Meandering

I moved my desk from its spot in the front window. So, when I lift my eyes, I don’t see my friend – the wordless evangelist -- a neighbor’s oak tree that has helped me mark the seasons the past five years we have lived here. (A Wordless Evangelist) I stepped outside and noted that its leaves have not turned – they still are a rich green, unlike other trees, which border our home, are dropping leaves, branches and acorns all over the back yard. 

 

On November 9 -- Sill Green!

Seeing brown leaves falling over red geraniums still blooming in the wonderful cooler days we have been enjoying is odd. What is odder is I did not kill the geraniums this year – I followed the directions for these cheery beauties, bred for Texas heat, and did not over water them.

Coming cold weather this week may expedite the evangelist’s change, and the geraniums’ demise.  Time to get the pansies in before the dirt in the "edited" flowerpots becomes cold and uncooperative.

 

Reduced Number of Plants to Plant

This fall my father’s youngest brother died. Thomas Francis Williams lived to be 100.   As he aged, he never became cold or uncooperative – and he had more than one reason to be bitter or cantankerous – he fought cancer, Guillain-Barr Syndrome and macular degeneration. He lived in a nursing home -- He lost his loving wife seven years ago.  While his world grew more restricted, insular, lonely he was unfailingly happy to hear from my brother or me – he never made a secret that he cherished his daughters.  I believe I saw the fruit of a century’s worth of cultivation in the midst of severe pruning.

It’s never too late to work now on the person I hope to become. Tom Williams modeled what Paul Newman preached – if you have a pulse, you have a purpose.    

May God teach us to number our days, to invest the time we have left time in worthwhile work, and pleasure – and confirm the work of our hands, confirm the work. (Psalm 90)

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. ~Author Unknown

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 Parts of Speech and Suffering

 My Window Now Faces South