Sunday, August 3, 2014

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2008. I remember this moment in time like it were yesterday. We snapped this photo in the FAO Schwartz store in Manhattan. We took Mattie to NYC to visit Memorial Sloan Kettering for a cancer consultation and to also determine whether he qualified for an experimental immunotherapy trial. Between hospital visits, we tried to do kid friendly things with Mattie. As you can see Mattie posed for a photo in front of a huge display of Lego figures. Naturally! Mattie was an enormous Lego fan. He practically built every Lego set on the market in 2008 and 2009, while he was battling cancer. Lego was our form of therapy and it helped all three of us, manage and cope during times of horrific stress and trauma. 


Quote of the day: Flowers are those little colorful beacons of the sun from which we get sunshine when dark, somber skies blanket our thoughts. ~ Dodinsky

Peter and I spent some time outside today in our garden as well as just out and about in general. Tomorrow will be a writing day for me at home, so a change of scenery was necessary! The colors within our garden bring me great joy and considering I am spending a lot of time at home this summer, I am so happy to have this space! I am in love with petunias! Peter tolerates them, they aren't his favorite color though! But he has gotten used to the fact that there are some flowers which I deem as "happy" flowers and therefore my garden must always have them in it! Petunias are one of them. Next to the petunias you will notice a small butterfly wind chime. This chime was given to me by Mattie many years ago, when he was healthy! He went out one weekend with Peter, and when he came home apparently he brought me a gift that he found for me while shopping at Eckerd (which is like CVS). This butterfly chime has been in this same location since Mattie gave it to me.... through the snow, rain, and sun!

This year we planted portulacas or moss roses! Typically these are used a ground cover, but I decided to plant them in our flower boxes! They have been stunning producers all summer long! Peter loves them because the flowers open up with the sun, and close up in the evening. Meanwhile the bees simply can't get enough of these flowers by day! We are a very popular stop!

Though we do not have actual land and dirt, everything is in a box, we make very good use of our garden space. We have neighbors who can look right into our garden and we have inspired several around us to try to garden themselves! We are in the heart of the city and therefore gardening is not the pass time of most people. We are rare! But what I do notice is birds know all about us. They visit us and perch in our garden! We have a resident hummingbird who visits us, an orchard oriole (who is a bright yellow bird and gorgeous), many other birds, butterflies, and without a doubt my resident mourning doves who like to sit on Mattie's window sill and coo at me each day.  

This is the White Ginger Butterfly Lily blossom that is starting to develop! My faithful readers may recall that we brought this plant back from the Elizabethan Gardens in the Outer Banks in June! We have been assured that this fragrance from this lily is breathtaking!!! We shall see. 

I leave you tonight with my other happy flower...... the Gerber daisy! I have always loved gerbers! I have them in all colors on our deck. Right now the red ones are in bloom.