This Perfectly Imperfect Life

This morning we headed out as the rain ended and before t-storms arrived to help with the annual tradition of placing Flags on Veterans graves at one of the local cemeteries in our area.  This is usually done two weeks before Memorial Day weekend. In the event we are rained out, we still have an extra weekend to place the Flags in time for the holiday. This is Hubbs showing the Scouts what markings to look for, how to place the Flag and stop for a moment after each one: There are nearly 3,000 Veterans graves in this particular cemetery that we do, although not every grave is marked noting a Veteran is buried there and some headstones are so old, dating back to the French & Indian war (pre-Revolutionary), that you can no longer read the engraving on them. We try to do our best to see that no Veteran is forgotten. Unfortunately, it can happen by accident, even when we have a great turnout of volunteers like this year, so we leave extra Flags at the cemet...

"There's Rosemary, that's for remembrance." -William Shakespeare, Hamlet. 13 years. It's amazing one can live so long after such heartbreak. But here I am. You're always in my heart B, Mama loves you...

Pink is my signature color." -Shelby, Steel Magnolias. (I love that line!) And it looks to me like pink is my signature color in my garden. Because it is my favorite color and in honor of my daughter. While I also love orange, red, yellow, purple, white, certain shade of blue & all shades of green in my garden, pink is the color that makes my heart burst with joy! I have 6 pink roses, pink azalea's, pink Bleeding Heart, pink phlox, pink peonies...  Then there are those multi-color roses which have pink in them as well & the gladiola's, the wax begonia's, petunia's...  Sissinghurst has The White Garden, perhaps I will have The Pink Garden. Hhhmmm...  There's an idea!  More shades of pink to come as things begin to bloom, bloom, bloom!

To see and read about how I honor my loved ones in my garden, please click here for my latest Adventures In Gardening column on The #gardenchat Blog . For the archive of all of my Adventures In Gardening column posts to date, please click here .

Halloween Eve, soon to be Mischief Night, already! Where has this month Gone?! Hubbs isn't off tomorrow on Halloween since his boss & wife had their baby the other day so we took a trip to the cemeteries to visit B & Nana this morning. It looked so different last year! (Click here to see). Full of Autumn foliage the cemetery glowed in shades of yellow, orange and red. This year with all of our storms, many of the trees look like Winter already and there's even a coating of snow in the cemeteries this morning from yesterday's Nor'Easter! I have more photos from my Nikon coming later today or tomorrow. Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

...Of Brianna Marie. Gone from me 11 years ago this very day & date. The day before Mother's Day. Some years are better than others. This isn't one of the better years. The many shades of Pink in my garden are for her. And sometimes the purples too. Roses, Vinca, Petunia's, Begonia's. Bleeding Heart. Some pictured here. Others in previous posts. Sometimes we share of ourselves when our reality overwhelms us. *Update: Hubby bought me a beautiful hanging basket. ("Instead of flowers for today & tomorrow. I knew you'd like this.") Click here to see a close-up of it's flowers. I bought some Majestic Pink Petunia's for the wishing well in the back yard. (Click here for a close-up of those). She always helps me find the pink flowers! :~)

Happy Birthday Boo! Mama loves you. Today would have been my daughter B's 10th birthday. These are pictures of ornaments in her honor on our Christmas tree. Thank God it's gotten better (not easier) with time. I am very grateful for that.

10 years ago today I lost my daughter B. The moment I realized I she was gone from me is one of the moments that changed me forever. I garden through my grief on this day and am thankful for it. I picked up some beautiful pink petunia's and set to getting them potted out back - the above pic is just to the right of where I showed those 2 memorial angels in a pic here yesterday. Pink has seemed to be the color theme of the flowers in this section since before last year and I decided to keep it that way. I feel it's B telling me what she'd like there (I've asked her in the past) and it's a comfort to me to see the pink flowers. The pink Bleeding Heart bush is nearly past full bloom and soon the pink Roses will start to bloom. Then there are the pink Petunia's and the pink Begonia's soon to be potted. It's one of my favorite colors and I think hers too!

If you're able to financially, ASAP please bring a new, unwrapped toy (or two) for girls or boys to your local Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots drop off location. To find a location near you, please click on the following link: http://www.toysfortots.org/ Each year, I buy presents with my daughter in mind, instead of just picking random items, and give those to Toys for Tots. It's my hope that by doing it this way, they bring much joy to whomever receives them and perhaps that joy makes it way up to Heaven to Brianna as well.

Yesterday I did end up taking a walk to buy flowers yesterday afterall. The walk there was windy with rumbles of thunder coming from the dark grey clouds. I asked Brianna which flowers she wanted me to pick and felt drawn to the ones I picked. The walk home was still and disgustingly humid! I talked with her along the way about the flowers and where to put them. Once home, I put my treasures on the patio table and changed into a tank top and shorts. I lit both of my Blessed Mother Mary candles, placing one on the mantle and one on the patio table. Afraid it was going to pour at any moment, I set to placing the flat of magenta Petunia's and 1/2 flat of pale lilac colored Petunia's into their new homes. I took some pics which I'll post soon. Honestly, I did a bit too much physically, given the humidity and just having had an i.v. treatment 2 days before, but I kept plugging away, chest pains & all until I was finished! Then I sat for a long while. When the rain finally ca...

I had my 4th I.V. treatment at home on Tuesday. It left me very tired and wheezy, but ok. Yesterday, because I woke feeeling fine, I did a little too much off the bat and found myself having 2 big dizzy spells & back to being as exhausted as I was the previous evening! I knew I should rest, but I didn't want to go back inside, so I sat in the sun in one of the adirondack chairs you've seen many times in my photo slideshows here. For as long as I've had them where they are now, I've never sat in either of them! (Since last summer when the relandscaping was done?!) It was very windy which made sitting in the sun so comfortable and relaxing! (Gorgeous weather but the wind blew pollen around like crazy so everything was glowing with a greenish coating of it by dinner! I had so many sneezing fits!) Initially, I wrote in my journal for awhile, about some things I did outside, a few things I'd like to do out back to make things look better and seeing the 1st butterfly ...