Marilyns Garden
Pops Garden
Savannahs Garden

"Surely, a star danced in heaven on the day you were born." -- Flavia Weedn

           Nobody can do for little children  what grandparents do.
Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the  lives of
little children. ~ Alex Haley

Marilyn and Grandma dance to Techno Irish music                                 

"Look around you.  The beauty and wisdom of your dearest ones offer a lovely kind of reflection of you."  -- Flavia Weedn

"Embrace a child.  Children are graced with the purity of innocence and the promise of forever."  -- Flavia Weedn

    "What Sunshine is to flowers, Grandmothers are to children."  -- Unknown                      

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Wisdom from the Old Crones (from my sweet sister, and now shared with YOU.) xox! -sballer

It was Mothers Day 2000.  Our daughter, Jean, and her husband, Jeffery had just moved to Pittsburgh to seek their fortune.  They faced great obstacles.  I felt as lonely and worried as I had that day at the school bus 25 years before when she'd gone off to kindergarten....or when our son left for college....or when they each moved out of the house.  LONELY.  EMPTY.  OLD.

Then  came the call from Pittsburgh that Mother's Day Sunday evening:  "Mom, guess what!  I think I'm pregnant!"  My first reaction was to cry.  I was overwhelmed with emotions I had not felt before.  My daughter was going to have a baby!  I WAS GOING TO BE A GRANDMOTHER!  "What's wrong, Mom?  Are you happy?"  Composing myself, I said that I was and that I was surprised to receive such news on Mother's Day.  I am always humbled when the hand of God reaches down from heaven to touch our family. 

That spring, I planted a garden for Marilyn, whose name I did not know yet, but whose Soul called to me even as she was preparing to enter our world.  I created the garden pink and purple, colors of light and passion, for I sensed this was how she was, since both her parents were passionate people.  And her "light" would nicely compliment their passions and give them direction, purpose, and meaning. I went to work planting purple cleome, celosia red chief, and great red Zinnias in the big #1 garden, for there, the soil was most fertile and yielded best results.  It was a metaphor for how I hoped Marilyn's birth would yield good results for Jean and Jeffery.

"Joy is a love letter from the heart."  -- Flavia Weedn

Well, that is what happened.  Several months later, Marilyn Josephine was born.  And it's been one great party ever since!  What a good buddy she is!  What a delight to show her the world through my eyes!  And in return, to get to see again the world through a child's eyes.  How did we ever rate such a Shining Star?  In thanks, I will plant every year a garden for Marilyn.  Always some purples, pinks, and reds, because that is how she is.  And as she grows and matures, I know we'll add other colors to the palate.  I anticipate the unfolding and pray to always be a part of touching the brush to the canvas of her life.  I, her Grandmother.   

Grandparents
               
Grandmas are moms with lots of  frosting. ~ Author Unknown
 
What a bargain grandchildren are!  I give them my loose change,  and  they give me a million dollars' worth of pleasure. ~ Gene  Perret 
 
Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.  ~  Welsh Proverb
 
A grandmother is a babysitter who watches the kids instead of the  television.  ~ Author Unknown 
            
Never have children, only grandchildren. ~ Gore Vidal
 
Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you're just a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric. ~ Pam  Brown 
 
Grandchildren don't stay young forever, which is good because Pop-pops have only so many horsey rides in them.  ~ Gene  Perret
 
When grandparents enter the door, discipline flies out the window.  ~ Ogden Nash
 
Grandma always made you feel she had been waiting to see just you all day and now the day was complete.  ~ Marcy  DeMaree

Grandmas never run out of hugs or cookies. ~ Author  Unknown
 
Grandmas hold our tiny hands for just a little while, but our hearts forever. ~ Author Unknown
 
If I had known how  wonderful it would be to have grandchildren, I'd have had them first. ~ Lois Wyse
 
My grandkids believe I'm the oldest thing in the world. And after two or three hours with them, I believe it, too.  ~ Gene Perret
 
If becoming a grandmother was only  a matter of choice,  I should advise every one of you straight away to  become one. There is no fun for old people like it! ~ Hannah Whithall  Smith
 
It's such a grand thing to be a mother of a mother - that's why the world calls her grandmother. ~Author Unknown

Grandchildren are God's way of  compensating us for growing old. ~ Mary H. Waldrip
 
You do not really  understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.  ~ Proverb
 
An  hour with your grandchildren can make you feel young again.  Anything  longer than that, and you start to age quickly. ~ Gene  Perret 
                  
The best baby-sitters, of course, are the baby's grandparents.  You feel completely comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long periods, which is why most grandparents flee to Florida. ~ Dave  Barry
 
I wish I  had the energy that my grandchildren have - if only for self-defense.  ~ Gene Perret
 
Grandmother-grandchild relationships are simple. Grandmas are short  on criticism and long on love. ~Author Unknown

Grandmother - a wonderful  mother with lots of practice. ~ Author Unknown
 
A grandparent is old on the  outside but young on
the inside. ~Author Unknown
 
One of the most powerful  handclasps is that of a new
grandbaby around the finger of a  grandfather. ~ Joy Hargrove
 
It's amazing how grandparents seem so young once you 
become one. ~ Author Unknown 
      
What is it about grandparents that is so lovely? I'd like to say that grandparents are God's gifts to children.   And if they can but see,  hear and feel what these people have to give, they can mature at a fast rate. ~ Bill Cosby
 
Grandchildren don't make a man  feel old; it's the knowledge that he's married to a grandmother. ~  G.  Norman Collie
 
A grandmother pretends she doesn't know who you  are on  Halloween.  ~  Author Unknown
                                  
                         

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From time to time, we will offer web-only specials and publish short stories about the Farm Dogs or the grandkids, and inspirations from life on the Farm in mid-Michigan, the American heartland.  Seasonally, we will write to help Gardeners grow beautiful Zinnias, learn how to make a stunning bouquet, or how to collect precious seed when harvest is here.  Let us know if you would like to receive them.  We have moved our web to a new server and resized all photos for faster load times.  As we approach another winter, I hope you visit us often to see our pretty pictures and read about the simple things we love most here.  Thanks for being a customer!  -Sharon Baller, President

"To see life's passages through the eyes of your heart is to know that all is happening exactly as it was meant to."  -- Flavia Weedn