It's D Day (Weekend)

Well, here we are, the end of May and that means "D" Day or "Da Big Partay in My Back Yard".
I'm sure you have all been on the edge of your seat wondering if Cyndi will actually be ready...will the garden look OK....can she pull this off?? Or, is this the beginning of a beautiful disaster!!
There has been a lot of hard work put into the garden and last night Shaun and Holly came over and gave me the "thumbs up!" Yes, it could still use a fair bit of cleaning up but I think we are good to go. I'm now moving onto to buying food, preparing food, decorations and general house cleaning. My sister Heather has come down to help out - God Bless Her. Now, all I need is a rainless Sunday - and lawn chairs if anyone has any extra...Stay tuned fellow bloggers - the countdown has begun.
Did I mention this is the end of May - when did that happen!! Probably the same way my parents turned around and found they had been married for 50 years.
Well this Housecat would love to mews more news but I'm busy, busy, busy - like the Mad Hatter himself. In fact, by the end of the weekend I may very well be the Mad Hatter embodied.

Multi-Tasking Monster

May is one of my favourite months! What other time of the year can you see purple and pink frothy trees? Or be kissed again for the first time in nearly 6 months by a warm summer breeze? You can see flowers springing up before your eyes and grass as green as Ireland. It's not too cold for those of you who don't like frigid temperatures and it's not too hot for those of you who don't like to swelter. Truly, it is a heavenly month and one I like to savour. But I'm sooooo busy right now; I have so many things on the go; I'm a multi-tasking Monster and May is flying by!
A fair chunk of my job consists of arranging for meetings. Video-conferences to numerous sites, teleconferences between numerous people, real live meetings between real live people. I have to arrange rooms, book equipment, send out agendas, photocopy hand-outs, get the coffee ready etc. etc. Now that's all OK with me - I love to organize and there is a lot of meetings going on right now at work. But on top of that I'm also helping to arrange a Retirement Party for one of the ladies at work, my son's birthday party and of course, my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary that has me desperately trying to get my garden in order.
So that got me thinking about a Day in God's Life and the amount of multi-tasking He's got beneath His Wings. "Let's see...." God says to Jesus....."Today we have 353,176 new humans being born, we have 128,772 to welcome home and Oh yes....we can't forget the 82,354 celebrations we have today with the Angels for all those people who have accepted You into their hearts! - Always a good party!!"
It's is a good thing there are 3 of them (Father, Son and Holy Ghost) and a good thing They are Omnipotent!
As there are not 3 of me and I'm definitely not Omnipotent, I'm getting a little concerned I may mix up a few things.....It could be my Son may end up with a lovely Retirement Brooch and a nice garden party for his Birthday and my 70-year-old parents and their friends will find themselves in Camouflage gear playing Paintball.....I'm going to have to be careful with all these balls in the air....perhaps I should arrange videoconference for everyone so they can all share everything vicariously!
I do love May but this one is passing me by. I'm barely getting a chance to enjoy it. On the other hand I believe God is orchestrating all this because He wants to keep me busy, keep my mind off of things. Well, I'm not a God but I am a Woman and multi-tasking is what we do. So bring it on....I will make lists, write myself notes and hopefully everyone that is supposed to will end up with a teacup in the garden, a paintball gun in hand and enjoy a lovely Retirement Dinner with their co-workers!

Moving Day

Now that the weather is decent I'm back to riding my bike to work. It's lovely in the morning - there is usually no wind to fight and my energy level is high. I bit harder at the end of the day. Generally there is a wind pushing me backwards and my 40+ year old body is not very keen on aerobic exercise after working all day.

One of the benefits of bike riding (for those of you who have read my book - just a little plug) is how you have time to see all the details of what's going on in the world that you ride through. The other day I pedalled past a big moving van parked in front of a house. It's a stately Georgian-style home and not one I would leave willingly. The van was open at the back and still pretty empty but there were blankets ready to bundle up a family's treasures and the men trundled back and forth from the open door of the house to the open door of the van, up the ramp and nestled the furniture into the back.

Moving day can be exciting, tiring, anticipated and stressful. Like most people, I've seen my share of moves. Lately we are in the cycle of moving daughter Randi somewhere at the beginning of each new school year and then moving her out and home at the end and then we start all over again in the fall.

Spiritually God is in the process of moving me. And, yes - it's exciting, tiring, anticipated and stressful. Moving means I'm going somewhere new and learning new things. I'm anticipating what is in store for me but it's also stressful. Moving means I have to leave other things behind; things I might want to keep. I once heard a speaker say "God is not a Happy Camper." In other words, He's not one to park it and stay put. He's like that big Atlas Moving Van picking us and all our baggage up and moving us to something new and different.

If you know someone who's in the process of moving - spiritually or otherwise, do your best to lend a helping hand. Support and encourage them as best you can. Moving Day is a lot easier when you have friends around.

Just to update you on my Garden dilemma - thanks for the advice, I will be calling Holly!! A lady from work came over and helped me arrange a few planters to put on the patio. She said what everyone says....."It's really overgrown" and "I've never seen anything quite like it." I cleaned and filled the pond and set up the fountain and we bought a little Cherub to sit on the edge. I've decided to name him "Chad The Cherub." So, here is a picture of "The Chad",doing what he does best. I also took a picture of the magnolia tree in my neighbor's yard (a little garden envy here).

I've got 31 days....

SOS...SOS....My parents 50th wedding anniversary is the end of May and guess who's back yard they have decided to have the party in?? Well, I DID say I would help in any way. Of course I was thinking getting the balloons, arranging some little sandwiches, tea and coffee etc. I was not thinking Hostess with the Mostess.
We bought our house 5 years ago from a sweet little retired (note retired) dutch couple who had all the time in the world to putter in their extensive gardens. And, I might add, they were darn good at it. How very fortunate for us to inherit such lovely gardens. How very unfortunate for the gardens to inherit us. There are perennials in abundance coming up who knows where and I-don't-know-when. There is a lovely little pond in the middle that in my memory was a show-stopper when we looked at the house. There was a lovely little fountain in there and real goldfish! Now, after 5 years, frumpy is the word I would use to describe it. And to top it all off, our Amelia-Bedelia loves to do laps around and around the pond effectively destroying all grass and leaving lots of space for the weeds to move in.
So, in a desperate attempt to make this backyard worthy of a 50th wedding anniversary, there I was last night in the pouring rain clipping the rosebushes (I hope you are supposed to do that) and spreading grass seed around followed by topping it with fresh soil - I've seen other people do this so I think this is what you do. HELP - I am not a gardener. I'm open to any suggestions short of moving out and giving the gardens a break. Please people....I've got 31 days...