And, boy(!), did we get loads accomplished in the yard today! I had an amazing time today, taking it easy while using my physical energy to make improvements to our backyard. We added so much beauty today, it was such a blessing to be able to do it all. And it was even more of a blessing not to have to check the clock… at all. We just got to take care of things, have fun together, argue a lot about what way to do certain things (especially when one of us already had a way we were going to do it, and the other didn’t realize that), and learn to let it go and continue onward together, even when we did separate things from one another. It was just a beautiful day making beautiful things.
And, oh, yeah, it was extremely hot. One neighbor mentioned that there may even have been a heat warning… so, there’s that.
But today was such a blessing and a meditation and a working out of kinks, it was perfect.
Thank you, God, for this day. We tidied so much more than just the yard today. Thank you for all of it. Help us always to see clearly our next step to fulfill your will. In your name, I pray. Amen.
I am worn out, exhausted tonight. I still haven’t recovered fully from whatever bug I had that made my throat burn Friday night through this morning, though my throat recovered late this morning. But my body is still tired from working so hard throughout it all, and possibly still today, to fight off the bug. However, I pulled weeds of grass out of the flower bed today, and that was quite satisfying to have that completed. That’s especially so, considering that most of it was probably there from when I turned the lawn mower around while it was too close to the beds, and it shot cut grass all into the freshly planted and watered beds… So, there’s that.
I’m too tired to focus on saying anything else right now.
Goodnight, God. Thank you for the love. Heal us all, please. Amen.
I was so extremely careful with every photo I sent and with everything I wrote here, and then I got distracted and wanted to capture a video of my uncle starting up his boat, and rushed to do it, then sent it to my mom and my man without thinking about proofing the photo first.
And that blew it. I almost immediately had a phone call. “Where did you get those plants?” Plants? What plants did he mean? I checked the photo I’d last sent him twenty minutes prior. Those are only the trees in pots that I moved around a bit – not new plants. I think that must be it. And then I realize that I had just sent a photo to him and my mom, not just to him… and I definitely didn’t proof it before sending it.
Sure enough, right there in the center bottom of the photo is visible a whole corner of the new garden beds and their flower and shrubs. I worked so many hours on that thing, and I was so careful to keep it a surprise for my man when he got back this Friday… for two weeks, I have kept this secret from him successfully, despite a few close calls. But man… I blew it this morning, and now he knows about the brand new flower beds, which are gorgeous, by the way. I hauled almost a thousand pounds of bricks… twice… to make the border of the beds. Add to that the weed burning and pulling and digging-up, as well as the shoveling out of all the pebbles, and then the tilling of the soil and removal of random brick pieces buried all throughout the area, flattening of the border area, laying of pebbles, tamping the pebbles flat, and then placing and leveling the border bricks. It was a lot. And it was outside in the heat, all in my own.
And, before all that, I’d gone to talk with experts and to look at plants, researched a bunch online, and, later, even brought a soil sample to an expert to confirm that my planned plants could survive in the soil. I was keeping it on a tight budget, so far as putting in garden beds goes. And I’d arranged to get a bunch of free mint (three types) and oregano from my brother, who has a huge garden.
The only consolation I truly have is that he hasn’t seen the whole area, all together. It really is impressive all together, even compared to seeing just a portion of it. So, I hope he truly will enjoy that and be surprised by it. I know he’ll love it all, whether he’s surprised or not, and that’s truly the point – that he enjoy something I did for him to enjoy. So, we still have that, even if the element of the big surprise has been lost.
I did tell him how I worked so hard to keep it all secret and just to do it all period, and asked him still to be surprised when he got home. He readily agreed, and, when I reiterated later in the conversation, he replied, ‘About what?’, which was lovely of him to do.
Thank you, God, for this absolutely amazing man and for allowing us to choose each other. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please, help my flowers and plants to thrive and to keep our yard beautiful. In your name, I pray. Amen.
It was successful, by the way, the gift. When I presented it to him, he didn’t fully understand. It just looked like an odd, artsy, plant-y presentation of a rose-shaped folded piece of fabric. After the distractions of other sudden comments and conversations from passers-by departed, he finally continued opening up the rose-folded fabric… One guy commented enthusiastically, “It’s a scarf!” at which point I realized that no one had any idea what it actually was yet, and he needed to unfold it all the way. Finally, he got there, and he discovered that it was a Hawaiian shirt! And it was a very nice and pretty and purple Hawaiian shirt. He was delighted, huge smile and hug and everything. He showed it almost immediately to his friends, and they went wild, cheering. As I had said, he’d needed a Hawaiian shirt. 😛 Even though he enjoyed it greatly, he commented at one point that he thought his friends might be even more excited about it than he was – a major compliment on the present. I was thrilled and grateful that it had played out so well. My mom had done the folding and presentation setup of the shirt, cutting palm fronds and leafy, green things, and picking up moss clumps to put it all together in a beautiful presentation, like a fancy flower on display in a box. (Naturally, I never got a photo of it in good lighting, because I was so excited about gifting it…, but it is what it is, so here is the poorly lit photo I have of the “flower”.)
A rose, by any other name, might be a Hawaiian shirt…
Separately, my mom and I went to an Islamic Art Festival today. It was filled with luminous, beautiful, heart-filled art. So much heart and light and love all around that room today. I am grateful to have been able just to be present with it all. I am further grateful for the fact that just a tiny bit of it came home with me this evening, thanks to my mom.
However, there was one piece that caught my eye early on in the day: a medium-large, mostly white painting. (I know, a white canvas sounds impressive, but it absolutely was…) It had some gold foiling on it, but looked like an otherwise white , slightly textured painting (almost oil-like with the depth and textures), with script shaped to look a bit like a whirling dervish, a Sufi. I wanted to know what it said. But mostly so that I could be clear that it had been calling to me in particular…, because it felt for the first time in my life that I wanted to – **snoot-snoot** – ‘purchase an art piece for our personal home collection’. I know it may seem to be odd wording there, but that was what it was. Like the Sophie Kinsella book “Remember Me?”, how they collected art for their fancy “loft-style living” penthouse, I wanted to start my own real collection of art today. (**Note: In the book, she had gone from having missed a bonus by a one-week hire date at her new, low-paying job to, after a car accident and resulting amnesia, being five years older, married, in a high-paying leadership job at the company, driving a Mercedes, and living in an extremely posh penthouse in London along the Thames. So, the lifestyle was absolutely foreign to her, and their art collection had particularly blown her mind simply as a concept, let alone what the art pieces were and how much they had cost [loads and loads, obviously]. Her commentary upon discovering everything in her ‘new’ wealthy life and lifestyle was comical and relatable, and her story was quite inspiring in terms of pursuing lofty dreams in life… like having a posh art collection in ‘loft-style living’. Hashtag real-life goals, right?… Anyway, moving on…)
When we returned later to speak with the artist – she hadn’t yet arrived to the festival for the day when we first were there -, I began crying during her explanation of the words on the piece and why she had done what she had for it. I couldn’t explain myself except that I was overwhelmed, literally overflowing with water. And I couldn’t seem to stop for a while. The words she was sharing through that piece were exactly what have been my guiding light lately in life, it was no wonder I was so drawn to the piece. I hadn’t even noticed initially that they were words, the energy of it was so loud and so truly in line with where I am presently moving in life.
She could tell it was positive crying, I believe. The piece itself she had set for $500, with all of the proceeds going to a charity she likes and supports. The latter part was impressive in and of itself (including what the wonderful charity does), making me want to support the artist all the more (and, of course, making me cry a bit more in gratitude for the wonderful, heart-filled good that people are still pursuing and doing in this beautiful life). The former set the piece where I believed it belonged, in a ‘true art piece’ category. She went on to tell me that she would be more than happy to work with us… on other offers of price, or, even, on a print of the piece – she’d gladly work with us on any of the options, as she wants the piece to go somewhere where it will be loved and appreciated and wanted.
So, we have all of her information, and I will be discerning over the next several hours and couple days, and I will reach out to her to let her know where I stand with everything, likely tomorrow or Tuesday. My mom said to me that this was a perfect example of where she would love to be in a life where such a purchase could be an easy, “Yes,” and a, “And here’s another $500 to go with it.” But we don’t live that kind of life. Not right now, anyway. And that is perfect for right now. Regarding what to do about the piece, I would love to have it in my home for the rest of my life. And that is a lot of money for me at present. Sure, I may have money in the bank, but, until I have reliable higher income, that money is there to keep me functioning (safely and reliably and without mental stress) in life with food and housing and transportation, etc.
I want to honor the piece for what it is. And I must honor my current financial state, and trust that God will guide me appropriately forward.
When I saw the piece, when it reached out and called me initially, my experience, though I hadn’t had the words at the time, was one of slight paralysis as the idea settled within me that, ‘I want to see that every day of my life.’ I believe fully that we are exactly where we need to be, exactly when we need to be there. And we are given exactly what we need, exactly when we need it. This piece and this wonderful artist and woman showed up today on purpose – we all fulfilled needs all around. This discernment is here for me necessarily, and right now. God, please guide me clearly forward with this art piece. I trust in you wholly. Amen.
There was a dance tonight. I chaperoned for it. I had a wonderful time. I got to be social yet not, dance around yet not, be chill, walk around, mingle, walk away from people, people watch, and enjoy the world around me.
And my students often were excited to see and greet me, which was wonderful, too.
It was lovely.
And then, at the end, I got to take home some flowers. That was baller, too. Oh, and a couple t-shirts for the school. Boom. Great night.
Of course, it is not well past 1:00am, and I’m only just about to get to fall asleep…, but, I believe, it was worth it.
Thank you, God and Universe for this opportunity and blessing.
Today, I was given a bouquet of flowers as part of my goodbye celebration thing at my base school. The roses in the bouquet had/have print glitter all over their tops. I have seen fake roses with their petal tips dipped in glue and then glitter, but I think today was the first time I’ve ever seen real roses that had undergone this procedure. I instantly thought of my best friend, who loves glitter. And then her husband, who doesn’t. As part of their pre-wedding celebrations, I did an interview thing with each of them. One of the questions was asking about something that the other loves, but you really don’t. Her then-fiancé answered with a powerful, “Glitter. It gets everywhere.”
On the bus, heading home shortly after the ceremony thing, as I carried the bouquet in a cardboard box filled with whatever I needed to take home from my desk, I discovered pink glitter on my shirt, pants, and even ukulele, which I was carrying on my arm.
Just now, getting ready to sleep, my attention was caught by a pink sparkle… on my bed. Why must there be glitter on my bed?
Tonight, I’m just not feelin’ it…, though I’ll write anyway, and just make it quick.
Walking home, I stopped to smell these flowers (despite the fact that it was near one AM already, and I was exhausted [still am, too]) I was passing. I read this thing on the inside of, I believe, a Dove chocolate wrapper, and it said, “Take time to smell the flowers.” Somehow, it translated to, ‘Take time to stop and smell the flowers,’ and has stuck with me as such ever since then. I make particular notice whenever I see flowers and feel as though I don’t have the time to stop, and I re-evaluate how I am living my life each time I see flowers and am reminded of this line (almost every time they look pretty).
So, tonight was no exception. I stopped and smelled these flowers, flowers I had yet to notice during he daytime. And, would you believe it? They smelled like popcorn. Buttery popcorn, though only lightly buttered, came in through my nostrils at every flower. They might even have been a sort of roses. White, popcorn roses. It was spectacular, and I don’t even particularly like the smell of buttery popcorn.
Post-a-day 2017
hannah ananas 