Yesterday I wandered through someone else's garden,

which now belongs to mostly everyone who stops by

to say hello to the little old ladies who guard it.

It felt so good to be in a walled garden in the sun!

The camellias are wearing poorly, lots of nips in them

from the cold winds we've been having, even within a walled garden.

The Japanese magnolias' catkins are bursting.

They'll be blossoming & booming in just a minute or two...

I have been working much more than I usually do,

being of a naturally rather, ahhhh, ambling sort of nature,

who prizes lolling about & thinking of interesting subjects,

nothing too technical or measured, thanks,

but this last month has put my resources to the test...

Patience, for one, & getting past inertia into action,

I've had pressing issues concerning my mom,

& lots of them.

But all the while a voice kept saying

Get out your acrylics!

GET. OUT. YOUR. ACRYLICS.

So, when I finally did follow my own advice,

I found a very special ring & other keepsake jewelry

I had given up on over five years ago.

It drove me crazy for awhile back then,

looking everywhere & wondering

what had happened,

speculating on how they disappeared.

Finally, I had decided that someone

must have needed them more than I did,

& let the worries go away out into the Universe.

Now I know I hid them from myself, evidently,

& revealed them to myself years later,

at a time when this ol' girl

is much more seasoned with irony.

So I have decided the paint that harbored that treasure

must be lucky, & thus I am re-beginning a painting phase.

Now that I've announced it, so must it be.

Capturing light for myself

preserving it for everybody