Garden and Thoughts...

Our garden is growing and blooming and giving us much joy right now! This morning I walked around with the camera to snap a few photos for you.

Incredibly fragrant jasmine!

And while we stroll through the garden together, I thought I'd share a little of why I've been so sporadic with my blogging.

The first hydrangea

In the last few months, several people dear to me have become very ill and it has affected me in ways I didn't see coming.

Lots of tomatoes are growing already

And while a couple of them have recovered completely, others are still in the midst of treatments and I still haven't found my equilibrium yet.

A gorgeous begonia we thought would not make it
through the winter is now blooming beautifully!

Luckily, everyone in my family is well and healthy and I am very grateful for that! But still, when dear friends are having trouble, my world feels off.

We started it last year from a single leaf we picked off a plant in town.

Every day I seem to vacillate between wanting to be "out there" and connect with he world or hiding in a cave with a good book, some tea and pastries (of course!) and let the world pass me by for a while.

A few blueberries are growing already.

There are days I have to unplug from it all (e-mail, phone, internet) and just be with myself and my little family here in our nest.

The pomegranate bush is getting ready to flower.

This has reminded me that life is not ever going to stay the same and that everything is changing all the time. I had forgotten how to just go with the flow.

And if you don't go with it and adapt to every day's new normal, you get beat up by life.

And that's what happened to me. And now I am finding back to myself and art and blogging and connecting with my friends and just enjoying my life, which really is very good!

Our fig tree is loaded with hundreds of figs!
I see many good meals in our future...

Throughout this uncertain time I was brought face to face with some things I carry around with me. The need to be in control, for example, when everything is changing around me. And when your friends are experiencing difficult times, you realize really quickly how none of that is in your control.

The huge oleander is stunning!

And that is hard for me. Just "being there" is extremely difficult - I like to know I'm doing something useful. Do you know what I mean?

The other day we were without internet for a couple of days. We thought it was a modem problem, but it turns out Daniel was painting in his office and unplugged the cable, which was in the closet and he thought was a cable to nowhere. It made us laugh when we realized what happened.

Beautiful yarrow!

But it also gave us a couple of days without internet connection which was really good for me. While I was knitting, I started to listen to the audio version of "Practicing the Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle, which was exactly what I needed.

Even the mexican petunias are blooming already.
They'll keep flowering into November. 

To come back to the present moment. Into my body. Observing my thoughts and emotions and allowing them to pass through me. When I get off-center, I am everywhere but in the present moment. But I've been practicing and it's been very good for me!

That and cooking and knitting. Cooking is so wonderful to me because it completely engages all of my senses and there is no way not to be fully present. Plus, there's good food at the end, which is definitely pleasant!

And knitting seems to organize and calm my mind. I don't knit creatively, I knit patterns and that's what I need to sort things out in my mind. It works like a charm every time!

This mini-break from the internet did me so much good that I think I am going start doing that occasionally. I see some people signing off for the weekends and I'm beginning to think that might be a good idea. It allows me time to read and paint and just be with Daniel.

My art has suffered as well during this time, but I've found my way back to painting again. And it feels pretty good. I'm not quite fully immersed yet, but I figure that'll come with time.

Gorgeous milkweed flowers.

Patience seems to be required these days - with myself and everything - and I'm not very good at patience, in case you hadn't noticed...

What do you do to find back to yourself after your world has been thrown off-kilter? Does it take you long or are you one of those people who roll up their sleeves and just keep going? I wish I were a little more like that...

In any case, now you know why blogging has been so sporadic for me. I'm hoping it'll be back full-force again as I so enjoyed sharing with you. We'll see...

In the meantime, thank you so much for your visits and your patience!

❧ Silke