A Day off in the Garden

Yesterday at our Church's Sacrament Meeting, one of the speakers was telling about her Dad's extensive collection of journal, and how good he was at keeping a daily record of his life, and the important events of their family.   My Dad was also such a record keeper, and even though he might not have written in his journal every single day, he did keep a faithful record of his life and the important events of our family.  I do keep a handwritten journal, but really only write once or twice every month or so.  I'm very negligent in my journaling.

When I started this blog, I was inspired by Elder Henry B Eyring's talk where he shared how long ago he started keeping a daily record of  the tender mercies that Heavenly Father has shown to his family over the years.   He makes a copy each year for his children.  I have really not done very well with keeping up with my blog either.  So, I'm going to try to do better.  My resolve is to write something, somewhere each day as a record of what has happened, mundane or not, and especially to look for the good things in life and the tender mercies that have been shown to me and those around me.  I may not write on this blog each day, but I will try harder to write somewhere  each evening.

Today is the first day that my workplace has given the staff and employees a paid day off in celebration or commemoration of the Juneteenth holiday.  There will be various events during the coming week at work to honor the holiday, and I look forward to these remembrances of the blessings of the abolition of slavery and the slow, slow progress to reduce the racism that exits in our country today.

But today has been a low key day for me.  It began with clouds and a bit of rain, but cleared up just about the time I finished my morning reading, so I donned my sweatshirt and jeans and headed out to finish planting the flowers and vegetable I had bought this past Saturday.  My garden is my trial and my joy, and each year I struggle to keep the invasive grass  and weeds and snails and other critters at bay and provide enough water and nourishment and compost and work to allow us to have a bit of a harvest.  I'm nowhere as good as of a gardener as my Dad and my Grandpa and most other gardeners, but I keep trying!  And, at the end of the day, we have our small front yard entry flower bed filled with new zinnias and petunias, and several new pots filled with petunias and alyssum.  

Drawback to the day?  I seem to have a fairly bad sunburn on my hands and arms.  I really should use more sunscreen and gloves.