Today is a Gift
“The flower that you hold in your hands was born today and already it is as old as you are.” ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwi
I don’t know where the summer went; the time passed so quickly. We leave soon for our annual Labor Day camping trip – a week on the ocean and river where the salmon run. It seems like summer arrived just yesterday and it’s gone in the blink of an eye – or the life of a flower.
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.”~ A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
We paid our dues early this year. Having survived two straight weeks of 110 degrees in June, we have been treated to much milder temps all through August. The garden is showing its gratitude now.
And so are the pups. This is Lukey.
Handsome Shane.
Sweet blind boy Brutus.
And hug-a-boo Mickey.
With a light breeze blowing, our golden oldies were treated to a group play date in the large park. So many beautiful sugar faces.
Little beasties, meanwhile, were having their own party in the Butterfly Garden.
Ocean camping is heaven, but its hard to compete with this bliss.
“For there you have been and there you will long to return.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci
A Few Words on Wednesday
Need a smile? I try not to make you all work too hard, but for the dog lovers among us, may I suggest you take a little journey across the blogosphere to the official Homeward Bound blog? Check it out here…I think you’ll enjoy. 🙂
Orange
Orange is a warm and happy color – more intense than Yellow and less aggressive than Red.
In color meanings, it is positively associated with gregarious, exuberant, youthful, adventurous, and creative.
A little Orange energizes. Too much orange can feel overly flamboyant, loud and crass.
Orange in nature is associated with heat, fire, sunsets and sunrises, and of course, autumn.
In crystals, Orange is a power and healing color. It stimulates appetite as well as enthusiasm and creativity.
To Native Americans, Orange represents learning or kinship. In Eastern philosophy, the Orange Chakra is in the abdomen and the creative center.
It was also the source of ridiculous jokes as in “Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?”
Orange in the garden is sometimes criticized as too bright and garish – not tasteful. But I think orange brings life to a garden. I use it at home to create tropical heat or add brilliance to an otherwise dark space.
We use spots of it in the Memorial Garden to add warmth while accentuating other colors.
From deep, near-red burnt Oranges,
to the more fragile Salmons and Apricots…
you’ll find every shade of “Orange” in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden.
Orange you glad you stopped by?
First Hint of Fall
Every year I prepare for our annual ocean camping trip over Labor Day weekend. It’s how I know that Fall is near. The Memorial Garden seems to sense it too…earlier this year.
The Obedient Plant in Ina’s Cottage Garden is making an appearance.
Maria’s Sunflowers are showcasing shades of gold and red.
The grapes are sun-kissed ripe and wonderfully sweet,
and the Sedum has flowered.
The tiny drifts planted last spring have sprouted a new fountain…and its guest.
And the Amaranthus, started from seed, is spreading like deep red pearls throughout the Perennial bed.
Even Sequoia is dressed in fall colors. This sweet girl was surrendered by a family that loved her dearly, but happened to live in a grove of Eucalyptus trees that she is horribly allergic to. No amount of medication could help, so they entrusted her to us to help her recover and find her a home where she is pain (and itch) free.
I’m not sure that I am ready to say good-bye to summer – although I am very ready to leave the stifling hot valley for a week of ocean air, cold nights and campfires.
The garden – well it does what it will in its own time – ready of not.
Wordless Wednesday: Gone to the Dogs
Evening Light
“The evening light was like honey in the trees” ~ John Ashbery
My visit to the garden was late on Saturday. Instead of gardening, I joined the team running the dogs in late afternoon to give a couple of devoted volunteers a well-earned day off. By the time I made it to the garden, it was bathed in a golden wash and the shadows were long.
Monarchs danced, Dragonflies perched,
and bees were finishing their day collecting pollen from the Penstemon.
I see that Ina has been busy preparing to expand the Cottage Garden again,
and our new wall is complete; the surrounding beds waiting to be planted.
The plaque that now graces our Memorial Garden calls out our purpose and will be filled with names of sponsors whose contributions will support the dogs.
Speaking of dogs…Dee Dee, featured here last week doing her ballet has some new joyous photos to share. The going home kind. You can see them here. Happy life, Dee Dee girl!
“Now and then the light will fall on a particular point in time, illuminating it for a moment before the wind seals up the gap, and the world is in shadows again.” ~ Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists
Jody and I hung a new wind chime from the plum tree. It makes a deep and delightful sound as if it is calling the creatures to the garden as the day began to disappear.
“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh
A beautiful August evening in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden.
Wordless Wednesday: Yum
Garden Ballet
Monarch Butterflies are doing dances all through the butterfly bed in the Homeward Bound Memorial Garden. We have created a haven for them with Butterfly Bush, Milkweed, Lantana, Verbena and a host of others.
As long as they stay still, I can pretty much capture them.
In flight – not so much.
I was able to capture the dance of this rare specimen, however. Quite the ballet – don’t you think?
Take a bow, Dee Dee! Such a cutie.
Wordless Wednesday: Flutter, Flitter, Flap
Healing hearts
“The human heart has a way of making itself large again even after it’s been broken into a million pieces.” ― Robert James Waller, The Bridges of Madison County
There is no right or wrong way to heal from loss.
Some people need time and retreat. Others find comfort among others.
Sometimes, the best thing for heartache is to open your heart to another.
Human loss and canine loss may not be the same thing, but canines have a way of healing a human heart. And when the canine is also in need of healing – the bond is more special still.
Fancy came to Homeward Bound from another rescue because the cancer inside her was malignant and they knew we could and would help at Homeward Bound. It was removed, but it will return. When? We don’t know. And to Chuck, it doesn’t matter.
Some flowers are perennial –
they come back season after season.
Others, have but one season –
and some – just one day.
Their beauty fills us equally – maybe even more so when we know our time with them is short.
A flower no more knows how long it has to bloom that we do. Ignorance is bliss. But humans who purposefully open their hearts to animals knowing their seasons are short have a special place on this earth and beyond.
“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” ~ Thomas Campbell
Chuck says that Fancy will be treated like a queen. A queen doing an angel’s work here on earth.
Purple: Royalty in the Garden
The color purple is associated with royalty, nobility, luxury, and power.
Purple also represents meanings of wealth, extravagance, creativity, wisdom, dignity, grandeur, devotion, peace, pride, mystery, independence, and magic.
The color purple is a rare occurring color in nature and as a result is often seen as having sacred meaning.
Purple, unlike violet, is not one of the colors of the visible spectrum. It is called a non-spectral color. It exists in culture and art, but not, in the same way that violet does, in optics. It is a combination of two primary colors. Purple combines the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red.
Because the purple color is created by combining a strong warm with a strong cool color, the color retains both warm and cool properties.
On one hand, the color purple can boost imagination and creativity, on the other, too much purple can cause moodiness.
Purple is said to be associated with spirituality, the sacred, higher self, passion, third eye, fulfillment, and vitality.
It is said to uplift spirits, calm the mind and nerves, create feelings of spirituality, increase sensitivity, and encourage imagination and creativity.
The color purple and its lighter lavender shades introduce romance to nature; think lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet flowers. Lavender suggests uniqueness, while purple invokes mystery.
Purple is considered a cool color in landscape design. Its appearance has a calming effect in a garden.
Purple plants visually recede in a garden, helping to make a small space feel larger.
Purple was one of the first colors used in prehistoric art. The artists of Pech Merle cave other Neolithic sites in France used sticks of manganese and hematite powder to draw and paint animals and the outlines of their own hands on the walls of their caves.
Its complimentary color is yellow.
Gardens For Goldens 