It's pretty amazing how everything fits together and works... with flowers or life, however you want to read it.

We've finally found a house to move into. I'm pretty excited to have a backyard to garden in and a space to designate for painting only. If only this home was on rolling hills with a couple cows (and goats and sheep and chickens and bunnies and well, you get it). Maybe in a couple years, but right now I'll take what I can get.

The tulips were given to me by an old gentleman, "It's your lucky day". The gardenia (I believe) I found by my car, probably lonely. For once I was not the one picking and plucking, but receiving from sheer luck. (It made them that much sweeter)

the best peeping toms

Lately we've been house hunting which means I've been eyeing any home jealously. The houses around my neighborhood are all wonderful (and of course pricey). I walk by, lusting after certain entrances, backyards, and the imagined interiors. This move will be bittersweet; an exciting time to stretch out a bit but my neighborhood (with the familiar faces with increasing waves and hellos) will be sorely missed.

We went here and it was everything I expected - 30 acres of tulips.

Thoughts of the day: 
“Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis; because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred.” 
-Thich Nhat Hanh