Admittedly, the writer of Hebrews prefaces this passage with talk of Heaven and the reward that, there, awaits. He continues in verse 37 with a reminder that Jesus’ imminent return is upon us. So this being said, I am literally taking this passage out of context to make a point about patience in our day to day lives.

“For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”

Touch and go

“Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” (John 20:17)

You see, there were still things that needed to be done, even though Jesus in the previous chapter declared “it is finished” (19:30). I find that there are times when God sets things in motion that will play out as planned and it is then our job as such to maintain focus on God out of love and trust while the things He did blossom out into our realm. The very moment that Jesus died, everything that God had planned was brought to pass. The devil lost all his power. Jesus completed His mission statement but it wasn’t until three days later, after those closest to Him had thought it was all over and all for nought, that the light began to dawn. Funny thing, Mary was ready. She was waiting and while she was not allowed to physically touch Jesus, she got to see Him and speak with Him. Effectively becoming the very first-ever minister of the new covenant. That’s quite the high honor.

In keeping with the hurried pace of things, I’d like to point out real quick that another name for the flower impatiens is “touch-me-not”. It has a very delicate seed pod that will explode, or dehisce, with a touch. Very cool.

Tried and true

It’s really a great place to be. With reference to the top passage, if you know that God wants you to do something and, after maybe some procrastination and perhaps disobedience in delaying. After working through the slight and petty fears that would in a simple way seek to hinder the act of obedience that God is calling you out for, you actually complete a mission that God has scripted for you (Wow. Congratulations!), what next? Again, it’s an amazing place to be. You’ve wound down your life and God is walking you, hand in His, through some new and uncharted territory and you “buy the field” (see yesterday’s post) or make that call, or speak that word, and you know it was God having you do it. What will you do if the outcome is either different than you expected or takes longer than you thought it would? Would you wait and trust? With so, so many Christians the world over wondering what to do for God, I find that not much is spoken of regarding the calm after the storm. It takes faith to both obey God in the initial act and also to wait out the results. The same faith, applied two different ways.

“Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.” (Psalm 94:12-13)

See, there are things going on we’re not aware of and, dare I say it, cannot handle should we desire the knowledge. It takes what time it takes to work out the fine details of the will of God for our lives. Keep pressing in to the Father and know that He has your best interests at heart. The outworking of God’s will includes both blessing for His people and also judgment for anything that prevented what He wanted done in the first place. Will you wait to see what it is God wanted to do?

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold thou fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” (Revelation 3:10-11)

2ND WRECKAGE OF GREENHOUSE

Luckily enough, the company had already forwarded us a new cover for the green house as it tore in the first week and we told them about it. A great company, just terrible product. This time we have gaffa taped all of the joints together and the cover to the frame. On it’s very first opening of the zip door, it broke. so that too is gaffa tapped shut.

When I went to take a look at the actual damage of the greenhouse I was surprised that all seed trays were exactly as they were the day before, so all windowsills were emptied back off and then put back when I replaced the cover.

The weather has not been the best either, 3 good days so far this year. and as I write this, there are area’s in the next county have had and still have snow. Another terrible Summer again by the looks of it.

After everything that my Wife’s Cosmos seedlings went through they are finally in the garden, although not a very good show if I am honest.

I am finding it hard to pace myself in the garden at the moment, trying to sort out how long and how hard I can work in the garden, due to my pack pain, at the moment I think I may have over done it at some point as I am in a lot of pain in my leg again, so I am afraid any strenuous work in the garden is out until I start to feel a little better.

I am a little disappointed that our eldest has not helped us out in the garden, even if it was just cutting the grass or digging a border over for us, but nope, he is just like every other teenager these day, spotty, moody, pale with the XBOX hair cut.

But in other areas of the garden where the wild flowers grow, everything (although a little late) seems fine:

WILD SPRING FLOWERS

WILD SPRING FLOWERS 01

CHEEKY FAE IN THE GARDEN

WILD SPRING FLOWERS IN THE GARDEN 02

WILD SPRING FLOWERS IN THE GARDEN 03

WILD SPRING FLOWERS IN THE GARDEN 04

DEW ON THE PETAL OF A PRIMROSE

We cannot seem to keep up with mowing the grass, just really glad that our lawn is as small as it is, compared with our last garden which was an acre of lawn, but it should really need cutting every three days to be quite honest. My wife is great though, she watches me when I attempt the mowing and when she can see that it is starting to pain me too much, she then takes over which I am always glad off.

I will make a determined effort to take a few pics of the garden as it is looking next.

I stopped and parked the bike and laid the sheet on the ground. The ground was full of grass and purple flowers. The air had an easy feeling, no more stress. The flowers had a scent of freedom… He kissed my neck from behind, then my shoulder. I turned to kiss his lips. He was warm, his lips soft. Perfect. I put my arms around his neck, kissing him a little quicker. He pushed my body to him, and kissed my neck again. I sat down and he mounted on top of me, my hands touched his skin. He kissed me again, faster. I felt the electricity come off his skin, the tingles his body left on me. He bit my lip a he pulled back, I smashed into his lips quickly wrestling my fingers in his hair. He but my lip, and then started to feel me. He mounted me onto him. I ran my hands down his body, I could hear his breath go uneasy. I kissed his neck then bit down, his hands grabbed my sides and pushed me to him.

I tried to breath easy, but I couldn’t. I was overwhelmed with this feelings. I pulled back to breath. He sat up, our bodies touching. He kissed my jaw and then bit down. I like this- his teeth in my flesh. Bite marks are low notes written in the flesh. He smiled at that, and bit my neck. Soon enough it was no longer a bite, it was a hickey. I smiled with pleasure, my hands ripped his shirt off. He was perfect, I swear. He laid me down kissing my stomach, my shirt moved every time he kissed me. He kissed my lips, and then slipped off my shirt, I felt visible and imperfect. His finger outlined my lips, “You’re perfect.” He whispered, “To who?” I asked him, “To me… You’re perfect.” He said quietly, he kissed my lips softly. “Anyone who things different must be insane.” I smiled, I kissed his lips. Joseph’s lips overlapped mine and moved perfectly. He was my rhythm, my song… I pulled back when I felt his teeth. His fangs. I liked this too.

His eyes green, still perfect. He traces my eyes, my eyes are green too? He nodded. I pulled out my phone to take a photo. I tossed my phone then jumped on him. He chuckled, he played with my hair, singing to me. His touch was soothing, his voice was my medicine. Was this love? Or was it more? Did my adoration for Joseph become my lifeline? He made me feel good, like nothing else was wrong. Like I wasn’t a misfit, or abandoned… He made me feel pretty and attractive, wanted. I noticed he stopped humming and was listening into my thoughts. I turned over to look at him, he smiled. He started to sing again, I kissed his head. I love you. I love you. I freaking love you.

*

The crocuses are up!  Well, actually, the delicate, softly purple wildflower poking through the snow and promising spring that we call the crocus is in bloom.  That’s right, the Prairie Crocus is more properly called a Prairie Anemone.

You see, a true crocus is a member of the iris family and it is native to Europe.  When settlers saw the Prairie Anemone struggling through the snow, they called it after the similar, early blossoming crocus they knew from home.  They utterly disregarded the fact that crocuses grow from bulbs while anemones grow from seeds, and the fact that the European plant isn’t poisonous while this Canadian one certainly is.  Just in case you’re tempted, don’t eat any part of it.

However, this particular little anemone was a friendly, almost familiar face, and it heralded a welcome end to the miserable prairie winter.  The favourite little harbinger inspired many names, but for some reason the “crocus” moniker stuck.

Some of the alternatives are just as worthy:

French settlers said pasque (Easter) flower.  It blooms at Easter, and dye obtained from the purple petals (which are actually sepals, but that’s another post) was used to colour Easter eggs.

Native Americans said Ears of the Earth because these earliest buds were like furry ears, sent out to listen for rustlings of summer.

Gosling flower is an obvious nickname due to the downiness of the buds and their arrival in early spring.

April Fool may be a reference to the likelihood that the flower will freeze, for all its fuzziness, because of its early arrival.

Wind flower comes from the anemone classification, which comes from the Greek word for wind.  It was believed that anemones blossomed only when the spring wind blew.  Meadow anemone and prairie anemone are related terms.

Finally, crocus anemone and prairie crocus are neat compromises for those who would argue that a rose by any other name might not smell as sweet.

Please read tomorrow’s post (with more pictures!) to find out a few more interesting things about the prairie crocus anemone pasque ear gosling flower.  AKA the blue tulip.

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Vegetable coral. Photo close-up of bromeliad inflorescence, Finca Cantaros, San Vito, Costa Rica.

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Extremely floral wallpaper- even the matchy-matchy is working it’s magic on me.  These photos make me have flashbacks to my first job at a wallpaper/paint store. Tearing out discontinued styles then making  epic collages on my bedroom walls.

Bright and colorful perfect for an accent wall. I have the perfect wall in my house (if I owned it) or found a print truly amazing that I couldn’t pass up.

]]> http://chicdressuk.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/for-wedding-for-love/ Wed, 22 May 2013 05:38:41 +0000 chicdressuk http://chicdressuk.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/for-wedding-for-love/

for wedding for love

The bees had started to draw wax out on the frame I moved to the middle, but had tried to bring the wax out away from the frame funny so I crushed it down. There was lots of nectar in the hive, and about a frame of pollen. The bees had also tried drawing out some wax inside the warre’ box. I’d taken a chunk out of the bottom of the centre comb earlier in the year, to see what the issue was in Trunchen hive. This comb now happened to be right over top of the hole in the telescoping cover, and the bees seemed eager to fill it in.

On a slightly unrelated note, yesterday was rather nice, and while I was walking around the garden I managed to snap a picture of a bumblebee going into an iris!

Taken with my iPhone! Isn’t she beautiful?!

Right after taking these photos I was walking down the steps to go back to the house, and a hummingbird stopped me. It began inspecting the red camellia that’s still in bloom, and I realized that it was covered in honeybees. I’d never noticed them taking an interest in it before. I saw several of them with full pollen baskets, which is understandable because that camellia has very pretty yellow pollen sitting in the middle of its wonderfully red flowers. I managed to get a picture or two.

The flowers are starting to get crumby, but the bees didn’t seem to mind at all. I’d never seen bees on this, let along a humming bird. I’m glad its contributing more than just shade to the yard!

Cheerful Faces

We, simple mallow flowers are still hopeful that a gentle rain will fall and bathe us in cool freshness. We are always hopeful as we face each day with round cheerful faces upturned to the sun. We care not that our flowers have dried and crush when touched. This is the stage we are at, and so we are embracing it today. We know that we are not alone in our condition of aging and veined definition. To chose another stage, or to skip this one is simply not something a weed would do. We are who we are and we are proud of it!

There is no other plant in the garden today that escaped plucking as long as we did. We’ve been allowed to linger much longer that the foxtails and wild grasses. Even the mint that over ran its raised bed has been pulled.  We are thankful that our charm has endured and graced us with more time to play in the dirt even though the rains may no longer spur us on to grow anew.

Here we shall remain, golden, delicate and cheerful until the end of summer…or until the strawberries and zucchini get planted.

Please come back tomorrow for a new “Weed Image of the Day” and let me know which ones you like.

We and our weeds are so much more than what we first appear to be.

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Pansies always look like they are screaming to me.  It’s good screaming but screaming nevertheless!

Related articles

• Fun Flower Facts: Pansy (funflowerfacts.com)
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• Pansy (miriamwardtextiles.wordpress.com)

I’ve noticed, perhaps all the more as my small courtyard garden at home matures and becomes a more tranquil place to be, that Hitchin is not the greenest or most colourful of towns. Each year the hideous brick seating areas outside WHSmith are planted up and there are those few troughs on the main square to bring some colour too. The odd hanging basket; the occasional potted tree or shrub outside a sprinkling of shops. But that’s all. It seems a waste that we can’t find more places to introduce the feel-good factor that striking greenery and flowers can bring.

But it’s not just the town centre where I think we should be working harder on colour. There are several green spaces in Hitchin which are largely very well kept, but unimaginatively so.

There’s an area of grass between the churchyard and the porticos on Portmill Lane which is completely underused and somehow drab. Seebohm Garden, the tiny but extremely pretty little square of green in front of The Biggin. There’s Windmill Hill, of course. And the parks of Bancroft and Ransom’s Rec. They’re all places where I think there’s an opportunity to plant more self-seeding and perennial flowers for visual interest and a stronger ecosystem. Anyone who has any kind of interest in the natural world and its preservation knows that bees are on the decline and even the sparrow has seen its numbers drop. There are various reasons for this, but loss of habitat is undoubtedly a huge factor.

The evergreen elements of Bancroft Park (which is to be redeveloped… so there’s a chance to do things right here…) are a definite asset in the long drab autumn and winter months, but I think that by introducing more trees and dedicated areas for wildflower and meadow flower, we can give local wildlife a better chance to flourish. Ransom’s Rec is actually a huge area, and one I admit I seldom visit, but how much is wasted space that could be seeded to provide a natural habitat that spawns more wildlife? How many bird boxes are provided for nesting? Bat boxes? Bee boxes? They’re not expensive to buy… does the council provide them?

It won’t take you much Googling to find out exactly why bees are important to mankind. Cross-pollination is fundamental to a great number of British crops. It’s only slightly dramatic to say we depend on bees for our survival and it’s certainly true that a more sustainable future depends on the cultivation of environments which support insect and bird life. Giving areas over to wildflower growing encourages a great diversity of insect life, including bees. Birds feed on insects, but need trees or other suitable places to nest. It’s not difficult, is it? There’s been a tendency in the past few decades to tarmac our front gardens, install decking and gravel in our back gardens…all of which, little by little, reduces the environment available to Britain’s wildlife. So it’s all the more important that our green spaces work harder for the natural world.

And in so doing, they become more visually stimulating, educational and uplifting places for us to be too.