(not necessarily in that order)
Today we enjoyed an excursion to Centro Lugano.
First was lunch at Migros: fresh slices of pizza, followed by caffè macchiato, and mini-fruit tarts.
Then we walked to and through Parco Ciani, enjoying the beautiful spring flowers that are blooming everywhere.
A lovely, relaxing day.
I saw this beautiful photo, accompanied by the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, in a post from a Facebook group (Rumi and Spiritual quotes).
“The earth laughs in flowers.”
This lovely imagery immediately brought to my mind these lyrics from Swami Kriyananda’s song, “There’s Joy in the Heavens.”
“…the flowers are all laughing to welcome the morning; your soul is as free as the air!”
Today — July 31, 2023 — would have been my mother’s 89th birthday.
As I thought about her, I started remembering how much she loved her flowers — especially rhododendrons, gladiolus, and bottlebrush.
Happy heavenly birthday, Mom!
A number of beautiful flower offerings greeted us when we arrived home today.
Most were bouquets from friends, but Divine Mother welcomed us with flowers as well — we had never seen such an abundance of roses on the somewhat neglected bushes next to our yard!
The photo below doesn’t come close to doing them justice!
It’s been a long day — packing up in Pacific Grove, driving to Sacramento to pick up the rest of our stuff, then finally back to Ananda Village.
Overjoyed to be home, but pretty tired when all is said and done.
We’re liking our temporary new neighborhood a lot.
It can’t compare with the Village in terms of quiet and nature, but hasn’t been that difficult of an adjustment.
There are lots of trees and many front yards are filed with flowers. I was a little sad at leaving my garden behind, so I ended up bringing two of the “deer-chomped” lantana plants with me. I figured they could do with some TLC in a gentler environment, plus I can putter around with them during the weeks that I have to stick close to home.
Well, as it turns out, there’s a huge bush of the exact same lantana plant just up the street from us! Very encouraging.
And finally, there’s a neighborhood cat who’s completely at home on the back deck. It comes pretty much every day and makes itself comfortable, even trying to come inside at one point (which we firmly discouraged).
Our local deer are helping me to grow spiritually.
How? Well, this is the time of year when all the vegetation is so dried out that the deer begin eating plants they would usually avoid.
So, the “deer resistant” flowers that I was so excited to plant a few weeks ago? The photos tell the story.
Notice the lush growth in the bottom right of the before pic, and how it’s almost entirely gone in the after photo.
I actually caught a doe and her fawn red-handedly chomping on my butterfly bush one day! As a result I find myself more resentful than appreciative when I see deer around the community.
But then I remember that they’re desperate and I do my best to practice compassion.
Which is how the deer are helping me to grow spiritually!
I’ve been craving more color in my garden these last few weeks. In fact, I found myself impulsively buying random flowers at Grocery Outlet and CVS.
And then it occurred to me that this is a healthy way to indulge myself, since most of my usual treats (i.e. cookies, pastries, popcorn, etc.) are off limits right now.
So, I went to Weiss Brothers nursery and thoroughly enjoyed shopping for still more flowers. They’re all planted now and it feels great.
It’s been a flower-filled birthday, with these beautiful bouquets delivered right to my door!
Ramesha and I took it easy today. We grabbed delicious salads to go from a nearby cafe, then ate them while sitting by the pool at Crystal Hermitage.
The evening has been spent reading (or listening to) my many birthday messages on Facebook, Messenger, text, email, and voicemail!
All in all, I’m feeling extremely blessed.
This morning was spent driving to Sacramento for a consultation with a specialist at the UC Davis Cancer Center, followed by a lovely lunch visit with my Dad and sister.
This was especially perfect as it was Ramesha’s birthday and he hadn’t spent time with them since our Father’s Day/birthday (mine and Cathy’s) celebration back in June!
When we stopped to pick up packages in the mailroom on our way home, we found a box of flowers addressed to Fabio Nani, which we assumed were for his birthday (which would have been a first in his experience).
But we were wrong! The bouquet of tulips came with a note addressed to me, saying: “Sending you healing thoughts and a little sunshine to brighten your day.” And it was from Amy Porterfield and her team. She’s the founder of the Digital Course Academy which Ramesha has been getting so much out of this past year.
He had written to the group to explain why he’s taking a break in order to help me during this time of health challenge, and received a tsunami wave of supportive responses that culminated in this thoughtful gift.
What an amazing group of people; they don’t even know me, but they are supporting their colleague with so much love.
I’m once again humbled by the overwhelming support we’re receiving.