Changing of the Guard

Category: The Daytime of Life | Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:45 pm

Hope you are having a time of it! We are having a beautiful day here at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, as I sit with my first cup of java, and gaze out the window. After building fires and bringing in wood about every night this old gal is ready. My pansies are still steadily bloomin, and have done me proud over the winter months...standin' there like dependable soldiers, guardin' my dooryard.

The camilla bush gave her brief show, and has shamelessly left her bloomers around her ankles(LOL)

And day before yesterday, I looked out at the forsythia bush (which is big as a small sedan) and it was putting on the dog. A few springs ago I remember looking out at the forsythia and right in the middle was a bright red male cardinal. Wished I would have had film in my camera that spring, but it was a vision I shall not forget, as long as I live. . .

Speaking of visions . . .the view of the sunrise shall soon depart . . . as the trees are starting to bud. They shall soon flesh out, and I will no longer be able to see the sunrise from my picture window. That . . . I will miss as Spring approaches. But Spring comes in, and winter departs . . . like the changing of the guard. After the rains we had this week . . . there is new growth coming . . . the hostas are sprouting up, and it wont be long til they will fill out . . .

The daffodils opened week before last, cousin Juli and I took my grandson, Erik, out to an old house to pick a bunch there. . .Hey! It was better than trick-or-treatin' I suppose, for after it was over, he looked up at me, and said, " Come on Mee-Maw, let's go to another house and pick some more!"

Just like Grandma and her iris in bloom. Takin' me out in her yard, and sayin', "Grandmother is plantin' these flowers for you." And Granddaddy Barnes was already out there planting small saplings just for my little brother Mike,(I know, I heard him say it to Mike!) who was toddling along beside Granddaddy, (as fast as those little short legs would allow him...) excited to be spending time with Granddaddy. (In fact, I don't know who was more excited, Granddaddy or Mike! LOL!) Some of those trees are still standing over on North Gaither Avenue, here in Catawba County! Mike reminds me more of my Granddaddy Barnes than anyone I know! I need to go and pay him a visit. I miss my time with Debbie and him. I bet Debbie has already got flowers blooming in her yard. All of my brothers and their wives have beautiful yards every year. I need to make some time.

Time...that's one thing we grandparents have that parents sometimes don't (because they sometimes are too preoccupied just figuring out how to make ends meet, or other issues.) I wonder if Erik will remember standing in that sea of yellow with his grandmother. And when I look at the Cana Lilies later in summer . . . I see Aunt Colleen, and the way those bright red flowers lined her drive, welcoming me in for a cup of coffee, and how we would sit at her dining room table, and talk. It makes me smile now to think how grownup she made me feel! She was 32, and I just thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. (Secretly, I hoped I would look that pretty when I was that old. Heck! I didn't even look that good then . . .gawky, long skinny legged teenager that I was. Dumb & forlorn too ..oblivious to the fact that the years fly, and going through the 30s is our 'prettiest' age ever, right girls?)

Then I think of bein' pregnant with Adam, and how my dear, thoughtful mama sent me orange blossoms in March, all pressed, and wrapped in waxed paper...My! how wonderful the fragrance was. A bit of sunshine in an otherwise cold hard winter. Makes me think of all the folks, way down there in Florida, and I imagine them feelin' the warmth of the same sun I am seein' through my window on this fine spring day . . .except it is closer, and warmer, and I imagine the birds are chirping wildly, as some of them prepare for their trip back to NC.

Speakin' of NC, and Mama's gift of orange blossoms . . . that was a hard winter up here in NC. Our furnace stayed torn up, and as hard as the landlord tried he could not keep it running. The heater core in our Nova was froze up, and we didn't have money for antifreeze, just 25 cent bottles of rubbin' alcohol to put in the radiator every other night. We'd bring our battery in the house, and wrap it in a towel, just to ensure that the car would start for work every day. Then to top it off, I worked beside a loadin' dock hammering dowels in wood with an lady who had hot flashes, and every 10 minutes or so she would go, and yank that door up, and announce, "I'm havin' a hot flash! She was fanning wildly, as I shivered. (Now, I can't say I would blame her LOL!) I never thawed out until Spring that year. That was my hardest winter in Life...1981.

Our time is the greatest gift we can give anyone. Get out there, and make a memory for someone you love today. We make time for the things we want to do, and excuses for the things we don't. (the first cliche!)

Yes, I think of good memories, and how precious they are. Make the most of them folks, cause until we meet on the other side, that is the closest thing we have to heaven.

Well, the sun is rising high in the sky, and I've bent your ear longer than I intended to. Take care, enjoy your day, and remember I love you. Family is precious. I love my family here at Gardenstew.

Love You Dearly! SoJ

Last edited: Fri Sep 04, 2015 5:14 pm

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CritterPainter wrote on Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:54 pm:

You live in a truly stunning place, how can you help but have pretty thoughts, lol! I bet that image of the cardinal in the forsythia will never leave... would make a lovely painting...