Friday, April 14, 2017

April Good Friday

This year Easter is late.  Today, Good Friday, is the second Friday of April.  That's about as late as it can get.  Our April weather is typical although today the sun is shining.  I have plans to be outdoors digging in the dirt and enjoying that sunshine.  But before I venture out, I want to share my Friday Fave Fives with you all.

1.  During the school semesters, The Professor and I don't always have extra time to hike and walk (except for our nightly neighborhood walks), so it was a treat to walk along Calleguas Creek on the bike path Saturday afternoon.  Views of the creek aren't that exciting since unless it has just rained the creek bed is a dry arroyo filled with various stands of native and non native trees and shrubs.  However, the plantings along the path are beautiful.  We especially enjoyed what I called the blue spires plant (anyone know the real name?).


The bees love them, too.



2.  On Tuesday, our artists group met.  The hostess has hung many of her paintings in her living and dining rooms.  I noticed that she favors various shades of turquoise/aqua which are my favorites, too.  I have been inspired to begin switching out the cobalt and blue in my decor for more aqua.  One thing I did already is move my sweet shamrock plant to a turquoise pot and put the cobalt pot it was in into the outside garden.


3.  My daughter-in-law, PAL's mom, asked for an afghan.  She chose the zigzag blanket pattern from pickles.no.  I've just reached the halfway point on it!  Love the Arizona desert colors she picked

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4.  About my garden--- the tangerine tree produced an abundance of fruit last year.  It comes ripe in December which is wonderful because I can open my door, walk across the patio and pull off a sweet orangey, tangy ball of yumminess and eat it when no other fruit is in season.  I hadn't even finished picking all the fruit before that tree pushed out buds and flowers were blooming.  Thank you, Rain!  If the amount of flowers is any indication, it looks like we will have an abundance of tangerines again this winter.



5.  As I noted above, it's Good Friday.  This evening we will join others in our congregation in attending our Good Friday service.  Today I've been thinking of a hymn I have sung since I was a young child.  Here are the first and fifth verses.


Beneath the cross of Jesus
  I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty Rock
  Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
  A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
  And the burden of the day.


I take, O cross, thy shadow
For my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
The sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by,
To know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame,
My glory all the cross.


HAPPY EASTER!

8 comments:

Gail said...

The spiky flower may be a type of Buddleia…Butterfly Bush.
Happy Easter!

Deb J. in Utah said...

I love those Blue Spire plants. Lovely afghan too! Have a very Happy Easter! Enjoy the weekend with your family!

ellen b said...

Beautiful flowers and hymn. Love the afghan! Happy Easter to you!

Barbara H. said...

That's one of my favorite hymns. Lovely afghan! That tangerine tree sounds so luscious, I'm wanting one myself!

Faith said...

That hymn is one of my faves too and we used to sing it all the time in the church I grew up in!

I missed last week's FFF due to being in NH for Accepted Students Day with our youngest and before that with the rest of the things that needed to be done regarding Dad's death. But praise God he is in heaven now with his SAVIOR! I'm on spring break all week so hope to be back to the FFF on Friday.

How fun to be able to walk outside in December and grab a tangerine...YUMMY!!!!

those afghan colors look great together.
Have a good week.

Gattina said...

We have so many flowers blooming already, and now it's cold again ! It's a real yoyo weather I never know how to dress !

Susanne said...

Love the blue spires. Are they not a type of sage? And I have to say I have never seen a bee like that. Beautiful afghan.

Tracy said...

Hi, Willow! Hope you & yours had a LOVE-ly Easter! Beautiful blooms...*sigh*... We're nearing 50 degrees here, so spring might have arrived... LOL! ;) GORGEOUS zigzag blanket--love that pattern, love the colors! ((HUGS))