Just For Today

Dear Abby often quotes a poem entitled "Just for Today." It is a poem of encouragement for anyone trying to better herself. It's rather long, so I am not going to copy it here, but it includes the lines:

"Just for today I will be unafraid. I will enjoy that which is beautiful and will believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me..."
Since I promised in my last post I would be more upbeat today, this is my shortened revision of the poem:

Just for today I will forget about the forecast for more thunderstorms and rain this week.

Just for today I will forget about the weeds that are threatening to overtake my vegetable garden.

Just for today I will forget about the plants still sitting on my patio because the ground is too wet to plant them.

Just for today I will forget about the housework neglected while I have been cleaning up my basement.

Instead, today I will appreciate the beauty of the perfect rose...


(You may recognize this picture: I was so pleased with this photo of a blossom on my Knockout Rose that I decided to use it as my profile photo; it's definitely much prettier than I am!)


And today, as every day for the past month, I will admire a clematis bloom.


This is the second blooming season for my clematis. Last year I marvelled over each of the four blooms that appeared. This year the vines are growing so fast I can't keep them all attached to the trellis, and there are 30 blooms at a time (I counted).

Today I will appreciate the pleasant surprises in the garden, like this yellow iris that suddenly appeared in the midst of all the purple ones.

Another surprise in the hot and muggy weather we've had this weekend is that the pansies are still going strong.

I'm even going to appreciate the small blooms floating above the lamium in the shade garden. I like this plant, but it is very aggressive and is encroaching upon the hostas. I planted it as a border, but I didn't realize it would send runners inward. I have been transplanting it little by little to other areas where it can spread without choking out other plants.

But most of all, I am going to enjoy the promises of more blooms to come. The Stella d'Oro daylilies are really budding out and look as though they're ready to burst.

In fact, I found one bloom hiding amidst the foliage.

My Endless Summer hydrangeas have not done so well since I moved them to this house, probably because I planted them too close to an evergreen tree. But they are budding nonetheless.

I love these shrubs so much I had to splurge and buy another one this year. This new plant is already blooming.

This perfect blue bloom will put a smile on my face every time.

An update on the flooding in our area: my basement is now dry, and the water has receded from the areas I showed in my last post. Thank you to everyone who shared their concern in commenting on my post. I wish I could have put some of our excess rain into barrels and shipped it to those of you in Texas and other areas who are experiencing a drought! Frankly, after reading the news the last few days, I feel like a whiner. Other than a couple days of aching muscles, I was very fortunate because I didn't lose anything of value. I know with the recent storms that have spread into other parts of the Midwest, that may not be true of everyone. I hope that all you Hoosier gardeners, Joey in Michigan, and anyone else in the path of the storms are safe and sound today.