Speed-Dialing Through Spring…

Dear Reader:

When I ran home last Friday from Mt Pleasant to Summerville to check my mail, plants and flowers for water… everything was still popping open… including my front yard pear tree. I could hardly wait to see it Tuesday afternoon as I left Mandy’s and John’s to return home with John’s return.

But the first thing I noticed was that the pear tree wasn’t filled with white blossoms… my favorite phase for it… green leaves were forming so rapidly the blooms were dropping or just not opening. Out with the white… in with the green… skipping right over the beautiful white blossoms.

Then when I went to check on the gardens… I started gasping again… the large beautiful Formosa bushes had already bloomed and some blossoms were sadly drooping! In three days ( from Saturday to Tuesday) this transition had resulted.

I walked around in dismay… my favorite garden time… and it was blowing by faster than a race car! Stop! Slow down!!! I want to enjoy every minute of the return of old familiar plants, flowers, and trees. No more of this stopping by and leaving without staying for a long visit! I was gone a week and didn’t even get to wave good-bye to many of my old ” friends.”

I am sure our crazy elevator weather is a large part of the culprit-(we keep breaking) heat records… now this week we drop about 20-25 degrees -certainly closer to our normal seasonal weather. ( Even as I just typed it… I realized that I need to stop referencing the word ” normal ” when ” normal” weather is becoming a phrase of the past… while these extreme weather patterns appear to becoming the ” norm.” )

On days when I let my imagination (about the future) wander… I wonder if , one day, Summerville will be the new front beach recreational property. We are already hearing the warnings about ice bergs melting and seas rising and flooding coastal towns and cities.

Thankfully I probably won’t be around to see it… but will future generations have out-smarted nature or will land and water maps be completely re-done to show the encroaching oceans and diminishing land masses? Like our seasonal changes… the ” times they are a’ changing.”

But isn’t it nice to know God is bigger than man’s mistakes in being terrible stewards of our beautiful blue home. Too often we act like spoiled children who never fully appreciated any gifts given… always wanting more and bigger. Greed… the culprit plague of human beings.

So until tomorrow… Take time to savor the beauty of our earth … just for the sake of beauty.

Tell Your Story! It makes the world go round.

Today is my favorite day! Winnie the Pooh

I am seizing the moment-walking the talk… photo-ing the beauty at this precise moment on a ” normal” beautiful early spring day!

The Most Beautiful Shade of Green is the first green on the oak trees! Not to miss!

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
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2 Responses to Speed-Dialing Through Spring…

  1. Rachel Edwards says:

    ♥️👍♥️

  2. Lynn Gamache says:

    Gorgeous garden with so much vibrant colour as your amazing azaleas step forward for the first time this year!

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