Comfort through smiles and tears.....

1. 
   Comfort.... Wow! a very powerful word..perhaps even confusing as it really has so many meanings .....So I looked it up!

   
   

   com·fort

   ˈkəmfərt/

   noun

   1. 1.

      a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint.

      "room for four people to travel in comfort"
   2. 2.

      consolation for grief or anxiety.

      "a few words of comfort"

      synonyms:

      consolation, solace, condolence, sympathy, commiseration; More

   verb

   1. 1.

      make (someone) feel less unhappy; console.

      "she broke down in tears and her friend tried to comfort her"

      
      

      Thats all very good But... What does comfort mean to me? It of course depends on what my inner needs are at the moment. 

      Comfort is that feeling I got when life was tough and I would rush to have my girls close to me...wrapping myself in the protective sheild of our love...feeling its strength. Gathering strength because of their need for me to be strong!

      
      

      Comfort is also the feeling I get sitting in my living room on the couch with a cup of tea and starring into the  fireplace. Sitting on the porch and gazing out over the garden after a long days work. 

      
      

      Comfort is also the feeling I got this morning having been given the opportunity after dropping off my car to walk several blocks and feel my heart pounding, the fresh warm fall air against my skin and blowing my hair. Comfort is the knowledge that I am able to walk! That my health is good enough that I can enjoy these simple joys of life.

      
      

      Comfort is going to bed at night with a full stomach and a roof over my head! 

      
      

      Comfort is the knowledge you have a good friend... Someone you can count on to call you on your s#@t....

      and has your back!..

      
      

      Comfort is a powerful word..... Is there someone you are in a position to reach out to and offer a helping hand in any small way that just might make their day better. 

      
      

      Again a topic I would not normally cover ....Food for thought... Its made me look at the every day things I take for granted and be thankful and find comfort... Comfort here in Michigan for so many people is in their strong love and belief in God. 

      
      

      What gives you comfort? How do you find it? Is it in prayer or with a great cup of coffee...

      
      

      again Im linking this over at the "Story of my Life"... For the Blogtembers last post of the week. 

      I will be back in the garden this weekend and working on several projects. What plans do you have for this weekend. Perhaps now you will look for some way to give comfort to a friend.. Reach out to an elderly family member or a young one who just needs a hug.

      
      

      Kate.

      
      

      http://storyofmylifetheblog.blogspot.com/p/love-story.html

   

   
   

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My friends garden in Okotoks Alberta.

On my trip to Alberta to visit my girls we also took part of a day to catch up with a very good friend.  We meet the first day of college. We were steadfast friends and study partners for the rest of the next two years despite the fact that I graduated from high school 30 years before and he had just graduated. But when your talking plants and design age really didn't make a difference. We both welcomed the friend we found in each other and will remain friends for ever Im sure. 

 The day was off to a promising start... Humor... Do you get it? I will give you a hint for those that didn't, the Die Hard movies... The irony of the fact that both of us had moved and our lives had completely changed was just punctuated by the movers across the street.

 We have talked on the phone and via facebook so we have kept up with each other about all the change,s but getting to see him in his first home was really special. Meeting that special person who has helped him become the confident young man he is. A bigger smile, shoulders back and walking taller. Seeing how together they have created a home that greets you even from the street welcoming and embracing you as a friend.

 No space is wasted in their yard. Even as you walk up the walkway there are vegetable growing along with the flowers. Plants tucked in where ever enough sunlight would reach them.

 Contrasting textures and foliage colours mingle and paint the landscape blending comfortably together.

 A mixture of plant material very familiar to me, as it turned out it was the original plants given to him years before from my garden.. I remember him driving away that day with the back of his pick up full. His father benefited from his creativity for years and plants had been salvaged from that garden as his father moved to another home at the same time as he moved to his new home.

A couple chairs nestled on the front porch to sit with passing neighbors in this friendly community.

They opened up the front yard enough to give an enticing peek yet still have some feeling of privacy tucked in behind the big spruce.

 Plants combined for now until they find their permanent homes. Some will be moved inside as they won't winter over in the harshness of the Alberta winters with their chinooks confusing plants.

 The ceders were planted to give additional height and privacy from neighbors windows. Notice the vegetables tucked in there! Very clever as well as artistically pleasing.

 Some of the planters had herbs in them which are used when they cook.

 Lots of pots with interesting combinations sitting everywhere. 

 They have only been in the house for a couple months and the back yard already has that feeling of settled in comfort.

 He even has a water feature. Look at the height of the Lobelia cardinalis. Its actually sitting in its pot in the water. 

 They've even built the deck around the existing tree and then placed pots around its base.

 A second barrel with different plants on the other side.

 Everywhere I looked there was something else catching my eye. Perennials, shrubs and annuals are mixed.

 A raised bed of vegetables divides the yard with a small mound of grass under a tree before going into the garage.

 Either side of the deck has plantings going in. This back yard is a real sanctuary in the city. With the double level deck and sitting areas their yards are extensions to their living area. They stretched the yard to seem bigger giving it three different levels of interests with pathways and pots that twist and divide the areas from the eyes seeing it all at once. All of this in only a couple months. Just wait till he has the time to finish it and the garden the time to grow into itself.

Dwarf trees are added for a vertical element along with the clematis growing up the painted fence.

We enjoyed cups of tea out on the deck discussing their plans and if felt like I had never left.

They have both promised to come to Michigan to visit and its my hope that while they are here I will be able to take them to the Chicago Botanical Gardens as well as all the others that are more local.

So here I am sharing my friends garden. Do you have friends that you enjoy sitting with discussing plants and design. Have you posted about them? I seem to take my camera every where I go these days. I hope you have enjoyed me sharing with you.

I"ve had a marvelous week in Real Estate.... I've checked off some major stressors in my life following the doctors orders.... Now for a "mental health day"... Im off to the Dahlia fields to let the soothing smile of colourful blooms lighten my mood and ground me.
Have a fabulous weekend... and remember...

Its never too late to be all that you were meant to be......

Kate.
As always it is Fertilizer Friday over at Tootsie Time... So Im joining the party...
go on over and check out all the other great garden posts..You might just make your next best friend!

Butterflys chased hummingbird moths...

"To say I was dreading the dinner party would be the understatement of the century." To make matters worse my husband who was allowed to be "gone" for the evening decided he would just hide out in the family room down in the basement with the dog. What in the world was I going to do if during the garden tour part of the evening the six guests spied my husband lurking in the walkout basement. I decided that I would just tell them the truth. My stomach couldn't handle anymore stress!. I was quaking and feeling sick to my stomach. I was very out of practice cooking and hosting this type of a dinner party. I had been left holding the bag. This dinner was auctioned off as "Some enchanted Evening" to raise money for the Youth of our Rotary club. It should of been hosted at my house during June. However, the lady who organized the auction did not write down who had won the raffled event and so it was only just being held this past Monday. Instead of Interact members playing their instruments out in my garden and serving a BBQ and salad type meal the theme had been changed to a harvest theme and me as the soul person providing everything.  I made a mental check... table set with all my best. Check. Pumpkin soup ready. Check. White wine chilling. Check. Red wine breathing. Check. Garlic wedges with whole grain mustard spread and broiled to perfection. Check.  Beef Carbonnade simmering. Check. Brown ale to accompany the dish. Check. Lemoncello in the freezer to chill and be offered to cleanse the palette after the main course. Check. Apples tossed in my spicy peach jam and cooked as a crumble  ready to be heated. Check. Ice cream pre-scooped into balls and ready in the freezer. Check. Brownies flavoured with Blood Orange and Espresso bean from Fustini's. Check. Fifteen minutes to go... I rush up the stairs and barely slip into my dress when I hear a car. Its not the Rotarian who had offered to arrive early, bringing the wine and greet people for me. Its someone I have never seen before. I rush downstairs to assure them they are in the correct place. Welcoming them in and putting on a smile that hides the heightened level of discomfort, the doubt, the dread! I hear myself offering them drinks and the tour.. Yes the tour, lets go out into the garden. Im comfortable with the garden. Four of the six have arrived. Not the lady who had offered to greet. I was totally on my own. I breathed in telling myself I could do this. I heard myself explaining the garden when I realized I was just about to take them into the meadow where they would be able to see straight into the walkout basement and see my husband watching TV. I spun around and like a deranged mess I herded them to another part explaining the plants and the sculptures. Ending up on the backside and again avoiding the meadow even though one of the ladies was very set on going to see it. My new Canadian friend arrived to give me moral support and we took eveyone inside to get the evening started. Where was my Rotarian friend.. Why wasn't she here?. We couldn't start without her so dinner had been put on hold. Luckily the four knew each other well and Nicole acted as a buffer. Ales, wines were poured. Appetizers brought out. Time ticked loudly in my head. My stomach had every monarch butterfly from my garden chasing the hummingbird moths around in it... It churned.  I felt faint.  Finally the last couple arrived and we were able to seat them at the table. Out went the pumpkin soups. Wine glasses topped. Dishes collected. Then the Beef Carbonnade, boiled potatoes and garlic wedges. Anyone for Lemoncello?. As they sipped the Lemoncello we dished up the apple crisp and ice cream. Put out the brownies and as they finished their last course we quickly put all the dishes in the dishwasher. Nicole left and soon the Rotarians rose to leave. The evening was over and I could relax... I waited for the last car to leave the driveway and heated up some sleepytime tea. grabbed a plate of food and  I climbed the stairs to the loft and crashed on the couch to eat before calling it a night. Check one more thing off the list of stressers removed from my life following doctors orders. I had survived the evening.

I actually laughed when I say todays theme for the Blogtember. I actually lived this story on Monday September 16th...  For anyone just joining in on these posts. Not my usual garden related posts. This is me joining up with other Bloggers over at "Story of my Life" Click http://storyofmylifetheblog.blogspot.com/ to view other bloggers stories...
Tomorrow I will be touring either my garden or a friends for Fertilizer friday... I promise flowers!
Thanks for sticking with me through these unusual topics. Its my way of stepping outside my box.....Sometimes my box gets very very small!.

leave me a comment and let me know you have been. See you walking the garden tomorrow.

Kate

Wednesdays silent walk

Wednesday's Blogtember and OutdoorWednesdays are running together how convenient it is that I actually walked through a new garden tonight just in time to share with you... I hope you enjoy your silent walk......

The daylight fades much quicker this time of year... We were all treated to learning how to make a swag.... I gathered lots of ideas..I hope you did too!.

Kate