This is a magnificently creative world we live in. A world not of our own creation, but certainly one where we have been gifted with the option of enjoying God’s creativity. I say ‘option’ because so many of us don’t slow down enough to appreciate it. I know I don’t. Maybe that is why I like gardening so much. It meets my need to be busy, and still allows me to appreciate the amazing beauty around me.
Here in Chicagoland, our gardening season is coming to an end. That makes it clean up time, so mentioning that Mike and I have been busy in the garden would be an understatement. See the shine on that trowel? You can be sure it doesn’t usually look like that. And the red basket itself, well, it is usually filled with as much dirt as it is gardening tools. Until last weekend. That was when I admitted gardening season in Chicago is done. Finished. Over. Hasta la vista baby. Or should I say ‘Hosta’ la vista baby to tie the phrase to gardening.
I have been cleaning up, right down to my gym shoes.
Everything I need to do in the garden is done. Sort of. Kind of like when relatives are coming and the living room is spotless. The bedroom, on the other hand, has piles jammed under the bed till the relatives leave. And cleaning the refrigerator gets plucked off the list entirely.
The main garden is the room that is spotless, or at least as spotless as a garden gets, with everything that can’t survive winter having been moved inside. The barn, on the other hand, has piles of garden related items that will be jammed in till warmer weather returns. And moving the Solomon’s Seal to a sunny spot, that was plucked off the list.
It was just a few weeks ago that the same frog you see above looked like this.
The kale still looks good, as do the berries on the beautyberry bush. The roses made a valiant effort, but succumbed last week. All of the other flowers are done, and most of the leaves are down.
Seems to me that God is saying slow down. My garden followed those orders. Now it will be my turn. I did take one Last Chance To Dance last weekend. Well, not literally dance. More like bike ride through the crunching leaves. And if slowing down in the garden does give me more time to dance, well that’s ok with me.
Do you want to know what else is blooming (or not blooming) in the November garden? To see what other bloggers have blooming on the 15th of every month, visit May Dreams Gardens – Bloom Day for our Garden Bloggers’ Bloom day entries.
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