Thursday 13: Growth

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1. This quote is on each of my friend Kris's emails. I'm sharing it because I keep thinking about it and I know it's true:

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"nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love quite absolute, final way. what you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. it will decide what gets you out of bed in the mornings, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you.

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fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything. pedro arrupe, s.j.

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2.This has been an ambivalent week. JB and I have been alternately sick. I only missed one day of work but I've been dragging. Today I'm much better I'm also trying to calm my ego into a state of "ignore, it's not about you".

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This is also the week that almost everything changed in my yard. April is my favorite month by far. The daffodils are open, the tulips are preparing, the trees are donning leaves, and the buds are getting ready.

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It is a time for new growth and renewal. The colors and pops of spring helps me do that.

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3. Remember my Mother and her "Messy Christmas"? Today something just as funny happened. I have a ten year client we so art therapy together. She was making a birthday card for her four year old brother. She was careful and colorful, writing each letter and drawing three pictures inside the card: her brother, her self, and in between a birthday cake.

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On the outside she wrote in big letters: HAPPY BITCHDAY

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I didn't tell her....

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4. I love shadows.
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5. The sun has been out for three days and the yellow and pink and purple colors are coming fast. This azalea bush also opened today and assures that we will have fresh cut flowers in the house this weekend.
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6. This is for Robyn and Lori. It is called" Fluffy Erection."
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7. This appeared his morning in my front yard. These are hosta leafs breaking through the ground. The leafs come up like little missiles and will each be some shade of large oval green leaves.
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8. Have you ever wondered what actress or actor you would choose to play you? I thought of this tonight and I should probably be too embarrassed to say this out loud, but in the role of me I would want Julia Roberts or Meredith I-can't-remember-her-last name from "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and the Today Show.
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9. This is the back side of my house. I am landscaping like a snail and I'm feeling no pressure. There are two things I've promised myself I will do out of love and not out of obligation: gardening and blogging.
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11. These are JB's grasses. By July they will be very green and very huge and some of them very willowy. When Mr, Ryan comes to visit we play hide and seek and run through the grasses. Looking at the shape of them now, what a miracle, huh?

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12. This is a picture of a bribe! The four houses that comprise our cul d'sac (how do you spell that? I should know...) are not happy that a round-about (rotary) is being built quite close to our street. It is expected to take 18 months to finish at a cost of $ 2 million dollars. We fought for a simple streetlight and I think it will be shown that simple would have been much better.

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Anyway, a strip of grass on the street side of our fence is going to be temporarily used as a path for walkers and bike riders to enter the park next door and avoid the construction. The chief engineer or manager or whatever he's called said he will try to make things as easier and less disruptive as possible for us. I met him yesterday and I have to admit he was a charmer and a willing listener.

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So this morning he dropped off this magnolia bush (I think it's a bush. Does anybody know?). Kind of a gift. Smart man, wouldn't you say?
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13. I was in a high school today and I saw this sign on the wall:

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Love All

Trust a few

Harm None

William Shakespeare

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Did Shakespeare actually write this?
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Thank you for your visits and your friendship.

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I am forever appreciative.

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Love

kj