my thanksgiving

 My Thanksgiving


I've got great expectations
I've got family and friends
I've got satisfying work
I've got a back that bends
 For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

For every moment of joy
Every hour of fear
For every winding road that brought me here
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

 For everyone who helped me start
And for everything that broke my heart
For every breath, for every day of living
This is my Thanksgiving

lyrics by Henley


. I am thankful for rain and my garden and for all the beauty that I can visit.  I am thankful for my blogger friends that comment and that I learn so much from. I am thankful for the bounty of food that is available to us. I am thankful for new friends and their kindness, generosity and patience. . I'm thankful for art, music and that  I can paint.  But mostly, I am thankful for those who  love me in spite of me.  My cup runneth over.

moon flower

 Well, my cirrus really outdid herself with 10 blooms. Three blooms the first night and 7 the next.. The night was silent and there was a full moon and the air was filled with perfume.  It was magical.   I am proud of  her as some people never are blessed with blooms. She likes lots of rain and warm humidity.  I have purchased about three dragon fruit and hopefully they will do as well too.

The Night-Blooming Cereus 

FLOWER of the moon! 
Still white is her brow whom we worshiped on earth long ago; 
Yea, purer than pearls in deep seas, and more virgin than snow. 
The dull years veil their eyes from her shining, and vanish afraid, 
Nor profane her with age—the immortal, nor dim her with shade.

 It is we are unworthy, we worldlings, to dwell in her ways; 
We have broken her altars and silenced her voices of praise.
 She hath hearkened to singing more silvern, seen raptures more bright; 
To some planet more pure she hath fled on the wings of the night,— 
 Flower of the moon! 

 Yet she loveth the world that forsook her, for, lo! once a year
 She, Diana, translucent, pale, scintillant, down from her sphere
 Floateth earthward like star-laden music, to bloom in a flower,
 And our hearts feel the spell of the goddess once more for an hour.

 See! she sitteth in splendor nor knoweth desire nor decay,
And the night is a glory around her more bright than the day,
And her breath hath the sweetness of worlds where no sorrow is known;
And we long as we worship to follow her back to her own,— 
Flower of the moon! 


Harriet Monroe


 

the white dot is the full moon

 

doesnt this iphone take great pictures at night?

Boktoberfest rolls out the barrel

Yes, it has rolled around  to Boktoberfest time  at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales,Florida. It's the annual pilgrimage of gardeners to visit the gardens to check up on the blooms, perhaps steal a few cuttings (don't tell), and enjoy the setting without having to pay the entry fee. And, of course, we buy a few plants from the vendors and listen to cheesy German music. Well, I do have a rich German heritage! 

I always have a load of fun and the husband goes home with pockets empty and cart full. I always purchase a few ferns from the fern guy, buy some tillandsias, and marvel at the exotics. And every time I visit, I find new vistas and plants to marvel in bloom. This year was an unseasonably warm 92 degrees so next year I plan on going bright and early!

If you want to read about this garden you can go to last years post of mine. There you can find its history and interesting facts.

Trippin' on the light fantastic

We have had so much rain and the last 2 days have been ablaze with strong hot white light and it has spotlighted the color and beauty in my garden

 

Summer LightS

Summer Light- Thru the Trees

Summer Light - Spotted Me
Summer Light - Palest Gold
Summer Light - Bright and Bold

I Saw Summer Light Descend
Summer Light, Made Shadows Bend
Summer Light, On An Emerald Pond
I Reached Out… It Touched My Palm

Summer Light, It Fell Like Powder
Or a Floating Incandescent Feather
Came Down, Like A Sheer, White Swan
Summer Light – Lifted Wing-Like Arms

So Sunrays Slanted – Shone-Misty
Summer Light-Beams, Embraced Me
Warm, Wonderful Summer Light
Touch Me Tender, Solar- Might

Summer Light, When I Was Lost
Summer Light, Found Me Before Frost
Summer Light - None Else Looked For Me…
Summer Light Said, “I Always See…”

I Love Summer Light

 

New Jersey’s Hereford Inlet Lighthouse Garden in June

Garden Song

  Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow.

All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground.
Inch by inch, row by row, Someone bless the seeds I sow.
Someone warm them from below, 'til the rain comes tumbling down.

Pulling weeds and picking stones, man is made of dreams and bones.
Feel the need to grow my own 'cause the time is close at hand.
Grain for grain, sun and rain, find my way in nature's chain,
to my body and my brain to the music from the land.

Plant your rows straight and long, thicker than with prayer and song.
Mother Earth will make you strong if you give her love and care.
Old crow watching hungrily, from his perch in yonder tree.
In my garden I'm as free as that feathered thief up there.

Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow.
All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground.
Inch by inch, row by row, Someone bless the seeds I sow.
Someone warm them from below, 'til the rain comes tumbling down. 

John Denver

This Victorian cottage garden delights visitors daily at New Jersey’s Hereford Inlet Lighthouse. At the southeast corner of the Jersey shore, in the picturesque community of North Wildwood, NJ

 The lighthouse grounds display the gardening genius of designer and caretaker Steve Murray. Steve designed the lighthouse gardens in 1986 and now spends volunteer hours tending his creation. The plot’s care precludes chemicals. “The caterpillar munching on parsley in June may be the black swallowtail we look forward to seeing later,” he says.

Today, the not-quite-1-acre lot features “little garden rooms separated by plants, shrubs, and trees, where people can stroll around and turn a corner to discover what comes next,” Steve says.   Hedges fence in the fragrant herb garden, which brims with lavender, rosemary, scented geraniums, and pineapple sage. Japanese black pines stand guard with indigenous shrubs such as bayberry, beach plus, and viburnum. 

garden nymph