11.15.2023 | Ordinary Wednesday

There is a bit of a chill in the air outside in the Garden on this Ordinary Wednesday morning.  The good news is the sun is shining brightly in the blue skies above.  The afternoon temperatures should hit the lower 70s with abundant sunshine.  Winds should be light and variable and another perfect gardening day.  

The holidays are fast approaching.  It is a time of joy and revelry for so many folks but for many others it is a time of sorrow and sadness.  A bit of melancholy accompanies this time of year for the old gardener.  It's not depression but just a time of remembering those who are no longer with us.  Today, that feeling is strongest.  We lost dad fifteen years ago today.  It's been seven years since we lost my brother-in-law on this same date.  Next week will be the first anniversary of the loss of my sweet little Holly Doodle dog.  

The good news is that gardens heal.  When you are melancholy, a garden will comfort you.  When you are defeated, the garden consoles.  When you are lonely, it offers a companionship that is true and ongoing.  When you are weary, the garden will refresh you.  The presence of the Creator of all things is everywhere you look in the garden.  God is in all things and the garden is where I feel that presence. 

Today I'm going out to the garden.  I will walk around and piddle about.  Do a bit of work. Have a little sit.  Later this afternoon the old firepit will burst forth with flame and memory.  A glass of good old John Jameson's finest Irish Whiskey will be poured.  Stories and memories will be shared of lives lived and lives lost.  A bit of melancholy? Yes. Also, a whole lot of love, and hope, and all the faith I can scrape together.  That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden.