Signs

First, thank you for your comments about my work friend. I appreciate them and they do help. I know she really is in a wonderful place now, much better than anything we can imagine here on earth. While it's not "fair," it was all in the plan of life. And it gave me comfort to see her last Facebook status was a happy, positive one. Something to think about, especially on those days I tend towards the grumpy statuses.

I have an update on the pandas. It seems like I am getting more accomplished since I let go of the need to have them done for the fair. Ain't that always the way? Mei Xiang's foot is starting to come together. I realize, though, where is her arm? Does anyone see it? You would think it would be there so she could support Tai Shan, right? But really, putting off the entry allows me time to really make this what I want it to be, not something half-assedly thrown into a frame. I wanted to have this framed with a nice Jill Rensel custom mat continuing the bamboo. Now I can do that. I think it will really be worth it next year to have exactly what I want, and so that makes it better to not have it this year.



And I wanted to share these little, well, I call them signs.I put three Gerber daisies in this very expensive and crappy banister planter in May (yes, I realize the coconut fiber things are sticking up out of the ground, but I swear there was more dirt in them this spring. The planter is too shallow, nothing really thrives in it--it is literally plant death row). They did fairly well for three weeks, and then went crappy. I thought they were dead and have been wanting to throw them down in the Shrek-swamp beside the house, where all our dead plants go. HTB said that, no, because there was a bit of green still in the leaves, to let them stay in the planter and we'll just empty it in the fall. I looked at him like he was a dork--he is a great yard guy, and his grass-growing skills are pretty good, but he's not that skilled about flowers, or so I thought. Because, darn his hide, we have a second round of flowers! I saw them for the first time this morning.




Maybe I've been too busy this week to stop and notice small things, caught up in the tide of deadlines, shock, and the demands of life, or maybe someone knew I needed to see that when things look at their worst, that it doesn't mean to just abandon them and run, screaming, away, but either way, it's what I needed. A bright spot of color on a Thursday morning. Maybe we're all due for a second blooming?