Wednesday, July 09, 2008

A day of thanks.....

That is how I am feeling today! In a moment, I will show you why I am thankful about some garden successes but first I want to comment to you all about my last post. I had such fun putting that entry together and then it was compounded by the great response I received by you. I enjoyed seeing a new friend stop in to say hello. So nice to 'meet' you Annie from San Diego and I hope you will stop in more often. Do you not have a blog yourself?

It was great to see a few old friends visit who I have not heard from in a while. It is good to see you back again Rhondi as well as Andylynne. I always enjoy hearing from you. A new blogger for me to visit now is Crazee4books and I will doing so as I see she is a stitcher as well as loving to read. I will enjoy seeing her work and she can see mine over at my
NeedleNecessitites blog.

I felt so thrilled and amazed last evening when I turned on my computer to check my blog and talk to my mother when I found a comment from Susan Branch herself on the blog. I kept going back to see that it was really real. She was already easily included on my list of special ladies but in reading her comment, this heroine became even more of someone special to me. She is just so nice to have taken a moment to say something and then tell her wonderful thoughts about Helen Keller:

"Dear Heidi, what a doll you are -- I can tell because of all the amazing heroes you have chosen. I can hardly believe you included me in this group!!! You are too much.
I've also thought about this subject as I am so inspired every day. One of my favorites is Helen Keller. In case you don't know her story, this is it in a nutshell: Because of an illness when she was just a baby, she lost the ability to hear or see. It wasn't until she was around 7 and had a wonderful teacher, that she was able to understand what was going on around her, but always in the dark and quiet. She ended up graduating from Radcliffe, wrote beautiful books, used beautiful words and said (among many wonderful things), "I seldom think of my limitations and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times, but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers." From her my inspiration is to count my blessings every day! She dedicated the autobiography of her life to Alexander Graham Bell. That's my heroine story. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for including me in yours!!! Have a wonderful day, with love, Susan"

Thank you so much Susan!

And thank you so much to another Susan who is an online friend of mine and also left a comment that has really made my day. You are a very sweet person to say those things. I am just trying to make the best of what I have each day in life regardless of what hand I have been dealt. There is always a silver lining in each cloud if we only look for it. You yourself are an amazing lady who has given the gift of yourself to your two little boys as well as your teaching and forming children in your community and being a friend to people like me. Thank you once again for your words!


Meet Edith Holden as a rose. I had her on my list of heroines if you remember. This Floribunda or cluster rose is a very pretty pink~brown color. It will darken slightly as the rose progresses. I found this rose while surfing the net last year and found out that only one place in Holland sells them. I have a friend whom I mentioned it too and she said her mother lives in the same street as this grower. She offered to have her mother go get it for me. I planted it up in my large terracotta pot and it is flowering very prettily for me now. I left on Friday for Cranberry Cottage with the second flower in bloom but...


...when I returned on Sunday that bloom was replace by four new ones clustered together. i am so pleased I was able to find this unusual flower dedicated to Edith.


This is a real success story for me. I have always loved old~fashioned flowers like the dahlias. They are very much part of the farm gardens you see throughout Holland. Try as I may, I have never had any success with growing them myself. I put them in the ground only to find no plant come up at all. When I dig up the bulbs, I find they are gone. Just disappeared. I tried this for three years and decided I should simply give up.


This year, I decided to try them in a terracotta pot when Jos showed up at home with six bulbs as a gift for me one day. I was already excited to see that I got a plant as five of the six bulbs came up. Now I also have been able to enjoy the actual first flower blossom this week! It is like a child going into a candy store watching my first dahlia really come into being. Doesn't it look like fireworks?


Ah! Simple pleasures! It is a Zip~A~Dee~Doo~Dah kind of day!

15 comments:

Nancy said...

Wow, those are both beautiful flowers. i went to your comments again last night also. I thought that was oh so nice of Susan Branch to comment for you. Makes you want to go out and buy even more of the things she has for sale. Enjoy your Zippy day LOL.
Love you, Mom

Susan in SC said...

Beautiful flowers! I was so impressed to see a comment from Susan Branch! I love her work. It was a thrill to see s personal note from her! I meant every word in my comment to you - you are amazing!

Karen said...

Beautiful beautiful flowers Heidi. I so wish I had the green thumb - but at this point I don't. Maybe someday. What a sweet comment left by Susan Branch. I also really enjoy her work and whimsy style. You yourself are a real treasure - just like your beautiful flowers.

hugs - Karen

Anonymous said...

Edith Holden is a really beautiful rose. How wonderful to come home to those pretty blooms.

Marie x

Mary said...

Glad you are having a well-earned zip-pa-dee-do-dah type of day sweet Heidi!! What a lovely surprise to hear from Susan Branch, a truly talented artist, and other old and new friends.

Thanks for your nice words welcoming Melissa at Sunbonnet Cottage to the fold - I always love these new gals who bring more fun and interest to our lives and remember how it was when I was a new blogger and everything was strange - especially wondering if anyone would ever be interested enough to read anything I had to say! Now I'm blessed with so many friends around the globe, and several right here within a few miles whom I've even be able to meet in person!

Well Edith as a rose is a sweet surprise - I must search for her in local rose gardens - will have to bring her to my cottage for tea - I mean plant!!

Your Jos is such as great guy to bring you dahlias to try again. I loved them in England where they seemed to thrive - we had huge beauties - however never see them here in the South, perhaps the wrong climate. How pretty yours are.

We are having thunderstorms most evenings now so everywhere is getting plenty of moisture at long last. The humidity is awful and the mosquitoes attack as soon as I open the door - I'm staying inside a lot!! Jasmin is here mornings and then enjoying some local dance and improv classes in the afternoons - better than having her glued to the laptop or TV!!

Heidi - please e-mail me your mailing address - I have a little present to send you dear.

Love and hugs - Mary.

Anonymous said...

Heidi,

Your blog is simply amazing. Words can't describe how beautiful a job you have done on creating it.

I will be sure to visit often.

By the way, I have been to the Netherlands a very long time ago and I must say, it was a gorgeous country. I loved the apple cinnamon bread that I had there.

Thank you for your kind words that you left on my blog this morning.

You are a sweetie.

Melissa
Sunbonnet Cottage

Amy Marie said...

Those flowers are amazing! You are very talented!

Ragged Roses said...

Hello Heidi, I'm not surprised you had such a wonderful response to your last post, it was such a great one! It was obvious how much time and consideration had been put into it and it was inspirational, thank you.
Lovely photos today too, I have never been able to grow dahlias successfully. The slugs always get to them and they disappear overnight! Enjoy yours
Kimx

Roberta said...

Hi Heidi, as always your blog is such a wonderful place to escape to. I am a bit behind in my reading due to company, but have finally been able to sit and enjoy.

The Edith Holden Rose is so very beautiful and I love the dahlia, as you know I love gardening and I am thinking that perhaps, I need to check out Edith Holden for my yard and also to see if a dahlia would be happy here.

How very special that Susan Branch has stopped by to visit you and to leave a note. She is a very talented lady.

With stitches and friendship
Roberta

Anonymous said...

Heidi,

Yes, I do have a small collection of roosters/chickens. You know what's sad, I do not know how to tell the difference between them. I grew up in Miami, Florida. So, I did not see a lot of roosters or chickens there. However, I did see pink flamingos.

Again, your blog is very lovely.

Melissa
Sunbonnet Cottage

Pondside said...

Hi Heidi
I had to smile when I heard the music on your site this morning. Zip-a-dee-doo-dah indeed! What a great way to start my day!
The Great Dane grows Dahlias, despite the deer. Someone told us that the deer leave them alone - not here! In any case, they are beautiful and there's nothing I like more than a gorgeous August bouquet. We have some Dinner Plate Dahlias - one bloom in a bowl is perfect!
Have a great day in your garden!

Rhondi said...

Dear Heidi
You have such a wonderful attitude toward life. The flowers are beautiful, especially the rose. LOve the song.
Hugs, Rhondi

Kim @ Home Is Where The Heart Is said...

Dear Heidi,
Just wanted to let you know that I have not fallen off the face of the planet...I'm still here! It was good to stop and see what you've been up to. The flowers are absolutely beautiful. How very nice that you got a comment from Susan Branch! I just love her, too! Take care, my friend!
Love, Kim

Suzann said...

Such amazing flowers - nature holds such beauty if we slow down long enough to appreciate it. Susan Branch left you a comment!! A Zippity day for sure!! I so adore her that I cannot even begin to imagine your joy over seeing that on your blog. As for heroines, I have a very strong feeling that YOU should be on a list of heroines. You surely inspire me.

Suzann

the tattered nest said...

Susan Branch? How did she find you in blog land? that is so wonderful! How lucky you are to meet your heroine and then to find she is as sweet as you thought!(it doesn't always happen that way) It was a beautiful post and I am so glad she found it! I love blog land...congrats on the beautiful flowers! you did a fine job!