In the Garden

While I am still doing hand work on two quilts inside, there is much and more to do in the gardens outside. Summer has given way to Autumn here, and without regular watering, plants just gave up sooner. I filled the huge trash container with dead plant material, pushing it down. Things will dry even more in it so that when it is picked up on Thursday, the plant material will fall out easily.

As I worked in the yard, I thought about 'happiness' and what that means to me. I found happiness spinning and weaving through every moment, even as I thought about other times, other seasons, other people in my life. In no time at all, I felt surrounded in happiness and pure joy.

Sometimes I think I am a bit of a pollyanna, meaning taking in all that joy and forgetting the sadness, sorrow and pain. Its not that I deny that shadow existence, because I know better. I have a pretty dark side too, though few people want to know that part of me. It is simple balancing of emotions.

For instance, every good quilt made has to have a balance of light and dark. As I get closer to the September Equinox (officially on the 23rd), I cannot help but think about those balances in my quilting work, in the seasons here, in my life. I prefer and work toward balance in my relationships. The last few years have also taught me the value of napping during the day, and ensuring I get enough sleep at night.

It wasn't always that way. Most of my friends laugh when they learn I had to teach myself how to nap. I make sure I exercise, especially because quilting might seem to be a more sedentary pastime (it is not for me).

Anyway, I only got to the garden North of my home today. I let the wild sunflowers take over, bloom, feed the birds, dry up, and then need to be chopped down, chopped in sections in order to fit. They get huge. I also cut down my neighbor's as well, chopping them into sections so she could gather them and fill her trash container. And then I watered just a bit. With the drought restrictions, we are all our own water-police even with the meters measuring out our gallon usage. It needs more work there before Winter sets in. (pic reference is to House Stark in Game of Thrones on HBO)

I spoke with my Son this morning and he told me how surprised he was that the Constellations quilt glowed in the dark. Well now, I had tested that fabric for glow-in-the-dark and never saw it. He said that it takes awhile after the lights go off before the glow is visible. Made me laugh. I didn't wait long enough in the darkness to see the light.