seriouslyscorpio

thoughts of the moment and of my life

Tag Archives: beauty


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FALL IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA


Today is a beautiful day…..of course, in my mind, all are. I am a lucky girl.

Fall in California has to be searched for in the south…..it is not bright with reds and golds as in the midwest.  It is subtle, kind of like a treasure hunt.  There are sycamores and elders and maples who like to show themselves as much as possible in this warm and dry climate. They try very hard and I promise I will go out and compliment them tomorrow.

The Santa Ana winds tend to blow in the spring and fall and this week is bringing us a very light Santa Ana.  The hot winds from the desert blow thru the passes and down to the sea where it is usually very chilly (in my opinion). Actually, the temps are very wonderful, especially for plants.  They love the cool mornings and the sea mist that sometimes hangs around til 3 in the afternoon.  The further one goes inland, the warmer and clear it gets.  The ocean is wonderful, but chilly, hence the fog  that comes in the evening and quietly retreats off the coast til the warmth of the desert retreats too.

So  Fall…..in California, time to clean up and clean out.  Brush the yard with the rake to keep the grass tidy, clip the plants with long leaves so they will look neat for winter, and pull out the dead leaves from the season before.

Then  there are those plants who have chosen to live on top of each other. Their seeds flutter to the warm ground and their bulbs and roots reach out over one another to touch the food of the earth. Because bulbs are not ment to live 5 deep, it is up to their caretakers (me) to break them up and apart and find new homes for them in the yard which is all they ever know, unless I give them to a friend to grow up in  their yard/home.

Today it was yard cleaning, pulling here, snipping there, and all the time enjoying the wonderful weather called Fall in California.  Tomorrow the yard work won’t look so daunting, so I might just sit out there with my trees, my plants, and domain and soak up another beautiful day in my life.  I am a lucky girl..and I know it!!    later


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seeds of life


Have you ever read Lucifer’s Hammer?  I read it ages ago but can’t count how many times it has come back to haunt.  We absent mindedly take so much life for granted.  Just yesterday I cleaned a melon for supper.  I’m ashamed to say I carelessly tossed away the seeds, the spark, the promise of abundance, when, in fact, they could have changed people’s destiny because their health improved..

Then, maybe those little seeds dreamed of a vibrant fulfilling life in a child’s garden in the city, or maybe a college biology class working on feeding the world. Then again, maybe they were  the ‘worker bees’ , looking forward to being in the warm southern valley of California, to reproduce more of their lucious kind.

  Later on in the afternoon I began early cleaning of the yard.  All the agapanthus  have shown their best these past months and are now getting ready to retire.  Their mighty stems hold hundreds of black seeds, waiting for the opportunity to fall into the comfy, moist earth of summer. As their older brothers and sisters continue to grow from seasons under California skies, these new ‘kindergartners’  ready themselves for the cool seasons to come.

I truly had a difficult time throwing them away.  I have plenty, more than enough and I even give plants away at the end of each season. But these living beauties not only chose to give me asthetic pleasure for this summer, they chose to stay with me next year. And what did I do….I cut their blooms and sent them packing.

I feel bad, I am sad we all sometimes overlook what life is blessing us with. I don’t care if the English is not perfect in this writing….my heart is reminding me that we need to take better care of one another.  All lives are little seeds that need nourishing.  It may be the warmth of a garden, being taken care of by a tender heart.  Or it may be the warmth of a home, being taken care of by another tender soul. 

I promise to take better care of the seeds of life I run across.  I can help them find a new home, I can nurture them with the gifts of love, good morals and ethics, laughter, and forgiveness. Or I can help them go on to better places where they can be happy in new environments. 

Let the gardens flourish……   

So for the new seeds planned to send away, I’m getting them out of the green container, to let them dry in the sun in preparation for their new adventure. And for the ‘older, more mature’ plants in my yard, as well as my life, thank you for sticking with me, for being strong, season after season, and showing me God’s beauty should never be wasted.