Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

Flowers are here today and gone tomorrow.  I was watching the tulips come up for a few weeks.  The row of tulips were planted last year.  Yesterday some of them opened and one was already past the peak.  Maybe, that is why we love flowers so much.  Their beauty only lasts a short time.  Other daffodils are opening now.  They did not get as much sun as the others.  I want to go out and examine and view them more carefully.  They are all different.  Isn’t that something?  God made each plant like a snowflake–no two exactly alike.  And if I pass too quickly I miss their uniqueness.  I have to slow down.  Maybe, that is what natures forces us to do–slow down and notice what is before us for it will disappear in a blink of an eye.

Tags: beauty, daffodils, flowers, flowers are all different, garden, God, like a snowflake, nature, notice what is before us, pass too quickly, slow down, spring, tulips, unique
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The bouquet of flowers was exquisite:  all kinds of sunflowers.  All shades of yellows and browns and small and big ones.  And I know they will not last, but today they are beautiful and I loved the sparkle in my wife’s eyes when she viewed them.  Beauty is so ephemeral–here today, gone tomorrow but today I will enjoy the flowers.  I can’t do more than that.  Life is always in a state of flux.  And we forget that.  The beautiful bouquet reminded me of that.  Life is to be enjoyed now.  Not later.  Or when you have become successful.  Years later.  Now.  Always now.

Tags: "here today gone tomorrow", always now, beauty, beauty is ephemeral, bouquet of flowers, enjoy life now, enjoy the flowers, flowers, life, my wife, sunflowers, today they are beautiful
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The red Gerbera Daisy keeps putting out more flowers.  I looked really carefully and noted there was a second one coming up, too.  This is the first one that did not die after I bought it.  Another (???) words, did not put out more flowers.  A small thing but it gives me pleasure.

Tags: beauty, Daisy, flowers, garden, gardening, Gerbera Daisy, nature, red daisy
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Spring was less than five weeks away.  I started my countdown.  It was close enough to it.  I do this every year.  It is a little game I play.  I am waiting for the warmer weather.  The spring.  The blackberries and raspberries I pick.  My annual camping trip I take in May with my buddy.  The explosion of life.  The first flowers — daffodils.  Everything.  Every year I have a countdown.  The winter that passes me and I endure just makes spring that much sweeter.  Right now there is quite a bit of snow on the ground.  I know in less than six weeks it will be all gone and the daily temperatures will gradually rise.  My countdown is my anticipation of spring and what follows.

Tags: annual countdown to Spring, anticipate Spring, beauty, blackberries, camping trip, daffodils, daily temperatures, explosion of life in spring, flowers, life, May, my buddy, nature, raspberries, seasons, snow, snow on the ground, spring, warm weather, winter
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Suddenly it struck me viewing the discounted book “501 Must Sights Of The World”.  I had no interest in exploring any of these places.  I quickly glanced at some of the magnificent sights in glorious color.

I tried to figure out why I had no desire to travel to any of these exotic places some of which I had never heard.  I was balking at even opening the book to glance through it.

Despite my reservations I bought the beautiful book anyway.  I know my wife will like leafing through it.

I could never let myself dream of traveling.  I never had the funds to travel abroad so I just did not let my mind and curiosity roam.

I knew I never would be able to.  I am the same person who told my wife never to use the word “never”.

All that quickly ran through my head as I deliberated buying the book for a Christmas gift.  There were other issues why I did not desire to travel very much but I will explore them in other blogs.

Tags: beauty, blog, book, Christmas gift, exotic places, explore, money, my wife, nature, never say never, travel, travel abroad, world
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Don’t linger too long in your tomorrows.  If you fixate on your future, your present will escape you.  You will miss everything for your head will be in the future.

The beauty and wonder around you will pass you by.  It is there every day.  You can not see it if your head either lingers too long in the past or all you can do is imagine your future.  Life will pass you by.  The present will become your past too quickly.

Somehow there needs to be a balance:  you have to have some idea how your past impacts you (so you don’t continually repeat it) and have some expectation where you might be heading and at the same time enjoy what is happening around you.

It is always a balancing act.  Don’t be like the ostrich with its head in the sand always–either stuck in the past or in your future.

Learn to be aware of your life unfolding with (???) and without you.  It is there.  You just have to open your eyes and see what is unraveling right in front of you–your life today.  So don’t get stuck.

Tags: balance, be aware, beauty, don't repeat the past, enjoy today, fixate on your future, head in the sand, life will pass you by, linger in the past, linger in tomorrow, open your eyes, ostrich, stuck in the past, where you are heading, wonder, your life unfolding, your past, your present
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There is only now.  If you are stuck in the past or the future you never get to the now.  To truly experience what is going on you need to be in the present.

As I watch my four dogs it is readily evident they know no other reality than now–the present.  If they are hungry or happy, you know it instantly.

The now is all that matters.  Yes, you can linger in the past or look into the future but if you stay in either realm you are not experiencing life to the fullest.

Being in the present is always being aware of your surroundings, your current feelings a constellation always fluid.  There are so many universes occurring simultaneously and to become aware of some of them is to be focused on the present.

There is beauty (and horror) everywhere.  In Ecclesiastes, a book in the Old Testament, it says in one passage that a gift given to us is to enjoy the daily pleasures of life–a paraphrase but nevertheless if you are not aware of life in the present you are missing out your enjoyment of life–the now.

Somehow you have to banish the past and do not linger in the moments to come and simply open up yourself to the present.  The world is yours to enjoy.

Tags: be in the present, beauty, Bible, dogs, Ecclesiastes, enjoy daily pleasures, enjoyment of life, experience life, focus on the present, four dogs, God, happy, Old Testament, only now, pets, so many universes, stuck in the past, the future, world yours to enjoy
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What is worst than death?  A few suggestions.  Living and dying at the same time.

Knowing you really do not care how you are spending most of your time.

Knowing deep inside your job is the wrong one and you refuse or are too scared to make any change.

There are too many unresolved conflicts in your life.

Your marriage is “dead” and you are “paralyzed”.

Each day is the same.

You no longer can see beauty.

All you can do is complain.

Money is more important than people.

Each day is not new and blends into each other and you wonder how you spent your time.

In fact, you have no idea where the time went.

Love just seems to be too idealistic.

You can not love or work.

All you feel is pain.

You can not get past your pain.

You forgot how to laugh.

Each day is not a new dawn.

You think you have to go to some far off exotic island, to escape, to enjoy your vacation.

You can not wait to do that.

All your friends have died.

You forgot how to be a friend.

This is just an incomplete list.

And I want to caution there is always two sides to everything.

And it is only my list.

Tags: be a friend, beauty, can no longer see beauty, complain, each day is the same, forgot how to laugh, friends die, God, love, marriage, money, new dawn, pain, scared, time, unresolved conflict, work, worse than death, wrong job
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The best discoveries are always when you least expect them.  Today I was walking my dog and I picked something off the middle of the road.  It was a two inch diameter bird nest.  It had to have been built by a ruby-throat hummingbird:  it was so small.  Somehow it fell off the tree.  I had never seen such a small nest before.

Later on in the day, I was driving home after making my daily trek to the post office and a turkey hen and her nine babies passed in front of me to my amazement.  I stopped my car, mouth open, and let the baby turkeys pass.

I do not even know what turkey babies are called.  What was even more interesting to me was at least half of the babies were a different size:  she must have hatched half of her brood at a different time.  I had never seen baby wild turkeys before in my life.  You never know when the next discovery will come.  It is all serendipity.

Tags: baby wild turkey, beauty, bird nest, birds, discovery, dogs, God, pets, post office, ruby-throated hummingbird, serendipity, turkey hen, turkey hen and nine babies, walking my dog
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Familiarity breeds discontent.  Sometimes paradise is in your own backyard.  For example I had no idea a large patch of raspberries lay in the furthermost right corner of my yard.  I discovered that accidentally when a surveyor came in because we had to know the exact boundary of our property.

I considered driving twenty minutes to go to a state park to go fishing.  I looked around and realized I only had to drive a few minutes to be at the shore of the River, which usually was deserted.  Paradise is always somewhere else.

I decided to stay put.  I plan on watching the sun go down on the mountains of the nearby Susquehanna River.  I simply will bring my Coleman lantern for light.  I may even build a fire to enjoy the darkness which will descend on the River.

I also considered camping there.  There is even a closer area for me to camp only mere minutes from me–Lake Heron.  Sometimes you have to take a closer look at your surroundings to determine you do not have to go far to find paradise.

Toads of all sizes keep appearing in front of our garage attracted by the night light.  You never know when a box turtle will turn up at our footsteps.  We discovered that another bird built a nest only steps away from our door.  Today I saw a bird alight on it but was not able to identify it for it flew away too quickly.

There is so much beauty in our own backyard.  I simply have to open my eyes to see what is actually in front of me.  I really do not have to go far to land in paradise.  It is here.  Right in front of me all along.  I just have to pay attention.

Tags: backyard, beauty, bird nest, bird-watching, birds, box turtle, camping, Coleman lantern, familiarity breeds discontent, fishing, God, Lake Heron, open my eyes, paradise is in your own backyard, pay attention, raspberries, see what is in front of me, state park, surveyor, Susquehanna River, toads
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It is no accident that all of us (my two sisters and I) garden.  It all started in my mother’s garden.  It was such a small garden but what an “oasis”.  She had all kinds of beautiful flowers.  I never forgot those deep red roses she had.

That does not even include our fig tree (I mourn its death), the biggest blackberries I have ever seen and the white grape vine she could not kill and finally gave up.

Even after decades I can almost visualize that garden.  Everything started there.  That does not even include the vegetables she raised.  Years later I became a produce clerk.

My appreciation of beauty started in that garden.  She introduced me to God there.  This is such a short essay.  I can not even begin to state the impact of her garden had on on my life even long after she moved from there (I must say reluctantly).

She has been dead seven years and it has been decades since I left that garden but its impact can still be felt today.

I still love looking at flowers and this year I planted eight tomato plants in pots.  I used to think that New Jersey had the best tomatoes in the whole world.  (Yes, I forgot to mention we also had tomatoes in that garden.)

There is so much I have to thank Mom for the garden she tended so carefully and lovingly.  This is such an incomplete list but I have to start somewhere.  Thank you Mom, for introducing me to flowers (and figs and so many other things).  Thank you, Mom, and may you rest in peace.

Tags: beauty, blackberries, fig tree, flowers, garden, gardener, gardening, God, Mom, mother, my mother's garden, New Jersey, oasis, produce clerk, red roses, rest in peace, thank Mom, thank-you, tomatoes, vegetables, white grape vine
Posted in beauty, death, flowers, God, knowledge&learning, life, love, nature, relationships, seasons, time, wisdom | 2 Comments »

I have fallen in love with Central Pennsylvania especially the county I live in–Perry County.  It is God’s country if you allow me to be that presumptuous.  There is open space here.  Farms, valleys and two major rivers, the Susquehanna and the Juniata, lay here.

The ride up the Juniata valley on Route 322 literally takes my breath away:  it is so beautiful.  Closer to home, every time I drive into town I want to capture its beauty on film of the view offered from the hill of the Susquehanna River and its valley crisscrossed by various small islands.

I live on the edge of country.  From my window I watch the birds come to and fro my feeders.  I was thrilled yesterday when I saw an indigo bunting alight on the ground.

We have had bears raid our bird feeders several times.  In fact, this state is second in the nation for bear hunting.  The smallmouth bass fishing from the two Rivers is superb.  I never forgot my first trips up the Rivers on a airboat.  It was like entering a world I had no idea even existed.

There is so much beauty here and people who have lived here all their lives do not always fully appreciate it.  I do.  I grew up near NYC where there were not too many open spaces.

We are less than an hour away from Hershey and Harrisburg, maybe three hours from NYC and Baltimore.  It is the best of two worlds.  I do not take this beauty here for granted.  The neighboring counties are running out of land to build on.

I would like Perry County to remain in an unspoiled state as much as possible for the next generation and subsequent ones.  Perry County is a treasure I would like others to experience.

Tags: airboat, Baltimore, bears, beauty, bird feeder, bird-feeders, bird-watching, birds, country, edge of country, farms, fishing, God, God's country, Harrisburg, Hershey, indigo bunting, islands, Juniata River, New York City, next generation, Pennsylvania, Perry County, smallmouth bass, Susquehanna River, treasure, valley, valleys
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