Walking in the garden reminds me to slow down and smell the roses. It also reminds me that every moment is fleeting and should be cherished.

Just yesterday the yard was full of brightly colored white and yellow daffodils gently nodding their heads in the wind. By nightfall, a mere day later, those same daffodils have faded. They are no more now than a shriveled flower, that no longer displays any of their previous glory.

Quickly opening to take the place of the faded daffodils are the tulips. They come in so many shades – red, pink, peachy, purple, yellow – you name it and I bet there is one out there! There are single tulips and double tulips – large and small. Like the daffodils, they will bloom, show their glory, than fade in a few days.

Of course, there will be other flowers to take their place and soon spring 2010 will be no more than a memory. Photographs will remain, but the glory of the flowers will be gone for another year. Snowfall will come and cover the garden in its thick white blanket.

For now, however, I will cherish each flower as it blooms – the pears, peaches, weeping cherry, apples, plums, magnolia’s, Virginia bluebells, hellebores, lungwort and more. Each day, as I walk through the garden, I will be amazed by what I see, and hopefully be able to record it onto video, or at least get a photo that I may share with others who cannot see my garden. Of course, this will let me have the visual memories to look back at over the long, hard winter when I see nothing but a cold white blanket of snow outside my door.