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Utterly Simple, Extraordinarily Wonderful

May 29, 2013 by still a dreamer

MiniPansies2When I first moved to my current address, I was a bit disappointed when I was requested not to plant anything in the ground. I was asked to please limit myself to potting flowers or plants on my porches. While at first that seemed a big restriction, I soon remembered an earlier home I lived in where I was on an half acre. Initially, I was ecstatic. A former owner was a gardening wizard and had all kinds of things growing from Spring to Fall, and lots of beds for the annuals of my choice. I particularly loved planting around my mailbox each year. (I’d never had a free-standing mailbox in my life, and this stood at the line where my property met the road.)

As an artist, I was loving creating fabulous color areas and changing them each year. Having come from an apartment, I also loved mowing the grass and raking the leaves of the many, many trees on my half acre. By about the fifth year, the enthusiasm was wearing off, and while I still loved my wonderful piece of land, life had gotten busier and I realized that all that landscaping was a major commitment. I never stopped doing it, but it had also become work.

So here I have a much smaller and more manageable gardening world … seating arrangements and tables which hold whatever annuals I pot for any particular year … and it’s just fine. This year I fell in love with, (among other flowers),  miniature pansies, and planted two pots with two colors, a two tone purple and a delicate purple and yellow. Yesterday I started to pinch them back so they wouldn’t become too leggy, and rather than toss what I’d taken, I put them in a jelly jar on my desk. And here they sit,  bringing a smile to my face each time I look at them.

I am reminded of how little it can take to bring happiness, and how something so utterly simple can be so extraordinarily wonderful. That the pansies are sitting in a jelly jar from the nearby farm that makes their own delicious jams, jellies and sauces even makes me happy. There are times when life’s stresses and busy-ness take us away from what’s right in front of our noses. And sometimes what’s there is really all we need.

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Posted in Creativity, Home Stuff, Inspiration, Nature, Reflections | Tagged flowers, gardening, pansies, simple joy | 6 Comments

6 Responses

  1. on May 29, 2013 at 8:15 pm home, garden, life

    Those are probably violas or Johnny Jump Ups and they are not only pretty, they are edible too. Lovely in salads…bon appetit!

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    • on May 30, 2013 at 9:20 am still a dreamer

      Very likely they are other than miniature pansies – I chucked the little plastic stake before I potted them, and I trust you to know what they are! Eating them? probably not me … 🙂

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  2. on May 29, 2013 at 10:41 pm Dave

    Simple pleasures are most times the best ones.

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    • on May 30, 2013 at 9:21 am still a dreamer

      The catch is remembering it, right? 🙂

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  3. on June 1, 2013 at 4:51 am aleafinspringtime

    Aaah…your little pansies and the joy that accompanies lifted my own heart this morning Jeanne! I can imagine the sweet satisfaction and wonderfulness of having a jar of them sitting nearby on your desk as your work. Rest and inspiration in a jar!

    Your miniature pansies are very similar to our European wild pansies or Violet Tricolor which grow in clusters on rocky ledges and cliffs near our home. I remember climbing up last summer to get a better view of them and to take some photos – they are so tiny and delicate. Worth the clamber 😀

    Wishing you all things utterly beautiful, simple and wonderful this weekend! Sharon

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    • on June 1, 2013 at 3:08 pm still a dreamer

      Sharon, thank you; I wish a wonderful weekend to you, too! What I find amazing is that these little flowers are happy in the jar and new buds are forming!
      Jeanne

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