw something orange peeking out from under all the foliage…it was the electric cord that runs the water fountain motor…I didn’t cut it all the way but enough so that the current doesn’t work and the water fountain no longer spews water from the top down….so sad. I love hearing the fountain gurgle in the evenings…

At some point another bench will appear and hopefully I can find an electrician to repair the motor…but in the meantime…I must look for my pause moments throughout my daily routine…not just in the garden.

My fun pause yesterday was when Vickie sent me a photo she had taken of the chickens who we all call…”The Girls.” I had found (at Tuesday Morning…the day of the accident) a frame that said THE GIRLS…so I went to Walgreens…made a 4X6 image and put it in the frame…Luke and Chelsey loved it!

So until tomorrow….“I spent a lifetime in a garden one afternoon.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Libby’s surgery is first thing this morning…will update you tomorrow on how things go…please continue to keep her and her lovely family in your prayers…she will spend at least one night in the hospital.

Congratulations to Emma Dingle…the first of Bill and Edith Dingle’s children to graduate from high school with honors and has won enough scholarships to send her to Western Carolina…all expenses paid. So very proud of you Emma!!!!! Now go take the world by storm!

It seems like it was only a blink ago that “little” Emma was the flower girl in John and Mandy’s wedding…so sweet!