Wednesday Treasures: Autumn Days in The "Secret - Memorial Garden"

 Oh friends! It's been SO long since I was able to sit outside in our "Secret-Memorial Garden" and enjoy a beautiful cool autumn breeze from the garden swing.  Yesterday afternoon and this morning have been just perfect for "porch sitting" or walking around the yard, enjoying these beautiful fall days here in north central Florida.  I will just share pictures so you can see what I've been enjoying...

Good morning from the garden! No, it's not your typical garden...I call it "My Secret-Memorial Garden" because it's a combination of the two, however there's really not much growing there except for what grows naturally and wildly. If you've been with me a long time, you will know that both garden ideas started at our previous home in the Ocala National Forest, and if you click on links over in the right sidebar for either the Secret Garden or Memorial Garden, you will find lots of posts telling about them both and their origination.  

Anyway, here at this house we combined them and it is primarily a beautiful and peaceful place in our yard and along the shore of Still Waters Pond, 

where I love to sit and enjoy the beauty of nature all around while I meditate on God's Word or read a book or magazine, 

or write in my journal or just relax and watch the birds and /or the cat!

Blackie decided to come join me on this beautiful afternoon. I was happy for his company!

He was very aware of any other activity around us, like squirrels chattering in the treetops at our intrusion into their world, or the birds flitting to and fro, who kept a watchful eye on this intruder...

This morning I was thrilled to find so many kinds of flowers blooming all around us, even though we've been in a drought situation here for the last few months! I love these wild purple asters that pop out in the fall:

And in the butterfly garden these seed pods of the Roselle plant I planted earlier this year are literally weighing down the branches of this bush:

Click on this link for more details about this plant.

It's a very unusual plant that I haven't quite figured out yet. 

This Cape Honeysuckle plant is blooming again.  I love these colorful flowers in the fall. They also attract butterflies!

This beautiful hibiscus that we planted in the "memorial garden" in memory of our son Matthew last year is still blooming every day!  This bloom was just starting to open up this morning! So pretty!!!

Out in the front yard the geranium is blooming!

I am so excited to see so many holly berries on the holly tree in the Memorial Garden this year! It hasn't had this many berries in several years.  Click on this link for a post about when the Robins and Cedar Waxwings came and cleaned off every berry in just a couple of days!  That was in November of 2020...5 years ago! It hasn't had that many berries since then, and so I am hoping that we will see those beautiful migrating birds come through here again this month like they did that year!  I will definitely be watching for them, and hopefully will be here to take pictures when they come!

Blackie has been quite active lately, and one of his favorite places to go "sit" is up in the very large Live Oak Tree in our front yard.  I happened to step outside on the front porch yesterday evening, and there he was. Of course, as soon as he saw me he started coming down to greet me...thinking I had food probably! LOL.

And here he comes!  He's becoming quite the character.    His buddy Sunshine has kind of traded places with him and seems to be gone most of the day lately, not showing up until supper time. Not sure where he goes, but at least he still comes home and stays a while and then leaves again for the night. Maybe he's found a warm hole to curl up in somewhere at night since it's been so chilly. Neither one of them are very interested in the nice warm beds Benton made for them.  Time will tell...

While I was in the Secret Garden I thought I'd better check on our Gnome Family! Sadly, I have been neglecting them over the summer because it was just too hot to go out there and look at them! But here they are...a little dirty from all the debris under the tree, but still intact and happy as a family of Gnomes can be I guess.

I probably should do a bit of housekeeping for them...

Speaking of Still Waters Pond...it's really the "Very Still NO Waters Pond" right now!   

But even with all the dryness, there is still a lot of beauty and growth on and around the pond...

These beautiful wildflowers are blooming all around the shore:
Be sure to watch out for the bees! They are quite active!

Yikes! Glad I didn't get too close!

And just when I thought I was finished with these pictures, I looked outside and saw this beauty laying in the yard:

Isn't she/he? beautiful? Look at that raccoon tail!  I believe this lovely cat belongs to someone else in the neighborhood...she took off as soon as I came out the door for a closer look.  Hopefully she/he?? will go back home where he belongs.  I'm not taking on any more boarders here on this porch!

He/she is really pretty, however...

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this little tour around our yard and gardens along the shore of  Still Waters Pond...right now things are still beautiful, but eventually the autumn days will turn into winter, and things will begin to fade away until springtime...but here's some good news:

And even these words from the Book of Isaiah are a great comfort and encouragement to us in these days of uncertainty in our world...

Amen.

Be blessed my friends, and enjoy these autumn days while they last!!