February/Winter Flowers

I picked the flower puzzle to do (see quandary here) 

because there's just something about flowers

in winter that can't be beat!!

even the pieces look like a handful of petals tossed on a garden path!

So, let's celebrate the last day of February with winter flowers

even if they are painted on cardboard💖😊

They kindle wild dream-pleasure for gardens not planted yet

They gleam with priceless treasure of fond memories to be

They rouse a youthful yearning in the appetites they whet

For perfumed pinks and purples heady with sweet nectar-tea

And like children with rosy faces, kissed by brisk wind-chill

They bloom a little rosier on winter’s windowsill

They delight hearts with visions of a sunny summer’s day

Where butterflies and laughter flit and flirt with honey bee

They make indoors feel friendlier while winter whiles away

As we stroll perfect gardens in a plot of fantasy

A welcome splash of color on a dolor afternoon

They garnish kitchen tables with a glint of May or June

They cheer us with old fashioned charm and make us humbly glad

To be alive where flowers wait to burst the bud with bloom

As blush and gold menageries drive poets gently mad

With so much beauty to behold from Mother Nature’s loom

Primed with a plethora of plumes no tombs can keep at bay 

Unfolding outdoor living rooms still snuggly tucked away

© Janet Martin

Speaking of outdoor living rooms

I would love to try this come spring!

Baking Lavash Bread on Stone Grill

From Country Life Vlog

 

Of Best Laid Plan

One thing we learn over and over is

no matter how important planning is,

and no matter how meticulously each detail is addressed,

or each prospect visualized,

plans, at best, are extremely volatile!

The 'best laid plan' therefore, with humble 'Thy will be done'

should always be entrusted to the Higher Hand

who orchestrates Purpose far beyond the frames we peer through

to hopes and dreams not accomplished yet!

With all the unexpected snow days this winter it seems like possibly

 I am being conditioned for the childcare break coming up.

...or, at least that is the plan😅🙏

Sometimes it feels like life is simply a constant sequence

 of changed plans/ misplaced puzzle pieces!

I'm trying to decide if today is the day 

I commit to starting a puzzle and if so, which one?!

Plans are like phantom pieces to a puzzle thought perceives

Of panoramic vistas wafting on volatile breeze

Where soon, even a child begins to learn the simple fact

How plans at best, are pictures that we cannot keep intact

No matter how meticulously we try to arrange

The pieces to fit perfectly; still, often plans will change

Teaching us to be patient as we reconcile the art

Of relinquishing pictures that change-of-plans pulls apart

How often heart shaped tatters scatter where no one can see

Save we who bear the brunt of Planning’s altered scenery

How often, as we grapple with the pictures we release

We are reminded of the Hand beneath each puzzle piece

© Janet Martin

James 4:13-15

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”