Making Something Happen

I was in a Chinese restaurant a few weeks ago with a friend having dinner. We were discussing upcoming plans we had (which I will get to later...), and laughing at how lame the fortunes you get in fortune cookies are. Mine are usually pretty generic and don't mean anything. However, this was one different. Here's what it said:

LIFE IS ABOUT MAKING SOMETHING HAPPEN, NOT ABOUT WAITING ON SOMETHING TO HAPPEN.

So...in case any of you may have wondered where I have been for the last 6 months...here's the short version.

Got a divorce, and it was the best thing to happen for the both of us. I left my home to him. Which also means I left my garden. I did however dig up almost everything. To leave my garden was the hardest part. He didn't particularly like the amount of time I spent gardening, so I had pretty much quit all together. Here's the irony in that, a marriage is like a garden. Sometime it will rain, sometimes the sun will shine and every now and then you may have a hard freeze. You have to maintain it, keep the weeds pulled, fertilize it and appreciate the beauty it offers. If you don't do any of these, your garden will die, and weeds will take over.

I walked out into my garden at the end of last summer and I realized that my garden was like my marriage. I had worked so hard in both, and now they were both half dead, overcome with weeds and both were obstacles that I couldn't tackle alone.

I talk to the Lord everyday. We have looong conversations. I always pray for him to lead me where he wants me to be. I stopped praying for what I wanted, and I pray for wants he wants for me. And let me tell you....what you think you want, and what he thinks you need are two totally different things.

In the past few months, I have experienced more happiness than I ever have in my life. Things are happening for me that are true blessings.

I have started my own architecture and design firm. Remember my friend I was having Chinese with, and I got that great fortune??? Well he is my business partner. He and I have shared this dream for years, and we both ended up in a situation to make it happen.

I am currently living with the Dirt Queen. Hey, gotta do what you gotta do. It's not bad. I do miss having my own place, but that will come soon. Living with the Queen has allowed me to be able to start my own architecture & design firm.

I don't have my own garden to work in or blog about. I thought I would just blog about the Dirt Queen's garden, and whatever else struck me. I have plenty of southern gardens that I can share with ya'll...so if ya'll don't mind then the Dirt Princess will dust off the crown and get back to blogging!

I've already put a fresh post together for ya'll to see on Monday.

P.S. - I don't know if ya'll noticed the flying pig.....if you didn't then look again. Most of you have probably heard the old saying "That will happen when pigs fly", well that cute little flying pig in that photo just happens to be mine. You see sometimes, pigs do fly, and things happen that you never thought would.  When you let God lead you, I can promise you that you will see a few pigs flying.

See ya'll Monday!!

The Beginning

I am new to this whole blog thing...but I thought it would be fun to share my trials and tribulations of being a Southern Gardener. My love....well its more like an obsession with growing things began about 2 years ago. My mother and grandmother's always gardened. I however didn't care much for it until recently. My mother had the most beautiful yard, and was always out working in it. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer my senior year of college. She often will tell people that digging in the dirt kept her mind off of the cancer. She was always out in the yard, no matter what. As I have gotten older I understand. Digging in the dirt helps ease ones mind. I got married 3-1/2 years ago and we bought our first home. The yard was not much to look at, but it had good bones and hidden treasures. Now my next door neighbor's yard is unreal. I have had to learn that they are retired, and have time to keep it looking the way it does. They used to live in my house some 15+ years ago. I would come home everyday and look at their yard, and then look at mine and think how pathetic mine looked. So I decided to do something about it. Now let me be the first to tell you...I did not know a THING about gardening. I didn't know what an annual or perennial was. Didn't know a zinnia from a lily....it was really sad. So I enlisted the help of my mom. We soon noticed massive amounts of daylilies and amaryllis in my beds. I discovered that these were left by my neighbors when they moved next door. So that was my first gardening task....dividing bulbs and planting them. Two years later....I am addicted to gardening. I have found that finding flowers at old homesteads is my favorite. I have found so many different flowers at some of our hunting camps, and various other places. Those being crinum lilies, daffodils ( 6 or 7 different types), irises, amaryllis, crysanthemums, dwarf wild irises, and some that I am probably forgetting. I am a cheap gardener...I don't like to spend money. I love to share plants with other people as well as receive them. I prefer to root something or grow it from seed. I don't care much for annuals. If I am going to have them, I will grow them from seed. I don't like to pay for a plant that is only going to bloom and few months and die. I love junk....one mans junk is another mans treasure. I will take anything and make it into something to put into my yard. Gardening in South Alabama has not yet started for me....it is 50 degrees here today. I have a few more weeks left before I can actually start getting things going in the yard. I have tons of seeds that I am going to be growing. I do however have several daffodils and irises that need to put in the ground now. I will work on that this weekend.