rainbows and gardening

this week, the weather's been very unstable. on wednesday and thursday, for example, it rained, then it was sunny, then it rained again, 4 or 5 times each day. with all the rain and sunshine, i knew that we'd get a rainbow, and on thursday evening, i was delighted when i finally saw it. it had rained hard for half hour or so, and just before it stopped the sun came out. when i looked out the kitchen window, i saw a beautiful bright rainbow. i dropped the dishes, called ed and the kids, and we all ran out of the house, across the driveway, across the field, trying to catch the best view of it. i took some pictures but they don't do justice to the scene...i'll post them anyway.




i'm also posting a picture of sena and aiyana hugging each other. aiyana had just woken up from her nap, and sena was giving her hugs and kisses. aiyana was very affectionate in return, and when i commented on how sweet they looked, she said 'take a picture'. so here it is (you can also see what i'm currently reading, as my book happened to be right next tot hem on the bed):


other than that, our main occupation this week has been gardening. i love it. sena and aiyana love it. we've been buying plants, and i let sena and aiyana pick the flowers that appealed to them the most; i picked some too, and we've all been excited to do this and then come back home to plant them in the ground. i think it's been a pretty good learning experience too; the kids learned the difference between annuals and perennials (which is, more or less, the extent of my knowledge of plants), and they got to see all kind of little grubs as we overturned the soil.

we also planted some flowers from seeds, but these require lots of patience. we sowed the seeds a couple of weeks ago, and since then we've been watching them grow into minuscule shoots, and recently into tiny stems and leaves. still a long way to go before we get any flowers though...but we have all summer.

sena and aiyana also have one indoor plant each, which they got a couple of months ago. sena has a geranium, and aiyana a begonia. they're very loving with them, too loving in aiyana's case, where she grabs the stem and yanks it towards her to kiss the tiny flowers....but so far, both plants are doing well, and maybe it's because they get so much love and attention....we try to water them regularly, but it's hard to be consistent with the kids - sometimes they drown them, and other times they forget. and let's be honest, i'm not known for consistency either...

but i love gardening, i love working with the earth, digging, getting my hands dirty, seeing what comes up. i don't really know what i'm doing yet, but i feel that i'm learning. i've attempted to have a garden for the past 2 years, but things didn't look too good for various reasons. it wasn't always my fault. last year, for example, the groundhog (which was later relocated) chewed on most of my flowers. then, when he was gone, our chickens decided to take dust baths in the nice overturned dirt of my garden, so they dug and pecked and squirmed around, and in the process damaged most of the remaining plants. this year, the groundhog is gone, and there's no sign of a new one. we still have chickens, and they already started digging, but ed put up chicken wire and that should keep them out for a while. it kind of changes the look, but whatever...

so with all this planting and gardening, i found myself yet again in awe of Nature. here i go again...but, each flower seems so perfect and special. i can't help but be drawn into the mystery of the dance that manifests itself through these flowers... i also realized that no matter how hard i work on my garden, how much i learn and apply myself to it, ultimate beauty and harmony is in leaving things undisturbed. can i ever create anything as beautiful and harmonious as a field of wildflowers? probably not, but in the meantime, i feel like i want to be part of spring and summer not just by observing, but by doing something, and hence my little patch of earth where i experiment...

peace