FAREWELL TO JUNE AND THE HOLLYHOCKS

It'a been a glorious June...and as we bid her farewell for another year and look forward to a hot, fun, star-spangled July, we once more honor the Hollyhocks with this poem found in Grandmother Holmes' "never, never throw away" book.

Hollyhocks

Old fashioned flowers! I love them all;

The morning-glories on the wall,

The pansies in their patch of shade,

The violets, stolen from a glade,

The bleeding hearts and columbine,

Have long been garden friends of mine;

But memory every summer flocks

Among a clump of hollyhocks.

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The mother loved them years ago;

Beside the fence they used to grow,

And though the garden changed each year

And certain blooms would disappear

To give their places in the ground

To something new that mother found,

Some pretty bloom or rosebush rare...

The hollyhocks were always there.

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It seems but yesterday to me

She led me down the yard to see

The first tall spires, with blooms aflame,

And taught me to pronounce their name,

And year by year I watched them grow,

The first flowers I had come to know,

And with the mother dear I'd yearn

To see the hollyhocks return.

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The garden of my childhood days

With hollyhocks was kept ablaze;

In all my recollections they

In friendly columns nod and sway;

And when to-day their blooms I see,

Always the mother smiles at me;

The mind's bright chambers, life unlocks

Each summer with the hollyhocks.

Eagar A. Guest

To my loves:

There were Hollyhocks in Grandmother's garden

There were Hollyhocks in my Childhome garden

I hope when I am gone, someone will plant Hollyhocks

SIMPLICITY

"Every flower is a lesson in how to be
Simply Beautiful". Anonymous

VIEW FROM MY BACK DOOR

TODAY

The Morning Glory is allotted a single day to make it's contribution to this circle of life.

She seems to be giving it her all to make this day count!

Could be a lesson here.

I thank you God for this day.

COLORADO

"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear,
though the earth give way and the
mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam and
the mountains quake with their surging.

Psalm 46:1-3
Rose's Confirmation Verse

PERKY1

I think they are ready for the day!

Have a really great one!

SUNRISE IN THE CITY II

"I'll tell you how the sun rose--one ribbon at a time."

Emily Dickinson

His father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

"Praise to the Lord, the God of Isael,
for he has come and has redeemed his people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us.
in the house of his servant David.........

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness
of their sins,
Because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven......."

Zechariah's Song upon the birth of his son, John the Baptist....Luke 1:67 -78 (a reference to the coming of the Messiah - NIV textnote)

BE NOT ANXIOUS

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not neither do they spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these...." Jesus of Nazareth Matthew 6:28-29

HOME AGAIN

Colorado was great! Thanks again Peggy and Mike.

Garden is flourishing! Thanks, Jerry.

All the way through Kansas and back....was greeted by this when I got home!

Life IS good!

OUT OF TOWN

Taking this show on the road. Be playing back in town soon.

CURTAIN CALL

Everyone gets to take a bow!

Leading Ladies

Bit Players

Walk-Ons

ACT III

What Is So Rare As A Day In June?

Mother quoted poetry.

She shared with me that as a child they were required to memorize and recite long poems and readings.

When June rolled around each year she loved to recall one special one.

2002 saw her last June here on this earth. Most days she didn't even know who I was.....but when this month rolled around and I was able to make her understand that it had....she began once again ....

"And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays;
Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten;
Every clod feels a stir of might,
And instinct within it that reaches and towers,
And , groping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers;
The flush of life may well be seen.
Thrilling back over hills and valleys:
The cowslip startles in meadows green,
The buttercup catches the sun in it's chalice,
And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean
To be some happy creature's palace;
The little bird sits at his door in the sun,
Atiilt like a blossom among the leaves,
And lets his illumined being o'errun
With the deluge of summer it receives;
His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings,
And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings;
He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest,
In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best?"

The first stanza of a poem by James Russell Lowell


She didn't make it all the way through the verse that year, but when Brad found it on the internet and sat down beside her and read, her face lit up in remembrance! It was a blessing to see.

INTERMISSION

Let's look around and see what else is waiting in the wings.

Some are obviously ready to take their place on stage.


Others are waiting quietly in a sunny corner, watching and growing until it's their time to shine!

Maybe there are more words of wisdom here.....

"I often think flowers are the angels' alphabet whereby they write on hills and fields mysterious and beautiful lessons for us to feel and learn." Louisa May Alcott

ACT II

The Garden speaks.....

I think she is not only beautiful, but also wise.

Of course, this positive view of things is not original to her!

"And God saw all that He had made, and it ws very good. And there was evening, and there was morning---the sixth day." Genesis 1:31

ACT I

Just couldn't wait!