Cardinal Visit's

Cardinal's visit me every day

Ten years ago I started to plan my first garden; it was right after my Father passed away.  I remember sitting on the floor of my living room looking out at the window at the snow covering my back lawn. I kept thinking that if I couldn't manage to get away on vacation each year, then I should make the yard an oasis for myself.
I took a week's vacation in the spring and stayed home to construct the garden. At the time our patio was pave stones across the back of the house just as you stepped out the patio door. Not attractive. So the process began of lifting the patio stones and reusing them to create a new space began.  I had to dig the patio foundation and lay the gravel base with just a garden shovel. I ended up digging the garden beds out, adding peat/top soil and laying sod to the space around the patio. I had never done anything like this before and managed it with the help of internet instructions.
I repositioned the patio so that it would be in the middle with grass and flowers beds all around it. No matter where you sat on the patio you were surrounded by beautiful flowers.  

So the Cardinal, how does that play in to the garden story? Well, every day since my Father passed away I've seen a Cardinal. It might be the actual bird, maybe a drawing of the Cardinal on a delivery truck, or sign on a bakery window. My Father was fascinated by this majestic bird and I believe the Cardinal sightings are messages from him. Certainly I was inspired and encouraged by my Dad all my life, and now he continues to inspire me to garden and to be creative.
A Cardinal came to visit me when I sat in the middle of the yard after digging it all up and wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew. As soon as I saw the bird I knew that it would all come together and it did.
The garden was a place for me to grow just as much as the plantings. I had been on my own raising my children by myself for 11 years at that point. I had never gardened before and quickly learned just how rewarding it can be. I miss that pretty little garden that developed over the next seven years. But I've moved on and met the love my heart was always yearning for (more details later on gardens, houses, exploring and settling in with Richard).

Cardinal  visits and my Father's strength inspire me daily to try harder to go a little bit further and not give up on my dreams.