garden

DECEMBER 13: OUR MONTH TO BE AT PEACE WITH THE WORLD by Colleen Keating

colleen General , , ,

Monday 13th December

  

   

Day 13

A day in the garden.

We planted out 4 new mandevillas, dark red,   checked out and marvelled at our two Kangaroos Paws, Bush Bonaza, and Bush Blitz,  our lettuce and herbs

. . .  all doing so well and our soft pink rose opens each new bud with a gentle sigh .

When we come to peace with our own limitations, we come to understand and accept

the limitations of others.

“As we learn to have compassion for ourselves,”

the Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön writes,

“the circle of compassion for others becomes wider.”

 

DECEMBER 2: OUR MONTH TO BE THE PEACE WE WISH FOR by Colleen Keating  

colleen Poetry , ,

FRIDAY 2nd DECEMBER

Lovely drive out to Swains Garden Centre to buy a few plants including a new Peace Lily.  Returned home to do some gardening. Photo is one of some of our plantings today. Lettuce, Endives, hopefully ready in Christmas week.   

Day 2   To be at peace with the world, we must come to see the world differently.

Working in the garden, being in nature, is one way to see the world differently.  The white butterflies and bees flirting around the Petunias, the tiny buds on the Kangaroo Paws, the curly greens of the parsley and the wonderful aroma of the lemon balm, the simplicity of each bud on the Peace Lily brings us to that inner place of centring   . . . of being from where peace comes  . . . 

Epiphany: A Poetic Journey

colleen Hildegard of Bingen, Poetry , , , , ,

 

 

 

 

tulip bud in Liz garden

Tulip bud by Elizabeth Keating -Jones

 

 

Epiphany

 

In the garden, Hildegard sings
of the soft hills
curved as a mother’s breast,
The earth is at the same time mother,
She is mother of all that is natural,
mother of all that is human.
She is the mother of all,
for contained in her
are the seeds of all.

 

She sings of trees and plants
ferns, herbs, flowers and stones.

 

The greening power of God’s love
surges through her
palpable holiness
surging with vitality.

 

Hildegard learns
names of the plants, herbs
their healing properties.
The sisters’ garden explodes
a paint box come to life
spilling across a landscape.

 

Richardis follows her
discerns culinary and medicinal plants
bubbles intensely,
alive with the world.

Image may contain: plant, flower, nature and outdoor
 Photo taken by Elizabeth Keating-Jones in her spring back-yard garden, which we began while visiting in the past autumn.

moments in our garden

colleen Poetry , , , , , ,

The following reflections are short six line poems all under the one heading moments in our garden. I am still learning to grasp the Japanese form of poetry called Tanka. These are not tanka but in future i will work at using that form to give short reflections extra power.

winter walk

moments in our garden

 

* * * *

camellia

* * * *

with bright red flowers
like pinned on brooches
decorating a drag-queen’s gown
the camellia
flamboyantly
brightens the low winter sky

 

* * * *

waiting

 

* * * *

magnolia branches
stark in a moody sky
their bristly twigs
dressed barely
in tight furry buds
waiting to capitulate

 

* * * *

star magnolia

 

* * * *

one capricious bud
peeps
from its furry coat
too curious to await
the season
for its unfolding

 

* * * *

the blue gum

 

* * * *

the sagacious eucalypt
sheds sienna-singed
motley
smile-shaped leaves
yet still shares
its dappled shade

 

* * * *

a return

 

* * * *

ah what joy
chortle of the magpies
and their foray into the garden
means they have returned to nest
and I am still here
to welcome their offspring