Blogg# 120 AUTUMNAL CONVERSATIONS WITH MY BALCONY PLANTS

It is again my favourite season of the year and as is always the case,it is different from last year. Last autumn I was in a rehab center nursing a broken ankle and spent my time  admiring the autumn leaves outside the window.  This year, on the other hand, I am spending time having deep conversations with my balcony plants. I have great respect for my five potted plants and over the last two seasons we have become very intimate . First of all these plants survived the winter months last year in total neglect because I was absent all winter recuperating. Nonetheless when I came back from the rehab in March I found daffodils waving in the March wind looking so brave. Next a very dead looking pot started to thrust shoots that in turn became hyacinths and to my amazement geranium leaves pushed through old dead branches and debris and then started sprouting blooms. Tulips came next-purple ,near black , and all ranges of pink. These were the result of bulbs I planted two days before I broke my ankle in October last. What a gift for me to come home to.  The last surprise was a huge deep orange lily which appeared in my oldest pot. I do not know where it came from-I think it was a gift from angels. My apple tree also started blossoming much to my enjoyment. My spring months were spent healing on the balcony and these young blossoms watched while I went through my daily repertoire of exercises often in pain. As I got stronger and surer of my balance and less distressed with pain and progressed from walker to cane I felt their encouragement and their pleasure at my success. My youthful blooms became fuller and more luxurious as spring moved towards summer  and as they blossomed and became more seductive I too became more confident in my movements and blossomed. Throughout spring I watched the cycle of life of my spring flowers from first bloom through to death and became aware of my own life cycle.  As summer progressed my little garden became breathtakingly beautiful with new blooms and I spent a lot of time sitting among them and blessing them. In the height  of summer our conversation was interrupted as my right hip deteriorated and my plants watched me regressing and  struggling in pain as I tried with difficulty to water them. The time came when I had to have hip surgery and had to abandon them for a month.This was July the hottest month this year and yet when I came home they greeted me still strong and beautiful with no reproach. Again we went through exercise programs on the balcony walking up and down with cane and walker and again I sat in pain among them. Again they nurtured me with their beauty and faithfulness and watched me as I progressed. As the summer turned to late summer I watched the blooms push to their fullest beauty and I felt the same myself as I pushed to robust and healthy beauty. We all bloomed at our best. We also conversed about the reality of our highest bloom- what it meant-and our own mortality. I also watched the progress of my five apples to gorgeous red and full maturity until they fell to the ground and into my apple pie. It was at this time I understood best how we are all connected. My balcony flowers and plants, like me, will go through the inevitable life cycle together. We are not different .Our fate is the same. We are one.  I am watching my flowers go through their cycle and know they are watching me going through mine. September and October were  reflective months as I watched and conversed with my fading garden. We talked and reflected about this in our own way-no not with words-but with communion. This time is a very tender time for us who are reaching autumn. The feeling of being one with nature and the universe is very strong and sweet at this time. This is the conversation I have been having with my balcony garden. This is the different approach to autumn I am experiencing and I am so grateful to my balcony five plants for this.