Stopping to Smell the Roses

Mother's Day weekend is usually the best time to plant on Long Island but now that I moved to Virginia, I took the cue from my neighbors and planted earlier. Some of my herbs and flowers were hardy enough to endure the changes in temperature. Some did not so as Mother's Day approached, landscaping our new patio with beautiful beds of herbs and perennials became my focus. It was time to stop and smell the roses and not fret about unpacked boxes inside the home.

The builder's landscaping team arrived a few days before Mother's Day weekend and swapped out plants that were not on my wish list for beautiful flowering azaleas, a young holly bush, budding knock-out roses, and a cherry tree. The challenges of my family's life move started to turn to joy as I watched the plants enter the ground. 

Next on the agenda was a visit to the wholesale nursery with my gardener to choose a beautiful combination of perennials and herbs for my new gardens. While the weather felt more like a cool end-of-winter day rather than a spring one, I layered up and took off to the nursery with my husband. The first task was to find the weeping cherry tree for the back lawn that my husband had on his wish list. Who wouldn't want such a tree? After all, we now live in Virginia, well-noted for their blossoming cherry trees. Following that, we roamed rows of perennials to choose an assortment that would bring color to either side of the patio. The trip proved to be delightful. 

Early on Mother's Day, the gardeners arrived with truckloads of river rocks, large stones for decorative edging, and my tree and plants. The team diligently despite the coldish weather. When they finished planting and edging all the beds with large stones, I realized that Mother's Day will be celebrated in joy from the fruit of their labors. 

Welcome to my gardens,

A delightful Mother's Day gift to

Stop to smell the roses.

Walk through. 

Let nature bring happiness

Filling life with blossoming joy.

©CV, 2021

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I hope everyone's Mother's Day was filled with Blossoms ofJoy! (To hear more about this topic click on the link above to read other slicers' thoughts on this topic.)

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"The lesson I have thorougly learnt, and wish to pass on to others, is to know the enduring happiness that the love a garden gives."

-Gertrude Stein

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I am strolling over to a garden of blossoming slices of life at Two Writing Teachers. 

A Story Evolves

I have always been fascinated by the turn of the 20th Century living. When librarian-poet, Diane Mayr, posted her topic for Day 22 of Laura Shovan's 9th Annual February Poetry Project, I immediately started to research what medicine was like during past eras. As a collector of antique and vintage items, I was eager to find out more about Lydia  E. Pingham and her vegetable compound. While digging into more articles, I started reminiscing on  research-based projects on daily life in New York State that I offered students. The goal of one of the cross-curricular mini-units was to recreate an old-fashioned apothecary counter filled with antique medicine bottles for a county-wide celebration.  The elementary building I worked in became a living village featured as a stop on the county tour. 

Castor Oil

Spirit of Figs

Cod Liver Oil

Blood Purifier

Bottles weathered

By time

Lined the shelves

Each promising

A dose of health

For human ailments.

Strong medicinal smells

Led curious minds to uncover 

Quackery or modern miracles.

©CV, 2021

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Today is Slice of Life Tuesday at Two Writing Teachers.

Join me as I gear up for Day 23's daily poetry prompt

and the March SOLSC #SOL21 Challenge.