Farewell to this year..

Well that is another Christmas come and gone. There seems to be so much going on in the lead up to Christmas. Lots of planning and shopping and choosing and wrapping gifts. Menu planning and decorating then before you know it the big day has come and gone. 

Just another week left and 2014 will be over.

It feels as though this year has gone as quickly as the rest. It has been a year of ups and downs. Of happy days and sad. Of family joys and sorrows.

I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my precious little grandson Samuel. I've been blessed to spend some very happy days with him. We are so excited to know that another little grandchild is due in 2015! Being a grandma brings me more joy that I can express.

our first apples

 We have had the sad news of the loss of a dear cousin to cancer not long ago. My cousin Ellen was a gentle, kind soul and though I did not get the opportunity to see her often because she lived in Northumberland in England, I will cherish the memories I have of her. Coincidentally I had just planted a new rose in my garden called Ellen. I will remember her whenever I see it bloom.

My garden has been a source of constant joy for me. Planting and pruning and waiting for things to grow and blossom. There are always some failures but really just lessons to be learned.

I love watching the seasons through my garden. Summer has been slightly different than last year. More rain but at different times than before. Some plants have flowered later and some have flowered that didn't flower last year. I have changed a few garden beds around and some needed to be moved entirely due to the start of our building of a garage. All of this has been slow in progression but on looking back at photographs you can see the change and growth. 

I have learned some important life's lessons.

 Patience. Patience and more patience!!

I am looking forward to a new year in my garden. A new year to plant and harvest and enjoy. To live peacefully in the beauty and earthiness of it. To dig in the dirt and prune branches. To mulch and weed. To wander and just enjoy all it offers my soul. To just sit and soak in its wonder and beauty. Thank you God for this year and for a new year to come. For this life you've given. For all the joy and for the heartache too. 

This is a gift.

 ALL Of IT..

 “However many years she lived, Mary always felt that 'she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow'.” 
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

December

It is once again the lead up to Christmas. I love this time of year and  I have been fairly organised and I've managed to remain calm and stress free. I have just been able to enjoy it all. Perhaps it's because I am not working outside the home this year.

I still have a few presents to wrap and I will sit down soon and write out our Christmas lunch menu. We have 9 family and friends to sit round our Christmas Table.

I've been able to spend time in the garden which always gives me a feeling of peace.

There have been some terrible things going on in the world lately. Children murdered in their classrooms in Pakistan and a hostage situation here in a Sydney Cafe which left two people dead and some injured. It was quite distressing.

I wrote this on an instagram post about it..

'My heart weeps today. For a world that is broken. For a world where children can be shot in their classrooms. Where madmen can use weapons to kill and destroy. For mothers whose children will not come home. Weep with those who weep.. But I cannot join in the hate. It is too great a burden to bear. Hate fixes nothing.. I stop a moment to mourn the loss of innocents. 
I pray for a better world..'

  

Today I have quietly and purposefully sought silence and 

peace in my garden, taking in the beauty of 

my surroundings and giving thanks for this life I have been

 given.

 It had been raining overnight so there were lovely raindrops on all the petals..