There are always flowers for those who want to see them.

I was out watering my row of flower boxes hanging off my fence and the nicest woman sluggishly and painstakingly approached.  I thought, at first, she was being cautious because she worried about COVID and me, so I respectfully put on my mask so she could walk by, but then she stopped to talk, and it was clear she wasn’t trying to avoid me due to fear of covid.  She was proudly vaccinated.  She wanted to stop and tell me how much she enjoyed the flowers I planted.  That it brightened her walk each day and she had hoped she would meet the person who planted them so she could thank them.  And so, she did. We had such a nice little chat. 
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Her name is Camilla.  She tries to walk everyday but the pain is great.  She is getting both knees replaced in April, and that is why she moves with deliberate caution.  She lives at the end of the street and she told me how she lives here to be close to her children.  She then explained that she has nothing to complain about, everyone has some problem and hers are her bad knees.  How lucky she was that hers was pain and nothing more.  She cannot wait for her surgery! So upbeat and positive.  Then she came back to how beautiful the flowers were.  It made my day.  Mostly because we have lived in this flat almost a year and hadn’t met anyone until now.  This week, we’ve met two neighbors … and all because of the flowers.  The day after I planted them the kids that lived next door RAN out to tell me how pretty the flowers were.  They also enthusiastically talked about how school was starting etc.  But you see, something as simple as the flowers was the opening needed for people to talk and share with one another.

Maybe that is what I love most about winter.  People are holed up in their homes and the first sign of sunshine and warm weather everyone is outside enjoying one another and the world around them.

On a side note.  I told Camilla that I hoped I’d be able to keep the flowers alive.  She suggested that I take milk jugs and fill them up and leave them up at the top of the stairs, that way I didn’t have to go up/down the stairs 5 times to water the flowers with my tiny watering can.  It really was a great suggestion… besides, she said when she walked by that she would happily water them as well but only if the water was nearby.  😊  How sweet was that!?   It is possible that my flowers will become a community effort!!
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Today my challenge is for every one of us to go beyond our everyday radius and go outside and find a flower, a beautiful weed, a garden that you have not noticed before.  Really see it.  Choose to be happy.  And if you happen to see water near some planter boxes, help them out and water them!

      You remember me telling you about the cleaning woman that didn’t clean? I feel badly even writing anything about this one… but it is so strange I must share it.  I am now using a friend‘s cleaner.  Yesterday, I left a clean set of sheets on the bed for her to put-on.  This morning, I went to wash the old set, but I could only find the pillowcases.  Strange.  I kept searching.  I honestly questioned if she took my sheet home.  There is no place for a sheet to hide.  I logically knew she did not confiscate my sheet. 
     With much determination, I found it.  ONTOP of my old sheet!  She did not “change the sheets” she just put-on the new sheet on top of the old one.  I felt like I was inside an Amelia Bedelia book.  After all, it is national book day today.
       Next time I will leave a note that is more precise.  “Please take off the old sheet and replace it with the new, clean sheet.  Thank you.”