The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

[sick of being sick]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Okay, this is Ruby... See how she spreads over the rocks and ashes and makes everything beautiful!

[rubywillow]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Vick, I was talking about your health, dear heart, not your spirit. And I LOVE orchids. Just bought 2 huge pots of them, have about 6 more here I baby thru the winter. They are so exotic, beautiful, but the blooms last forever!!

[Saving Grace]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Ruby,
I have so enjoyed this. OK, me too! :bigwink:

[Saving Grace]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Ruby,
I spent a large portion of my adult life on a ranch in the Sandhills of NE. We had wild roses. I know this poem is long, but I think of you this way....you are very dear to my heart.



My Wild Rose.
I had a garden, which I kept
With busy hands and tender care;
And once, while carelessly I slept,
Fanned softly by the drowsy air,
A wild rose to my garden crept,
And blossomed there.

O, sweet surprise. It seemed to me,
Some fair hand, my heart to bless,
Had brought it there, from wood or lee.
It came unsought 'twas loved no less;
I stooped and touched it tenderly,
With soft caress.

I grew to love it passing well;
While strange exotics, rich and rare,
With heart of gold and crimson bell,
Paid grudgingly for constant care,
My wild rose, as in a woodland dell,
Bloomed fresh and fair.

I watered not, I did not prune,
I tied it not with cord or thong;
Yet, morn by morn and noon by noon,
Through days of summer, hot and long,
And underneath the midnight moon,
From branches strong

Hung clustered blossoms sweet and red;
And day by day and week by week,
I trod the path which toward it lead.
Whate'er my mood. I did not speak,
But close against bowed my head
And pressed my cheek.

I think of it with sudden thrill.
Now wide lands lie, deep water flows,
Smiles many a vale, looms many a hill
Between me and the garden-close;
Yet fondly I remember still
My sweet wild rose.

__Ellen P. Allerton.
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[Grateful]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Oh, Saving, that poem is so very beautiful!! What a perfect tribute for Ruby. She has made all of us smile today and laugh and open up....I am even in a giddy mood because of her. Ruby-thank you, so very much! I have learned a lot today....I never heard of the flower that you named RC after. You really are full of wisdom. Also, Swannie's flower is very beautiful..just like her.

[rubywillow]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Grateful, I think of the primrose with you. I LOVE this little flower, that tucks away anywhere and blooms it's heart out.


Panno, another one of my favorites, the pansy. This time of year, they're showing their sweet faces everywhere.


Grace, even before you gave me your hint, I thought of the wild, rambling, rose. It blooms here in May, in white and pink. This was the best pic, so here you are in white...........

[Saving Grace]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Thank you Ruby. You've touched all our hearts today......again.

[rubywillow]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Truck is tough, comes back through the cold, and loves the South, the wild wood fern...........


Tony is another of my favorites, Rosemary. I grow it EVERYWHERE, because it's so dependable, adaptable, and useful.................
[

I can't pick my favorite from the following. I love ALL flowers, plants. Here are a few of the ones that grow here, and I have special memories of my late loved ones because of............................
Dogwood


Wild flame azalea.................


Lily of the valley.....................


I had a BLAST doing this today. There are others I've yet to post, but don't want to become annoying with my little game. Not ONE of the flowers is not a favorite of mine, one I grow, plus so many others. I could post pages of them, and not run out of ones I grow or have tried. So, remember, you are all part of the bouqet of life, and this group of wonderful friends. And there is beauty in each of you that you don't see in yourselves, but I do.

[NoraC]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Thank you Ruby! I've really enjoyed this.

[sick of being sick]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Ruby, you have made us all feel beautiful and special today. Thank you! It takes all the different flowers to really make a beautiful garden! Saving, I am so happy you enjoyed Ruby's game today. Sometimes, when we get so bogged down in life, it can just take a simple, little thing in life to get our minds off our problems, and focus on how much we are loved. I have made the greatest friendships here that I have ever had in my life and each one of you are so very precious to me. I hate to end this on a bad note, but Trucker/Bill really needs our prayers. His sister had him evicted today. The police followed him around while he gathered a couple of days worth of clothes. He is staying in a hotel and he is low on the money to eat. He buys all his groceries at the beginning of the month, so all his food is at the house. He is suppose to go to an emergency heariing in the morning to try to get back in the house, since he had already filed papers on the boyfriend to keep him away from him. He really is going through a hard time. When people come to me, I want to help them so badly, but this is someone who needs ALL our help! I love you all so much! Vicki

[rubywillow]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Thanks, Vick. And if anyone talks to truck, tell him I'm concerned about him, hate this is happening, but he WILL come out on top. She can and should be prosecuted for filing a false report.

[fennel]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

I hope Truck can regain residency @ the house. He filed those papers & all! The judge should take that into consideration. Thinking of you, trucker.

[Grateful]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Good morning, my flower friends. Vicki...I am going to ask Biz to call you today regarding Trucker...he lives close to where Trucker is and maybe there is something he can do to help him...please keep us posted, okay? I am so glad that he has you!

[sunshinedaisies]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

WHY was truck evicted????? I am obviously missing a whole chunk of info here - but poor Truck - if anyone talks to him please tell him he is in my prayers and I am rooting for him - she has obviously taken advantage of him - what on earth is going on??

Good morning everyone..... what an awful start to the day. Prayers for Truck everyone....

Love, Sun xxx

[rubywillow]

The Journey begins here...So Get your ass in gear for February

Good morning, all. Here is a story, and a parable, I particularly like. Hope it means something to you, too.
The Donkey in the Pit
A parable on pain and gain


By Yaakov Lieder

Once, when one of my daughters was eleven years old, she complained about a pain in her knee. Seeing nothing wrong with her knee, I suggested that it was probably growing pains. My daughter didn't like the explanation. "Why can't we grow without pain?" she demanded.

Unfortunately, in real life, growth is often associated with pain. As the famous saying goes, "No pain -- no gain." While we may not have control over the "pain" part, especially when it’s caused by others, we do most definitely have control over the "gain" part.

Most of our learning and growth in life comes not from the good times but rather from the difficult times. During the good period we are happy and therefore do not want anything to change. It is during the bad times, when we are unhappy with the status quo, that we learn how to change things -- how to make our world better than it is.

When life throws challenges at us, we have a choice. We can feel sorry for ourselves and cry and complain, "Why me?" Or we could stop and say to ourselves: "What can I do, given the new circumstances that have arisen?"

I once asked an elderly wise person whom I used to approach for advice, "Where do you get such good judgement from?" He answered, "Good judgment comes from bad experience." He related to me the following story, which had a profound effect on me.

One day, a donkey fell into a pit. The animal cried and whined for hours while his owner tried to figure out what to do. Finally, the farmer decided that since the animal was old, and the pit needed to be covered up anyway, he'd just bury the old donkey right there. He got a shovel and started filling in the pit. The donkey kept up its wailing, but then fell silent. After an hour of furious shovelling, the farmer paused to rest. To his amazement, he saw his old donkey jump out of the pit and trot away!

At first, when the donkey realized what was happening, he cried even more piteously. But then the wise animal hit on a plan. As each spadeful of dirt hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up on the growing mound of earth. Eventually, the mound grow high enough for him to jump out of the pit.

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the pit well is to shake it off and take a step up. We can get out of the deepest pits by not stopping and never giving up. Just shake it off and take a step up.

Try it, it works!