Life and God's Love Continue

May 27, 2020 Earnest Painter

The plants in the back yard show us

Springtime inspires me. Seeing the leaves and blooms make their way out of the ground, or from seemingly dead plants reminds me that the earth is alive, and that people are just a part of the larger organism. We can arrange trees, bushes and flowers as we please, and use them as accents in our property, but plants were around before humans, and will come up from the earth long after we’re gone.

Wisteria is flamboyant when in bloom, but it has very humble beginnings. Don’t let this fool you; wisteria will take over the world. (The cat in the background is Tom Cat, and he’s one of the characters in my soon-to-be released novelette, Carmela’s Outside.)

Esperanza is another very showy plant. Her leaves and blooms continuously come out, so there are almost always tiny fresh leaves and buds. This was our cat, Cleo’s favorite bush to hide under.

I have never had much luck with Aloe vera, but these are letting me know that they’re with me for the long haul.

The Aloe vera shows us that it can come back amidst the mess and pieces of yesterday’s ending.

Aloe vera says that it will not be contained to a square picture.

Vegetables, because plants can feed us, not just decorate our yard.

Jalapeño Pepper

Tomato Blooms

I Can Smell These Leaves

Cats in the Shade

September 19, 2018 Earnest Painter

Anastasia paused to think about the lies and deceit that defined her youth. Yes, she had a beautiful yard now with a perfect wisteria to rest under in the increasingly warm spring days. But, was it worth it?

Wisteria

March 25, 2018 Earnest Painter

I came home the other day and found this on the corner of the house. It has long since removed part of the outside panelling of the house, but we can't bring ourselves to destroy it. Actually, Barry destroyed it fairly regularly for a couple of decades until he saw it bloom. Then, he let it go unrestrained and we discovered that it had wound itself inside the corner board. Of course, by then the damage was done, and the cats had done their own set of damage anyway by using it as a sharpening pole. Either way, it's wonderful to come home to this sight, and the intoxicatingly sweet air that is under it.

My plan is to have a pergola of sorts that the wisteria can climb along. That offer much needed shade, and the thought of these blooms dangling overhead all across the patio is a goal worth having.

In the meantime, I took some pictures. It's odd that the blooms came before the leaves. Maybe we'll get more blooms later. That would make for a Very Happy Summer.