Gardening Inspiration

Well I have looked long and hard and as yet can still not find a photo of a garden I weeded today, I wanted a photo of what it looked like before I began and then mostly weeded, completely cleared, with new plants, and then when the plants have all bloomed! (Over a process of time) but I cannot find a photo to begin with yet... :(

But I will go ahead and explain anyway! I've picked this section of our garden to 'attack' and started today! I am in the 'gardening mood' yes strange as it sounds. I have a few books on beautiful gardens. 'A year in my garden' is a book I am going through at the moment. And it's pictures inspired me to tackle our own dry garden.

The gardens around here are in 'great need of an English touch up' ;)

In Tasmania we had an English garden with roses, lavender, snap dragons, lupins, daisies, rhododendrons, pansies, lobelia's etc. Up here due to the drought we came to a dry garden with a kind of 'cactus look' to it. Poor Mumsie...

Due to the fact we didn't think we'd be here very long we didn't do much with all the gardens (some we quickly got into) but we've been here five years now and I am really dying to see flowers in the garden again when spring and summer arrive! Its funny...when ever I see vases of flowers around the house (because believe me if I had a huge garden full of flowers every room in the house would have a vase of flowers in it!) but whenever I see the flowers in and out the house its strange how I always feel so blessed and happy. Inspired always! What a Creator our God is to design and create all those beautiful flowers!! Thank you God!

To get more of this inspiration and to get the scent in the air I was on my hands and knees late this morning attacking this garden that had indulged itself in too many weeds for too long. Gabbie kept me company and my cat (so cute) sat under me and played with my shirt! I cleared a good bit of the garden and discovered a hare had made various tunnels all through it how amazing! I still have more to do but when it is cleared to perfection and the soil has been made good again I am going to plant lupins, daisies, and poppies and this other flower...I forget its name...but it is tall and pretty!

Lupins and all usually come out around October/November (I am pretty sure) so next year who knows maybe we'll have flowers galore again!

It requires a lot of work but it was fun and its weird the older I am getting (lol and I'm not even that old) but I am getting more into gardening. I've always wanted a beautiful garden when I have my own house and I guess this is me experimenting and designing what I can in the gardens I have :)

So that was a 'garden update!' lawl!

Love Me

p.s I found a wattle tree today on my walk that has branches low to the ground but no flowers yet but when they come! :)

This is funny

Lol,

I was searching for a photo of this garden today and I stumbled upon these photos that we took ages ago when Benjamin and I were...well I was probably fourteen? That would make him thirteen I am not sure...but anyway! Jess got us two together (I think she was inspired by Casino Royale - although these photos are nothing like them!) but she got us two out on the front lawn and snapped away!

Ha, ha, ha here are some of the photo's in black and white...

Aren't they funny?! We were so little! (Although no shock Benjamin was taller than me even back then!)

My hero (Lol)

Guess I didn't think he was that good a hero...

Boy oh boy are we strange or what? But that being said it is fun, I remember having to pretend I was punched and 'fall to the ground dramatically' - sure I got sore knees and wrists and even grass stains but its still fun! Benjamin was having the time of his life because he had to pretend to be the puncher (lol)

Well...there ya go! Hope you like, I don't normally put up photo's I probably should more often!

Love Me

About today

Hello,

I thought I would explain a bit about my day for a change...

This morning, with a small group from the ensemble I am in, we went down to Grantham to present them with the money we had raised from our Theatre Restaurant, it was a good experience and one I was glad to be apart of. To help people who had been traumatized so, although we only went and chatted for about half an hour, sung a little of Thank You for the Music for them and then presented them with the money. I am sure a listening ear and a gesture that they are not forgotten is what might help them the most? God thank you that we might help them!

After we did that we went home and my sister headed off to Brisbane while my other sister cooked us a delicious lunch while I baby-sited my adorable nephew! I basically carried him about outside let him watch the dog, listened to him tell me all about his hat in his own 'baby language' then I played hide 'n' seek with him which was so funny as he kept on laughing whenever he knew I was around the corner he was coming up to (but boy it was tiring crawling everywhere instead of walking) then I fed him his lunch played some more hide 'n' seek then took him outside and he crawled about me and used me to stand up (sooo adorable!)

Then I helped Mumsie arranged her craft items for a 'photo shoot' then while she snapped the photo's I cleaned the kitchen (I am sure this 'every day' stuff is very interesting, ha, ha, ha)

After a cup of tea I went off for my walk - I was deserted by Gabbie and even my cat! They walked with Mumsie and Mikayla who walked behind me - but I was too busy hunting for the wattle flowers that are coming out. I love wattle flowers!!

They always come out late July/August (of course) and I love it! I used to look forward to it in Tassie and now here, their smell is in the air! There is a paddock across from our front gate and towards the back of it there are tons of wattle trees! But the only problem is I cannot pick any...because...I am too short! :( so sad...I found a tree full of them today and they looked sooo soft and I love burying my face in them (no matter how weird that sounds) but I could - not - reach - them! Boo hoo...

I'll have to hunt deeper for a tree I can actually reach the first limbs of, or at least climb, wattle trees are normally pretty skinny and tall! Or maybe I'll take my 'trusty 'n' tall' brother for a walk...he could reach...yah! :) I must have a bunch! They disappear quickly and don't even last long in a vase - but at least I'll have a bunch! Perhaps its the memory of Tassie that's in them that makes me love them so much...I dunno...but wattle flowers and wild cherry tree blossoms really make me feel happy! Cherry blossoms are the first sign that 'spring is in the air' how exciting!!

But I'll end there before I get carried away with flowers etc - sorry if this bores you! I am sure there are plenty of people out there who agree with me though! :)

Love Me

The subject of love

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perserves." 1 Corinthians 13: 4 - 7

We are given a complete definition of love. If I went through the list of what love is and compare it to what I have there is only one way to see it. We love in what way we can as we were born sinners.
I cannot tick those boxes. There a some days when I can tick it on a certain topic or situation, which is a huge relief. But most of the time I think I am the most selfish person alive! There really is no other way of looking at it.

But we are also given the perfect example of love from our Creator and through Jesus Christ.

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love come from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4: 7 - 8 (emphasis mine)

God is love

He is love and he gave us a detailed example of love and he continues to give us everlasting proof of his love. When I hear this all I want to do is give my all to be a mirror of that love. To set aside all thought to oneself and really (really) care for other. Even if my reflection is perhaps rusted due to that fact that we are sinful, I still want to give it my all despite the mistakes I know I will make. You can never fail it you try.

That would be my first choice of a 'career' to be a mirror of God's love. Definitely a life long commitment! But God is doing it to us and for us. The least I can do is try my hardest to do the same in His Name.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are." 1 John 3:1

Love Me

A thought....

"If you believe a door to have opened fight for what you believe."

I was thinking about it...and in cases when we believe something within our hearts but it appears that other people don't believe it, we should fight (obviously not physically but as it comes) for what we believe. Because God opened the door to us. And it may be he might put us in a situation when we must fight for it before we can have it to see whether we will do what he has placed upon our hearts.

Our fighting might even be what makes the person see. The other person (or people) might need a push depending on their personality. If they are reserved...shy I guess...
There might be more reassurance for some in watching someone fight for what they believe.

Its hard to explain...but it was just a thought

I've been writing lots of little thoughts down in one of my many notebooks and thought I'd put one up. I have more time to write now as I have completed Cert IV in Small Business Management. Now I have a few weeks break before I begin my Diploma. So I shall be dedicating most of it to my singing and some of it to finishing off a clock I am painting for my sister. Of course all in the afternoons after work and weekends. I am loving it!

See ya!

Love Me

Inspiration....

Hello once again,

I have been thinking of how to feel inspired and have a fresh outlook on your day or what you are doing when you're feeling like I do right now...

Sniff...sniff...I am getting another cold...and I have to type up a whole module on website management...yah fun....so when you're feeling gluggy, your head is feeling stuffy and you have to sit down and type up info on a subject you are not at all feeling 'into' what do you do?

In my case I cannot go 'scrap the module I'll design instead' no I have a deadline and it has to be done! As I mentioned earlier (I think)

But perhaps there a little things you can do that will make it easier and even almost like a 'light weight' on your shoulders. I am sorry if I don't make sense.

Solutions:

Well No.1

Its a 'Pray Point' - pray that God gives you (me) a fresh mind and inspiration to take on the module (in my case) and be thankful I have the opportunity to learn!

Once you've prayed the road is already easier...next step is to try and make the life around you inspirational. Perhaps where you're sitting?

No2. Find a good spot to study and perhaps set up a plate of yummy food with tea or coffee. If you're having tea - well mumsie and I are into the 'english style of everything' and so we have the tea pot and the tea cups, so I would be having tea - but set yourself up! Just not to the point of distraction...

No3. Of course set up a music list suited to you, preferrable not songs that will make you want to jump up and dance (a weakness of mine, result? My module remains untouched)

No4. Like we all know 'take regular breaks' a break for me might even last half an hour I would jump into my walking shoes and power walk away with the dog (and funny enough my cat 'my little baby' loves going on walks with me although he is sooo slow)

But yeah...obvious tips to a point but some we forget about and get 'bogged down' in our modules - I swear I have nightmares about 'website modules and their deadlines' - but its all good! :)

I gotta go,
Love Me

Learning moods...

Hello,

Was looking on-line and this was the verse of the day on the Bible Gateway website:-

"I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous laws." Psalm 119:7 NIV

And it really stuck with me as I have been in a strange 'learning mood' of late. I feel so...well...little I suppose. The urge to learn all I can while I can.

And I am doing my Cert IV in Small Business Management and so I am learning...but its a different learning. In my eyes there are so many different ways of learning depending on different moods ;)

With Cert IV, when I study my modules (which might I add I have been doing like crazy these past two weeks as I must complete it by the 26th and then dear readers I am finished! Yah!) but anyway when I study them I'm in the mood of 'put on your corporate glasses and slip on the heels!' and 'work, work, work!' kinda like...'lets get everything ticked off the list'

...weird I know...I pity my sister lol!

But I really feel the urge to learn from God, the bible, and I know he achieves this in different ways. And that is a eager mood, but yet one of peace as well. Excitement!

I realised the other day on the way home from work I was inwardly freaking out at being so unwise...I thought 'I need to educate myself' and in some ways yes (in regards to what I was thinking of) but I was forgetting to pray for God to open my mind and help me learn. To give me wisdom. How silly is that!

No wonder my road was going no where!

So I have been praying for God to give me a keen mind, and a humble attitude. I have years of learning ahead and I need patiences as well. But as the verse says I will also be praising God every hour (every time I even think about it! Which might be closer to every minute!) as I learn from him.

But I do have to be careful I don't jump into an independent mood...I - ahem...confess...I do sometimes (not independent of God - independent of humans - once again, weird I know!) I really feel like standing up myself. Perhaps it comes from being the second youngest in my family. I really feel like standing on my own and breathing on my own! (Hello long walks!) But I don't reckon this is good, as my good friend told me once. "I think you're going to have to learn how to be less independent..." Yah...I know...I am trying :)

Well...I guess this blog has been one of interesting points, realisation, and confessions...but once again it is a glimpse into a normal life. And I reckon everyone needs that other than reading the romantic fantasy of a book girl's life (not that that's all we have!) I have started writing all my own stories because I cannot stand sooo many books that are out there. They are unrealistic and oh my goodness do not get me started! Phew...lets stop there!

I shall end by counting all the good authors I know off that really write decent, and realistic and inspiring books.

Francine Rivers, Jane Austen, Louise May Alcott, Elizabeth Gaskell...hmm I am sure there a more modern ones but I cannot think of them right now...

So 'till next time!

Love 'Miss Old Fashioned' ;)

Been Thinking...

Hello once again (and so soon, see I am getting good!)

This song came to mind today, amongst a lot of other things. I feel so much at peace with God and his love has filled my heart (again) and I so love the feeling!

I read a good verse today from Job and it so suited exactly what I had been thinking about lately...but more on that later (once I figure it all out properly and write it before God so that he can show me how to make heads and tails of my own thoughts - lol)

Here's the song - we had a longer break at work today and I typed it down...it's one of the quiet songs that you play on a Saturday morning rain or shine and just when you're cleaning up and feeling like I am. Content in the Lord.

Walk and Believe

Verse 1

When you’re feeling blue and feel unable to do
All that came to you as a moment to try!

Take strength in the Son above
Everyone feels his love, you gotta believe...

When you feel unable to try what he’s given you...
And everything you once feared is coming true!

You gotta believe...you gotta believe

Chorus

Moments like this, they come and they go...oh...
It will take all the strength you’ll need
To walk and believe

God always, always knows...oh...
Never try to work out all that he can do.
And never let yourself doubt

Just walk and believe...walk and believe...

Verse 2

When the moment has passed and your fire burns low...
Here is the moment to shout all you know!

Take strength in the Son above
Everyone feels his love, you gotta believe...

When you’re feeling scared and not sure at all...
Remember to praise him and then walk through it all

Chorus

Bridge

Praise his name high and throw out the lies!
Join in this moment of pure love and delight!

I know he has everything all worked out
In my life...

I walk and believe...walk and believe...

:)

Of course it does help to have music...but I had to share the lyrics :) I am not sure I am that good at writing up the music anyhow...I have it in my head but it can't yet seem to make it out of my head onto music sheets...lol

I hope you like it!

Love Me