Love Notes

Apr 14, 2025 • #change #Green #Lilac #spring #strength

Fresh Lilacs, Spring Greens, & the Beauty of Change

This weekend, I’ve been thinking about change.   Maybe it's the chill and constant rain which followed that "80 degree + blue sky + teaser of a day" Mother Nature had sent earlier last week.   Or perhaps it’s the rebirth that's erupting in the garden outside my window.   Yes, let's seize on the latter.
 

"Spring is a gentle reminder of how beautiful change can be." — Unknown

Good old change — it is the only thing we can always count on.

But change can also be a wee bit scary — at least in my experience.  Recently, I've been burrowing down a philosophical rabbit hole, searching for tools to better navigate change.  READ MORE

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Apr 10, 2024 • #gardens #Lilac #spring

Glories of the Garden 3/8/24

Sometimes I feel as if our merry band of Love Note readers is essentially a support group for those of us who longingly await the birth of spring, and might need a little help in so doing.  I am grateful for you holding my hand, as I am clearly one of those in need, (I founded the support group, after all).  

Today,  I sit at my desk, watching a steady rain fall over my border resplendent with Angelique tulips, one of which rewarded me with a blue ribbon at this week's garden club meeting.  Behind me, a Carolina jessamine has robustly climbed up, over and around its trellis, this week reaching peak bloom.  My smile is wide, as a robin repeatedly visits the spines of our patio umbrella, in what I hope is a final housing inspection.  Please oh please build your nest right here.   READ MORE

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May 24, 2022 • #gardens #Green #Lilac

5/23/2022 Ode to Lilac and Green

What is it about the combination of lilac and green that soothes and brightens all at once?   Maybe the design scheme still seems a bit of a surprise, as opposed to say, a room decked out in soft turquoise and white, one which we all know and would happily move into tomorrow.   Or perhaps there's something wired within our brainstem - the part that knows without thinking - that recognizes the beguiling interplay of lilac and green as two of Mother Nature's favorite bedfellows. 

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May 03, 2021 • #Green #Lilac #Mother's Day

5/03/21 - A Perfect Mother's Day, with top notes of lilac and green

When my sweet mother passed away a few years ago, a dear friend gave me a miniature lilac bush.  It blooms just around mother's day every year, and my heart fills with thankfulness for my mother, and for my friend Cheryl, and for all the friends and mothers I have been inspired by, and for my own two boys, now 23 and 26.

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