Pink Saturday

I long for pink Peonies...



bursting in celebration.



Pink Daylilies,



adorning my garden.



Pink Impatiens dancing with hues of pink.



And who can forget about pink Petunias abundant in cachet pots,



or hanging plants.



It's raining today, and the snow is slowly washing away.



And soon it will be Spring and the white blanket
will be replaced with glorious shades of green.



Today Bev from How Sweet The Sound is hosting another Pink Saturday.



Bev's Pink Saturday is in full bloom...
with pink posts galore.



So please stop HERE and visit the land of Pink.

The song for this post is Garden in the Rain,

Hopeful Friday

Today is Hopeful Friday hosted by Cielo of House in the Roses. If you stop by you will be inspired and touched by HOPE.



"Just for one day I promise,



To see God's love in all things,



In the calm, the joy and the peaceful.



In the burden, the pain and the sting.



I will look to His love in the moonlight,



In the wave of each swaying branch,



In each breath, in each step, in each moment,



I will pause to my Lord and give thanks.



Though the turbulent waters surround me,



I'll be still as a calm peaceful lake,



For if He is in charge of this temple,



Then the outcome to all will be great.



So with my new mind I'll sing praises,



And release alleluia's sincere,



For if God and I are this temple,



Then the outcome to all will be clear.



So do not sway for a moment,



When dark clouds are somber and gray,



Just look to the sunshine beyond them



And just let the Lord have His way."

ONE DAY AT A TIME by Chris Zambernard

The song for this post is Don't Ever Let Go

Thankful Thursday

Today is Thankful Thursday and Rhondi from Rhondi's Rose Colored Glasses is hosting. I am so thankful for a special surprise that happened last week. I was having one of those weeks when everything seems to go wrong and you feel like your family takes you for granted. I felt especially sad and then my friend Maria left me a comment and invited me to see her blog.




There she had done such a beautiful thing. On her blog she had written a post called Karen - Queen of Hearts. She had my paintings all over her blog and links to everything that I have done. I wept, I wept because just when I was feeling so alone and unappreciated, a beautiful lady across the globe in Poland had touched my heart. I had simply sent her a print and she did all this. Although I have told my sweet friend Maria how grateful I was, she will never know how God used her on that day. On a day when I felt so alone, she made me feel so wonderful.



I am so thankful for Maria, she always brightens my day when I see her face smiling on her avitar. I met her through the beautiful Cielo on House in The Roses. Cielo had celebrated Maria on her garden blog.

I remember one particular post where Maria showed us her tomato plants which were so large that they were climbing all the way up to the balcony above her. I squealed because I had written a story about The Tomato Lady about thirty years ago, and here I was meeting the person in the story that I had created. I wrote to her about it, and she put it on her blog. We became instant friends.



In the story the Tomato Lady hands the two little girls visiting her garden two packs of tomato seeds and tells them that our dreams are just like these tiny seeds.

“Wait dear children, I have something else for you,” she said. She reached into her pocket and took out two little bags of tomato seeds. Then she said, “Dreams are just like these packets of seeds. They are not meant to stay inside but to be planted in order to bloom into glorious fruit.” Don’t wait to plant your dreams…plant them today and you will enjoy the fruit soon. Begin today.”



We are not to keep our dreams locked inside, but to plant them right where we are, right now. My lovely friend Maria is wise and lovely just like the lady in my story.

The name of Maria's blog is Pogaduszki przy herbatce, By the way...the graphics on this post are Maria's. On her incredible blog she has her grandson playing the piano, gorgeous graphics everywhere and a google translator. Isn't she amazing?

Oh, and I forgot to mention Maria is 79 years young...on her About Me she writes:

"I am 79 years old and it would seem like there is nothing exciting ahead of me. But...you never know...

Dear Maria, this song is for you...MARIA.