A few sprinkles around this morning in the Carondelet Garden. The forecast calls for rain this afternoon with the possibility of a lot of rain tonight with rain into tomorrow. Looks like a wet mid-week here in South Saint Louis.
The Lilacs are looking lovely out in the back garden. Just beginning to open you can start to smell the amazing fragrance and are transported into the perfect perfume of Springtime. Lilacs are a joy unspeakable. They last such a short time but the aroma is a memory forever! It is our job to celebrate creation wherever we are. No matter where you look there is something beautiful and amazing to behold. Beauty draws us in. Nature in all of its glory is drawing us in to what is, indeed, holy. We are longing for creation as it was meant to be. We long for it and yet, here it is, waiting for us to open our eyes, our ears, and our nostrils to breathe in the beauty that is there undiscovered until we are ready to truly experience it. It is a good day for a good cup of coffee, a good book and some lovely music playing softly in the background. Be good to yourself this mid-week morning. Be careful when the rains come. That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden.
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Oh, what a beautiful morning here in the Carondelet Garden. I woke to the bird singing their song just before dawn this morning. Some would be upset by the "noise," but this old gardener considers it the song of Spring! The weather today looks to be outstanding. Sun with a few clouds mixed in. Warm with highs in the low 80s. It looks like perfect eclipse viewing here in Missouri.
Most of the Spring bulbs have finished their glory but this little Hyacinth is hanging in and sharing her glory this Monday in April. Spring bulbs are the balm we need after a long Winter. The tulips are hanging in there and the lilac is stunning right now. A glorious time to visit the garden in the morning. At this point in my life, I am trying to live the questions instead of avoiding them. I have so many questions. Yet, I would rather approach life with a certain fascination instead of fear. The temptation in our world today is to live superficially. Instead, I want to dig in, striving to live with the depth. Striving to see deeply, feel deeply, think deeply, pray deeply, and, above all, love deeply. I'm working on taking in those things that happen in my life in such a way that the ordinary becomes the extraordinary. Love breaks through! It is a glorious day for a bit of faith, hope and love. Share a bit of each today as you travel about. That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden. It's a bright, sunny morning here in the Carondelet Garden in South Saint Louis. Today we should see a mix of clouds and sunshine with highs in the low 60s. A beautiful day for a bit of gardening.
My wonderful snap peas are doing their thing. These were direct sewn into the border bed about four weeks ago and they are doing quite well. These 10 plants will provide us with more than enough snap peas until next season. The key is to keep picking. The more you pick the more you get. It's an amazing gift of a vegetable. It's been a bit of a difficult few days for the old gardener and Dr. B. Not all of the news this week was great. Yet, it could have been so much worse. We know we need to be grateful for the gifts we are given. We know we are built for joy. The one thing Dr. B has always been good at it is throwing a zinger of a one-liner when we all need it most. Even at the hardest, saddest times, even at a funeral, we can hear a funny story about our lost beloved, and, God help us, we laugh. We are built for joy. Today we are lifting our eyes to the heavens. Taking a moment to listen to the world as it trembles into possibility. It is Spring after all. The world is reminding us every day that new life, rebirth, is what it is all about. All we need to do is simply witness the greenness that rises out of seemingly nothing. Joy unending and fully of glory. We are built for joy. It's a good day for a good day. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. There is work to be done. But first, the coffee is ready. That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden. It's partly cloudy out in the Carondelet Garden on this chilly Wednesday morning. We might see a few rain showers along with windy conditions this afternoon. April showers bring May flowers!
The tulips are stunning this year. We decided to pot up several pots this year of staggering bloom times and have been rewarded three times over. It has been such a joy to see the blooms over the past few weeks. The last pot opened their flowers on Easter! It has been a few weeks of waiting, wondering and worrying for the old gardener and Dr. B. A time of change to be sure. It seems what we are looking for is simply the wholeness of our spiritual selves that dwells within us already, though often overlooked until the well runs dry. We are coming to understand that it is finding the rest of the self... the self we need under pressure... that's what the heart is seeking. It's a time of discovering just what spiritual sanity means for us, so that, whatever changes around us does not change our best longing, does not corrupt our best selves. Our job is to continue the work of our Creator, who began creation but left it for us to complete. A busy day ahead. Prayers to be offered. Love to be shared. Life to be lived. Be good and be kind to yourself and others today. We all need it now more than ever. That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden. Alleluia! Alleluia! Welcome to the first day of April and the first day of Eastertide. Alleluia! No April Fools in the weather department this Monday morning. Partly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms. Some of those storms could be severe. The whole thing is on the plate today: damaging winds, large hail, heavy rain and a possible tornado with some of the storms. Be ready to take cover Saint Louis!
The Alpine/Fairy Garden is lovely this morning out in the Carondelet Garden. Alleluia is the perfect word when you get to see this first thing in the morning. I've missed the opportunity to say Alleluia. It's one of those words we could say more often in a positive way. The mulch is almost finished. The beds are prepared. We are ready for Spring planting. We are simply waiting for the weather to cooperate. April 12th is the average last frost here in Saint Louis so no tomatoes until after that. I will tend to my lettuce and cold frame veg for now. Happy April Fools Day. Happy first day of Eastertide. Happy first day of April. Happy Day! Alleluia! That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden. The sun is shining bright here in the Carondelet Garden on this Friday morning in Lent. The weather folks tell me that it will become overcast by this afternoon with highs in the low 70s. The perfect day for a bit of Spring gardening.
Spring is made for mulch. We have begun spreading a layer over the surface of the soil. This lovely, rich, organic material is not worked into the soil, but left as a surface blanket over the bare ground of my borders and beds. It is such a great soil builder with the added benefit of looking and smelling great! A garden gives such pleasure and instills a sense of calm into the soul. Gardening slows us down, gives us an opportunity to work out worries and puts those problems into perspective. Let's be honest, optimism has to be the most essential tool in the gardener's toolbox. Lent is drawing quickly to a close with Holy Week beginning next week. Spring is here and the celebration of Easter is almost upon us. The sun is shining. The weather is stunning. It's a good day for a good day. Optimism is the word of the day here in the Carondelet Garden. A bit of a chill in the air on this the first full day of Spring. We should have sunny to partly cloudy skies with highs near 60-degrees by this afternoon. The Violas are definitely in a Spring mood this morning.
Spring is finally here! As the Song of Songs reminds us "... come away, for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard on our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom, they give forth fragrance." Song of Songs 2: 10-12. Spring is here. This time of year reminds this old gardener that we should make our soul into a seeker of beauty and our garden a holy site that rejects the tawdry, the artificial. and the vulgar. Beauty cleanse our senses oof the mundane. It awakens in us a desire to see more than simply things. We desire to see beyond the things to new insights about life, about new feeling, about a new sense of transcendence. It is midweek with Lent quickly coming to fruition. The Spring of Lent as come just as Holy Week is soon to begin. Palm Sunday with its triumph this weekend. Then Holy Week with the devastation and loss ending in the glorious resurrection. It's a good day for a bit of kindness to share and receive. We all need it. We crave it right now. My prayer is for kindness to be the new normal. Wouldn't that be something? That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden. Happy Saint Patricks Day a day late!
It is cold and sunny out in the Carondelet Garden this frosty Monday morning in March. The sun should hang around all day with a high in the mid 40s. A big change from last week. The mulching for Spring has continued in earnest the past few days. The clean-up of the Parterre and Shade gardens are cleaned and mulched. The sunny garden and the side garden are next. Then we tackle the backyard. With the changes in the back gardens, it will be a bit more work but I'm excited to see it finished. Spring is just a day away. The strange this is that it always takes me a bit by surprise. Spring arrives. It is odd, thrilling and utterly unpredictable. Then you walk outside, take a fresh of the fresh Spring air and you recognize it for what it is. Spring is finally here, and it will not go away for months. Spring is in the air even with these colder temperatures. Enjoy the sunshine. Welcome the change. It's a good day for a good day. That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden. Happy #314Day Saint Louis! It's dark and ominous out in the Carondelet Garden on this mid-March morning. It may not be officially Spring yet, but the weather is certainly Spring-like with thunderstorm watches and warnings issued for most of the morning. The sirens have already gone off this morning warning of potential storms. It's definitely Springtime in Saint Louis!
Spring has sprung here in the Carondelet Garden to be sure. Our Peony survived! This poor plant has suffered had the hands of this old gardener. I've moved it twice because of location. I must be honest, last Fall I did not have much hope for its survival, but here it is sprouting new growth and looking quite healthy. Whew! As our friends say, you only know a plant when you've killed one twice! Grow on little Peony! It is #314Day celebrating our venerable area code and all things Saint Louis. We are beyond blessed here in Saint Louis. You would not realize it if you only read the @STLToday but we have amazing restaurants, skilled and talented makers, and incredible artists and craftspeople. It's Spring and the outdoor markets will be in full force. Let's get out and support our fellow neighbors. Buy local. Shop local. Let us celebrate the best of our fair City. Be careful if you are out and about on the stormy Thursday morning. Be good to yourself and kind to others. We all need a bit of kindness and goodness in our lives. That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden. It is a lovely start to the Tuesday morning here in the Carondelet Garden. Fair skies overhead and temperatures heading toward the low 70s by this afternoon. Hard to believe it is still early March in South Saint Louis.
The Vinca are in bloom and putting on quite a show in the parterre garden. It is always exciting to see these little beauties come into flower every Spring. We gave them a hard cleanup last Fall and they came roaring back better than ever. Gardens are my call to "come away and rest awhile." Rest takes different forms for each person. For me it is turning of the soil of my soul to see what is buried underneath. I need to find beauty and quietude in this over-messy, overcrowded, overstimulating world. I need the quiet of the garden. The seventeenth century mathematician and theologian Blaise Pascale said, "All a person's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone." Even Albert Einstein said, "The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulate the creative mind." I find myself searching a bit this morning. It is quiet now. A cup of tea and a slight breeze accompany my contemplation this morning. A bit of prayer and quietude this Lenten Tuesday. That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden. |
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