My financial advisor shares his wisdom concerning Social Security.
Financial stuff is not my usual topic to write about. I’m more about gardening, as my blogger handle suggests. From time to time, I also write about Alzheimer’s caregiving, a topic about which I am passionate due to my experience in caring for my mother and my brother. I occasionally share slices of life, like a biblical truth gleaned from my study of scripture, a fun thing I experienced with my grandkids, or a tasty recipe I’d like to share. I can barely write a check and keep a checkbook balanced, so I’m not the person you want to ask for financial advice. Conversely, my husband loves to juggle numbers in a spreadsheet and writes about financial matters with great regularity. He recently wrote an informative article on a subject which I’ve been pondering lately.
One major item that has been near the top of my list for several years now has been to cut down two diseased and unsightly spruce trees in our front yard. I was out pulling weeds one day earlier this summer and noticed there were tree trimmers working in the neighborhood, so mentioned it to my hubby. He surprised me by immediately walking down the street and engaging in conversation with a young man on the crew–the son of the owner of the company. A few minutes later, they came for a look-see and before I knew it we had a contract and the trees were felled by the end of the day.
Now that the spruces are down, we have a brand new full-sun garden space, and I am enjoying choosing what to plant in that space. First order of business, however, was to deal with the weeds that had gotten a foothold underneath the spruces. We also needed to relocate some of the shade-loving hostas to a more wooded location in the backyard. For the most part, I’m able to divide some of my existing sun-lovers from other flowerbeds, so I moved in a few daylilies and a trio of Allium ‘Millenium,’ an ornamental flowering onion that literally blooms all summer long.
Even with this good start, this new flowerbed was the perfect excuse for a trip to our local garden center. I knew I wanted to add a flowering tree, so Monrovia’s Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’ now graces that flowerbed. I look forward to its giant, tulip-shaped, creamy yellow blossoms in the next year or two. I’m also quite in love with hydrangeas these days, so two of them hopped in my shopping cart and now anchor the front side of this flowerbed (I really wish I had bought a third).
Adding a stone borderA happy group of blue ColumbineMagnolia ‘Elizabeth’
Inspired by Butch and Pam over at Everyday Living, whose annual plethora of gorgeous zinnia photos caused great envy, I planted more than my usual packet or two of zinnia seeds this year. My husband bought a big canister of Renee’s Garden heirloom zinnia seeds for me while we were on vacation in June. I lost no time in scattering the seed when we returned home. Wowzers! They did not disappoint. Look at all that amazing color!
A rainbow of colorDwarf ‘Limelight’ HydrangeaMomma’s blue flowerpots
If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know that my sweet mother passed away in 2020 after a valiant battle with Alzheimer’s. You might spot two of her blue flowerpots in the photo above. Those flowerpots sat on the front porch of our family home for several years. When dementia took its toll, I moved her to live closer to me, bringing those blue flowerpots along as a connection point to her past. Oh, the stories she told about those pots! I planted some annual ‘Hawaiian Punch’ hibiscus in them this year and set them toward the front half of the new flowerbed. I think mom would have approved.
One hidden blessing of the never-ending task of pulling weeds is the beauty you see more clearly when you’re on your knees. The beauty of this daylily is just one of many colorful examples in my garden today.
Take your everyday, ordinary life–your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life–and place it before God as an offering.
A one word prompt sent to a community of writers. Five minutes to write about it. Unedited. Don’t think too hard…just write. The Five Minute Fridayword prompt this week is WORK. Ready, set, go!
I have a favorite Bible. It’s filled with sermon notes jotted in the extra-wide margins, prayers I’ve written out, and insights I have gleaned in my studies. It’s held together in a few places by tape.
Funny thing about this Bible, though, is that it seems to be shrinking. I can’t quite make out the words anymore. Tongue in cheek, as you might have guessed; it is my eyesight that has changed.
Thankfully, I have two large-print Bibles. The first is a brand new ESV version that my friend Tom recently passed along to me because he didn’t quite care for its tab feature. I can tell that this Bible will soon become my everyday study Bible. The other is The Message, self-described within the flyleaf as “a contemporary rendering of the Bible from the original languages, crafted to present its tone, rhythm, events, and ideas in everyday language.” I keep this second Bible on my nightstand. It’s the Bible I reach for first thing in the morning.
I love how Eugene Peterson, the translator of The Message, writes in such a way as to help me see a familiar passage through a fresh pair of eyes, so to speak. The Holy Spirit used this rendering of Romans 12:1-2 to prepare my heart before heading off to work today. Here’s what I read:
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life–your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life–and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God bring the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
My granddaughter Violet is serving the Lord as a counselor at Camp Fairwood this summer, as she did last year. The three years prior to that, she served on the kitchen staff. She loves it, as did I when I was on the staff as a teenager many moons ago. It blesses my heart knowing she is walking by faith and serving her Savior each summer. But, I do miss her.
Violet is the grandkid who was very prolific in writing sweet notes to me throughout her growing up years. I kept some of them in the places she hid them, just so I can enjoy stumbling upon them from time to time. They always bring a smile to my face and joy to my heart. I’ve saved all of the other notes in a big glass brandy snifter, including the little notes from the story I am reposting below.
Go ahead. Write a note to someone you love. I promise you’ll make their day.
First sunflower to open—a volunteer from 2022’s crop. The succulent chair garden is flourishing!This lacecap hydrangea is from a funeral basket arrangement 15 years ago. A sweet reminder of the love of my cousins and my dad’s legacy of faith. A white Asiatic Lily on the west side of the house. Clematis ‘Princess Diana’ still looking rather regal This & That – an eclectic hodgepodge of plants and purple-y painted miscellany after a refreshing rain. The purple in my garden is my quiet nod to my sweet Momma’s battle with Alzheimer’s. . “And the yellow sunflower in beauty stood.” ~William Cullen Bryant
Lots of Wisconsinites were “Singing in the Rain”…including me.
On July 4th, we Americans commemorate the birthday of our country. We like to celebrate by wearing red, white and blue, and attending parades, picnics, fireworks, and patriotic music concerts. Some of us prefer a quieter celebration. I spent the holiday doing a lot of barefoot gardening–mostly deadheading spent blossoms and pulling weeds. Once I had an area cleared of weeds and the soil amended with compost, I put down a few inches of mulch I’ve been hauling from our community’s free pile of woodchips.
“A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.”
Liberty Hyde Bailey
Thankfully, some much prayed for rain has fallen in the area, ending our severe drought conditions. Wayne kept up with watering of the flowerbeds, potted flowers, and our little patch of tomatoes during the drought; thankfully, most everything has survived. However, our lawns in the area went dormant, so look rather browned out. Our lawn is greening up a bit, but still looks rather sad and feels a little crispy underfoot.
The metamorphosis of bud to blossom beauty continues in waves.
My echinacea seems rather happy this summer. Buds are opening to beautiful blossoms now that they’ve been sprinkled liberally with raindrops.
I am always delighted when someone stops by my garden for a little visit. Thank YOU for visiting via this virtual “Six on Saturday” peek at what’s happening in my Wisconsin garden. If you’d like to see more beautiful garden spaces, pop on over for a virtual visit with our host Jim at Garden Ruminations–where you’ll find his blog post and comment section to be a most pleasant pastime.
As of today, Wayne and I have been married 47 years. He is 72 and a full six years plus a smidge older than me. While we both hope to walk this life together for another decade or so, my wise husband has been setting aside some time for financial training. He’s teaching me some of the stuff I may need to know if he meets Jesus before I do. As we cover different subjects, he is creating a very detailed step-by-step reference guide for me, which I have dubbed ‘Operation Widowhood’.
Death is not a respecter of persons. Death will happen to all of us at some point and none of us knows when. Statistically speaking, in the marriage relationship, women often outlive their husband by an average of 5 years. When it comes to handling the financial matters of life like investments, insurance policies, taxes, and such, most widows are not ready to walk life alone when their spouse dies. Truth be told, most of us don’t even know how to pay bills or do the banking because our husbands handled that matter.
As of today, Wayne and I have been married 47 years. He is 72 and is six years plus a smidge older than me. While we both hope to walk this life together for another decade or so, my wise husband has been setting aside some time for my financial training. He’s teaching me some of the stuff I may need to know if he meets Jesus before I do. As we cover different subjects, he is creating a very detailed step-by-step reference guide for me, which I have dubbed ‘Operation Widowhood’.
Barefoot Lily Lady 