Gardening is relaxing

Once my mother took some laundry to a lady who did ironing for the public. When my mother stepped inside the door, there were baskets everywhere! She began to apologize for bringing even more work for the poor soul to do when the lady interrupted her and said, "Oh honey, don't worry about it. Ironing relaxes me."

That is how I feel about gardening. I like everything about it from beginning to end. I like gathering the ingredients for compost, stirring the piles, planting seeds, watering, and most of all, watching things grow and change. Not every plant survives, some get blight, some fail to pollinate, and others just don't produce much. But the joy of picking food from your own backyard or arranging flowers that you grew from seed just can't be beat.

So my garden may not be "right" or "economical" but it is just what I need. It makes my heart sing to hide a seed in the dirt and come back in a few days to a live, green plant. It gets even better when I can pick something right off the vine and pop it in my mouth. There is just something about growing your own that will never be captured in the supermarket.

The Bible promises that what you sow you will reap. If you don't have a bumper crop, you will have still developed patience, determination, and will have cooperated with the Creator in His work. All day long we have opportunities to plant seeds. Some are cucumbers and tomatoes and others are encouragement and blessing. So get out your seed box and get to planting!

The Ferry Ride and Victoria

Like I said before, I won tickets on American Airlines at the Bedford Police banquet last January and determined I would go somewhere cool in the summer with them. As the temperature climbed over 100 several days in a row, I could see the wisdom the Lord had given us in the timing of our trip....

The first thing we did was fly from DFW Airport on Thursday, Aug 21, about 6:30 p.m. Our son, Daniel, took us to the airport and we flew to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We stayed at the Best Western Hotel, near the airport. The room was adequate but the bed was awesome! It turned out to be the best bed of the trip.

We flew from Calgary to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Friday morning. From there to Victoria, which is on Vancouver Island, one must ride the ferry. We had reservations on the 6:00 ferry but when we got there in our bright red Buick rent car, we were able to board early. It was quite surprising that there were so many people and cars on the ferry. We got out of our car and spent the entire trip on the deck or inside. We met a 30'ish young lady who ran a fishing company that her dad had built and she gave us a private lecture about the fishing industry. From there we departed the ferry, drove to Victoria and found our bed and breakfast room. That night we went to dinner at Romeo's in downtown Victoria and headed back to our quaint room.

The next morning we had a scruptious breakfast of museli, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, big slabs of bacon, and toast with Saskatoon jelly. We left about 9 and headed downtown to see the sights. We visited the miniature museum, the harbor, and ate lunch at The Pig. They served delicious barbecue. We ate chocolate at a shop and walked the streets looking at the Irish linen, interesting shops, and the beautiful flowers.

Later that afternoon we toured the butterfly gardens at the entrance of Buchart Gardens. Gary loved the blue butterflies and I liked the humidity. Then we drove up the road to the Gardens. Only the pictures can describe how the flowers looked. At 6 we picked up our fresh salmon picnics with salads, desserts, and cider. We ate those on the lawn, and then toured the gardens until the animated, coreographed, and floating fireworks show began. What a day and evening.

The next day we boarded the train to Qualicom Beach. We had planned to go further up the coast to Courtney, but found that we would not get lunch if we did. It was raining when we left the station in Victoria but by the time we got to Qualicom Beach, the sun came out. We ate at a neat resturant in the middle of this resort town and had a cup of tea as it was very cool. We rode back home and took the ferry back to Vancouver...which is another story for tomorrow.

Trip to Canada 2008

This blog will be a journal of mine and Gary's trip to Canada in August 2008. I won 2 free tickets on American Airlines and we decided to get out of the Texas Heat and play for a change. I will add pictures and narrative as time permits.

Gardening in Pots

My son made this pot stand for me and I really like it because you can get lots of color in a small space.

Gardening was made for man (and woman)

I am so enjoying my garden. It is not fancy, organized, or correctly planned but is bringing me great joy. There is so much life out there with flowers, herbs, vegetables and butterflies. I am learning something new every day and it is where I go in my mind when the stress of work and family gets too much. I know why God put us in a garden to start with. His priorities were right!