Julanne's Village Jewels

                                                                                      MY GARDEN ALTERNATIVE Have you ever had the thought pass your mind of an ALTERNATIVE to the way you chose to spend your working life? I certainly have but with no regret feelings as to what I chose (teaching). I know that what I do well is teach and I loved every minute of it.  I watched a documentary on Beatrix Farrand, a world renown landscape gardener from America. She designed massive areas like the New York Botanical Gardens, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School, a section of the White House for President Wilson. She designed huge projects for John D, Rockefeller, who praised her work greatly. As much as I have perused gardening and gardens, I had never heard of her! She lived from the 1870's to 1955. She was a phenomenal woman, doing this job, when it was not the usual thing at all to include women in this field. Not only was she a genius at design, color, placement and selections, but

                                                                                      CABBAGE ROSES TRUST When one plants a gorgeous rose bush like this Cabbage Rose, one has to have TRUST in the process that makes the rose flourish. the rose takes tender loving care; the right amount of sunshine, of water, of freedom from pests and some TLC in paying loving attention to it. This seems easy to do, but unless one is DILIGENT in its care the rose can quickly decline. I believe that this dear little rose TRUSTS the care taker to pay ATTENTION to it and care for it properly. This act of TRUST applies to each one of us, TRUSTING a person, system, someone's word,  facts etc. Something or someone we can RELY ON.  I'm sure that we all may feel a twinge when I say this because of past experiences. I'm writing about this because I feel it is important! There are some things in this world I feel we can  TRUST. The sun rising  every morning, even when we can't see it, the seasons c

                                                                                                        BARK BRAVERY I just watched an interview on You Tube about BRAVERY. I used to think that to be BRAVE, one had to be a soldier, an explorer, even an Olympic athlete, to be able to with stand brutal circumstances that one had to go through. These people are  BRAVE, to be sure, but I'm seeing BRAVERY in a much broader context now. I am finishing writing a year long 'story' about my life. Yes it has taken me a year to write stories or happenings in my whole life.It has been an 'eye opener' for me to actually write facts about experiences I have had in my life. I loved writing all this and I have come to see that at 3 years old I started doing very BRAVE things! Before I realized these 'feats' I felt like the experiences happened to someone else.   My experiences were sometimes funny, sometimes scary, sometimes fun and satisfying, filled with love and fear. Nev

                                                                                                AGAVE WINNING Thankfully, I have just received a 'crash course' in the subject of WINNING! I have been fairly glued to the Olympics and have witnessed young people, one being a 14year old diver, who was phenomenal! Even the narrators were raving! I am AWARE of the fact that, I'd say  all  participants AIM is to win GOLD metals. I noticed a slight shift in some who won silver and bronze, one of disappointment for the most part, perhaps.They all can be PROUD of their achievements. WINNING is such a big  deal in cultures, far and wide! It is THE  aim in life for many who aspire to WIN! It is a wondrous feeling for anyone who WINS anything. There must be that instant of gratification when one WINS, but what I noticed is that the team was extremely happy for the WINNER. There must be a thrill and a rush that happens like no other. What was so apparent to me this time watching the eve

                                                                                 WHISTLING DUCKS OBSTACLES When I think of the word OBSTACLES I think of 'tripping over' or 'stumbling' in some way. It seems there have been  a lot  of OBSTACLES in our paths for awhile. Many of them have been coming from the outside  such as the virus, the weather, politics, world events etc. With many happenings it seems to render us helpless. It seems that BLAME is thrown out to the world, if only . . .? I feel this comes from FEAR and becoming at the affect of what I cannot control. OBSTACLES are like a 2 sided coin. On one side is the 'outer' and the other side the 'inner'. I'm realizing that some of the OBSTACLES I experience come from ME! By allowing certain thoughts and feelings to control me and then I go 'into' fear and feeling helpless to change my situation. ALL  OBSTACLES are not  physical! The key seems to me to be able to DISCERN if an OBSTACLE tha