Dessert for unexpected company

Dead Daisies and Missed opportunies

Here sits a vase of dead daisies,waiting to be replaced with a fresh bunch from my garden. They have been sitting  there for a week, looking more dead each day. I have plenty of daisies for another bouquet so that is not the reason why the dead daisies are waiting to be replaced. What I don't have is plenty of time. As often as I pass the decaying bouquet I make a mental note that I need to get rid of them now but before I do I remember another pressing matter that needs to be done first.  And so it goes until I collapse in my rocker at night and there still sits the vase of dead daisies. Now I'm just too tired to do anything with them.  This reminds me of the times I've let opportunities to help those around me with burdens and hurts go by because I had more pressing matters to take care of. I didn't have time for interruptions in my busy schedule or I was just too tired to lend a listening ear or a helping hand. These opportunities that God sends my way are not always convenient. They may require me to do something I do not feel like doing, but as a Christian, I am called to be like Christ and He always had time for people. When I'm sensitive to the opportunities that come my way throughout the day,to give  an encouraging word or compassionately listen to a friend's troubles or to lend a helping hand, I experience joy. I think we're always happier when we give our lives away by helping others rather than living for ourselves.

Summer's first peony

This is my first peony ever. .. to grow, that is.     My first peony  was one my husband, then my boyfriend, gave me when we were dating.  He picked it from his mother's full blooming bush in their yard.   It was the biggest, most beautiful flower on the bush but I didn't appreciate it . I felt like he should be sending me dozens of roses, not picking me flowers from his mother's flower garden. Since getting older and realizing how beautiful peonies are, I have come to appreciate how special that peony was. Not only did he find the best flower on the bush just for me but he gave me something that his mother had grown. He loved his mother dearly and was proud to give me a part of her.  Just recently, as I thought of this, I knew I had to have a peony bush. A dear friend shared a few of hers with me and we transplanted them last fall.  At the  time, they looked like they would never survive and I had little hope I would ever see a peony bloom.  But to my utter excitement this spring,    little green sprouts started poking up through the soil around the dead stem. The plants grew and thrived and before long,   buds began to appear..  I checked them every day with great expectation and sure enough they bloomed.  I do  not have a green thumb and just about everything I try to grow dies.  I am sure they survived because they were so healthy from the tender loving care my friend had given them and because my husband faithfully watered them when I forgot .  And too, God wants me to remember every time I look at them what a special, caring husband i have.

One enchanted evening

One Enchanted Day

June 1st was a special day. The wedding of our youngest child and only daughter. An enchanted forest wedding in a beautiful outdoor setting with wonderful weather for an early June wedding. The climax to a whirlwind of preparations. All came together and everything was beautiful.