“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” ~ May Sarton.

Mother Nature has waved her magic wand over our autumn days here in the Tweed Valley during the past week and today I have spent three hours in the garden, achieving much, yet feeling more energised at the end of the toil than I did before I began.

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero.

I would change the above quote slightly, to read, “If you have a garden to share with a fury friend or two, along with a few feathered friends, you have everything you need. If you also have a library, where you can sit quietly with a book whilst your aches and pains disappear after the gardening, with a hot cup of coffee, you are doubly blessed.”

The blue skies were dotted with clouds of a million-and-one shades of white and grey today. A pair of Brahminy Kites flew silently overhead, but I could only get one at a time in a photo. You’ll have to take my word for it, there were definitely two Kites here today.

“A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust.” ~ Gertrude Jekyll.

There were a few grey clouds among the white balls of fluffy cotton clouds, yet the sun continued to shine all day long.

Looking up at the expanse of blue sky with the explosions of white clouds can be absolutely breath-taking on a day like today.

“What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Miss Tibbs and I are totally on the same page when we are in the garden together. I can completely relate to the way she rolls and rolls over the grass, with the sun shining and warm on her silky fur, showing her absolute delight in the garden.

When I crawled under my Tibouchina tree to remove a few weeds (and as my hands were playfully grabbed by Miss Tibbs), I came across this magnificent red flower. Actually, there were more than one of these flowers on the plant. It may be a Bromeliad, but I’m not absolutely sure.

My Camellia is covered in precious pink flowers this autumn, so delicate and beautiful. Even the fallen petals still look absolutely glorious.

“What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.” ~ Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden, 1871.

My only complaint about gardening is the aches and pains I feel in my body when I return indoors. If the discomfort is there whilst I’m gardening, it wasn’t noticed today, although I have become familiar with a few previously unknown muscles tonight! But it isn’t really a bad complaint. Gardening wouldn’t be gardening without the excercise.

My beautiful Tess came down to the garden with me today too. She’s ten now and she hurt her front paw a couple of years ago, which has left her walking with a limp. Tess doesn’t venture too far from the house nowadays, but she did enjoy her time in the sun today.

Always alert, always the Protector of Family and Home, Tess doesn’t rest for too long, but a word of reassurance had her enjoying her place in the sun again before long.

As I headed back towards the house, Miss Tibbs sat on my garden seat, next to my empty mug. Was she telling me it was time for another coffee break?

“There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling.” ~ Mirabel Osler.

I don’t know if I smile when I am spending time in the garden. I’m not conscious of physically smiling, but I’m always aware of smiling on the inside!

“In the garden I tend to drop my thoughts here and there.  To the flowers I whisper the secrets I keep and the hopes I breathe.  I know they are there to eavesdrop for the angels.” ~ Dodinsky.

I have more photos to share of my time in the garden today and will add those here next time, but for now I will end today with a photo of the beautiful moon I saw tonight, smiling down at the front door of my home. 🙂