Sunday

Sundays are lovely.

St. Mary Abbots in London

A gentle start to the new week.

A day made more beautiful by spending it with your family.

 

 

“Sunday is the golden clasp that binds together the volume of the week.”

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Dreams

Once upon a time, a girl had dreams of traveling to far away places.

Stonehenge

But her life took her on a different path from the one she had imagined.

Tower Bridge

Even though her dreams occasionally called out to her,

she almost quit believing in them.

Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile

But her dreams had not forgotten her and one day they came for her.

It wasn't the perfect time. It wasn't the perfect situation.

How could she say "No."?

She didn't.

Dreams do come true as long as you keep them alive.

Eiffel Tower

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

Live the life you have imagined.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Temptation

We were riding the Tube, a novelty for us - "Mind the gap!" - and I glanced around at the people around me. I spotted a Londoner holding a bag proclaiming "Ben's Cookies". I continued my perusal of my fellow passengers and next I spotted a box stamped with "Ben's Cookies". I'm not one to ignore signals from the universe and I was clearly receiving one. My travel companion also received the same signal and we agreed that we would not depart from London without finding this treasure.

Wandering around London the next day in a mode we like to call "off the map*" AKA "I'm not sure where we are, but let's keep wandering. Oh! Look at this lovely Church/statue/bridge/etc." We sat in a park outside the church we had stumbled upon and located the nearest metro station via the phone GPS. Then we walked through a little mall to get to the Tube discovering our holy grail along our way. There it was, Ben's Cookies.

Oh what a difficult choice to make! I base my travel food choices on two criteria:
1.  What do the locals eat?
and/or
2.  What have I not had before?
The Ginger Dark Chocolate Chunk called out to me. And it was superb.

*"Off the map" was a phrase used by two very lovely British women that dined next to us in Rome. We started talking to them during our dinner and had a fabulous time chatting and laughing with them for two hours.

Lewis

I remember the day he caught my eye.

I was walking through Hyde Park with a friend when I spotted him across the way.

I was enchanted, walking forward to introduce myself.

I was bold, asking permission to touch him. His hair was silky soft as I caressed him with my fingers.

His long eyelashes framed his brown eyes as he shyly looked away from my camera, while I sought to capture his beauty.

I parted from him reluctantly wishing he was mine.

Lewis is half Poodle and half Siberian Husky

1935

Kew Gardens in London, England

The URL of my blog is http://raindancer1935.blogspot.com/ I've been asked what the significance of 1935 is. And here is my circuitous answer:

Kew Gardens in London, England

Growing up, I had a mother with a green thumb. Our house was filled with house plants, some hanging from macramé plant hangers. Our yard had a prolific vegetable garden. Our summer meals were filled with homegrown tomatoes, green beans, squash, black-eyed peas and more. My mother nurtured the fruit trees in our yard. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of plucking a pear off the tree and munching on it as I floated in our swimming pool on a hot summer day. And the flowers, oh the beautiful flowers in beds, tucked around the huge oak trees or in pots on the porch.

St. James Park in London, England

This spring my mother went in the hospital, she was improving and my friends and family encouraged me to keep my travel plans. On my trip, I took many photographs of the beautiful flowers. So many varieties I had never seen before. I could not wait to share my photos with my mother. But it was not to be. When I returned from my trip I discovered she had taken a turn for the worse. I told her all about the flowers, but she wasn't strong enough to sit up in bed and look at photos. And far too quickly she was gone.

Tuileries Garden in Paris, France

I do not have a green thumb. But now I am buying potting soil, ceramic pots and houseplants. I have an overwhelming urge to fill my house with African Violets and make macramé plant hangers. I want to plant Wisteria next spring. My mother did not leave me money, fine art or items of monetary value. But she left me a priceless gift: a garden in my heart. My mother was born in the year 1935. And I miss her terribly.

Giverny, France

Woods

Come take a walk in the woods with me...

 

Reading about nature is fine,

but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully,

he can learn more than what is in books,

for they speak with the voice of God.

~ George Washington Carver

A/N Photos taken in May 2013 at Kew Gardens in London, England