This rose is opening in my garden today. It looked like a special star early this morning.
I wish you all Peace, Love and Hope.
“May the Angel of Awakening stir your heart
To come alive to the eternal within you,
To all the invitations that quietly surround you…”
(John O’Donohue)
On Friday afternoon last week our cat Jazz had yet another crisis and I made the sad, but mercy filled decision to have him euthanased. He was 15.5 years old and had been suffering increasingly from arthritis and associated health problems.
Lucy, the vet at our friendly and very caring vet clinic had tried everything to assist him maintain a reasonable quality of life as an indoor, pampered cat but sadly since Easter her efforts and our diligent care was becoming increasingly less effective.
I have returned to the many, many photos we have and they offer a wonderful record of this sociable, outgoing, vigorous, adventurous, friendly, funny cat who survived many escapades, gave us worrying times but who adored us and was a constant source of fun, laughter and love.
Jazz outlived his brother PG by just over two years. We got the kittens in 1999 and they grew to be adults who very happily co-existed.
The following photos tell something of why Jazz is so sorely missed now.
And the last much quieter Jazz.
For everyone in Aotearoa/New Zealand……. some softness after a troubling week.
Love subdues all, and I am subdued by Love.
By love’s salt, I have been made sweet as sugar.
~Rumi
I could not resist posting this group hug photo of cats….Enjoy!
We had a wedding at Xmas time 2011 and my husband (father of the groom) received a rose for his Xmas present from the newly weds. The rose is called “The Wedding rose”.
It has put its roots down into the garden and is responding to water, feeding and mulching by putting out new blooms.
I took my camera out in the dusky light last evening and captured this lovely bloom.
I went looking today for a quote about roses and really enjoyed the cleverness of this quote. It also seemed appropriate for a rose that commemorates weddings.
“Won’t you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. On that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
– Teilhard de Chardin
This piece was read out as part of a speech at our recent family wedding. There are many versions of it and different titles for it and the original source seems buried in the mists of time. But the advice is relevant and useful to all our relationships.
Plant Three Rows of peas:
Peace of mind
Peace of heart
Peace of soul
Plant Four Rows of squash:
Squash gossip
Squash indifference
Squash grumbling
Squash selfishness
Plant Four Rows of Lettuce
Lettuce be faithful
Lettuce be kind
Lettuce be patient
Lettuce really love one another
Plant Three Rows of Turnips
Turnip with a smile
Turnip for service
Turnip to help one another
We must also have Thyme
Thyme for each other
Thyme for family
Thyme for friends
Water freely with patience and cultivate with affection. There is much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow!
Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
How often news reports contain only doom and gloom but today I heard an item that made my heart sing and gives me hope.
The people responsible for doing home care service reviews in 5 District Health Boards around the country are going to return to that old fashioned concept of meeting people in their own homes to do these assessments.
For the last year assessments have been conducted via telephone. The move to this, at the time, appalled so many people yet despite valid protests and concerns the scheme went ahead. It was heart-wrenching to hear of elderly or disabled people losing their support systems after a telephone interview.
I love emails and the contacts that the internet brings to me but I also love and value getting together with people. We cannot do everything from a remote location and the care of people seems to me to be one area of life that requires trusting, face to face relationships.
ordinarygoodness 