Your death, near now, is of an easy sort.
So slow a fading out brings no real pain.
Breath growing short
Is just uncomfortable. You feel the drain
Of energy, but thought and sight remain:

Enhanced, in fact. When did you ever see
So much sweet beauty as when fine rain falls
On that small tree
And saturates your brick back garden walls,
So many Amber Rooms and mirror halls?

Ever more lavish as the dusk descends
This glistening illuminates the air.
It never ends.
Whenever the rain comes it will be there,
Beyond my time, but now I take my share.

My daughter’s choice, the maple tree is new.
Come autumn and its leaves will turn to flame.
What I must do
Is live to see that. That will end the game
For me, though life continues all the same:

Filling the double doors to bathe my eyes,
A final flood of colors will live on
As my mind dies,
Burned by my vision of a world that shone
So brightly at the last, and then was gone.

~ Clive James (Australian essayist and journalist, written in 2016 during the final stages of his fight with terminal cancer)

Shared by Betty Hanselman

Gardener’s wife (& mindful of the fleeting beauty of this life)

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

~ Albert Camus (French-Algerian philosopher and author; 1913-1960)

I sent this photo to my Southern California co-workers last week. My manager’s response was fun: “Is that in your garden? Real moss and real leaves?” I can’t blame her for asking; the colors in Pennsylvania this autumn are stunning beyond belief!

Joyfully shared by Betty Hanselman

Gardener’s wife (& fall fanatic)

“There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings as now in October.”

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne (American author; 1804-1864)

Joyfully shared by Betty Hanselman

Gardener’s wife (& autumn enthusiast!)

Autumn glory splashes across Japanese and Native Red Maples in a Central Pennsylvania woodland garden.

Whether I am eating breakfast outside on our beautiful stone patio or gazing out at a snowy landscape through a window, I find daily refreshment in the beauty and constantly changing countenance of our garden.

What corner of your garden will you explore today? We can make everyday a vacation with our thoughtful designs, craftsmanship and care. Give us a call to find out more: 717-653-1273.

Gratefully shared by Betty Hanselman

Gardener’s wife (& daily ‘garden vacationer’)

The best window treatment is a lovely view!

May we treat your windows with a beautiful garden scene and infuse natural beauty and grace into your daily experiences all year ’round? We’d like that and we bet you will, too! Give us a call: 717-653-1273. Bringing joy to your garden is our specialty.

Here dies another day

During which I have had eyes, ears, hands

And the great world ’round me;

And with tomorrow begins another.

Why am I allowed two?

~ G. K. Chesterton (English writer, apologist, orator, philosopher; 1874-1936)

What gifts have graced your day? Feel free to respond in the comments and share your blessings

Sincerely,

Betty Hanselman

Gardener’s wife (& grace-gift hunter)