Purple Tulips. More of my garden photography from years past.

I have tried over the years to photograph the Tulips at 

Thanksgiving Point "Ashton Gardens" with their 

name tags so that as I walk the gardens I can eventually learn all the 

names of the different tulips.  I have been working on putting together

an "A-Z"  photo blog about this, but it's a work in progress.

Today I am just looking at the different purple tulips.

There are quite a lot of purple tulips that look a bit different from each other.

So there may actually be two blogs on purple tulips. 

I have to say I really didn't like the "Victoria's Secret" Tulip.

I think because it is all twisted about. 

I did take a lot of different photos of this tulip last year.

It really isn't so bad of a tulip. It certainly is different from

other tulips in it's shape and the edges of it's petals.

I like this photo because I have one tulip in bloom and

one before it blooms.  I am always amazed at the transformation from

the flower bud to the flower in bloom.

There are so many different shades of purple,

it's amazing all the different types of tulips that you can see

when going to flower gardens.

Some Tulips are very big with really big petals,

and others are so small.

Some are just one color,

and others have two or three different color patterns.

I was thinking today about my last few years of walking in gardens.

A few years ago I went through a very hard time in my life, it was a physically and

emotionally draining time in my life.  One place that I found peace and

time to heal was in the gardens.  I would take my camera and spend 

hours just walking around.

It was the one place where I could get my mind to stop thinking about

all that I had gone through.  To stop myself from asking why did this happen?

It was my quiet place where I could relax and see 

the beauty of the world.

Here we are in a world wide pandemic and I so wish to be in the garden.

And yet they are closed.  There is something about being in 

nature that heals.  I think that when this pandemic is over 

I will be spending many days wandering around gardens.

The pandemic is now in week six.  I have bought some more masks.

I have been thinking of all the things that are not happening right now and it's

pretty strange.  There are no sport events, you can't go to the movie theaters,

I don't think they are making movies right now.  I'm not sure if they are even doing 

weekly T.V. shows.  I know that many talk shows stopped for awhile and now

they are doing their shows from home.

There are no concerts, no plays, kids do not go to school buildings, instead they

have school through the internet.  Teachers mail homework assignments out 

to students. ( I work for a postal drop so I have seen this happening.)

I'm thinking that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not 

doing baptisms, they don't have temples open for temple work, we do not go to church at the church buildings.  All colleges are shut down, and students do their work on computers from home. This is very stressful for these students, I work with many students in school and they are struggling with this new way of learning.

There will be no big graduations,  there are no dances, no proms.

You should not be having any type of big parties. 

So there are probably no big birthday parties, no baby showers, no bridal showers,

no wedding receptions. People are buying balloons for birthdays and other events though.  I also make balloon arrangements where I work and maybe my store is one of the only ones still doing this because we do lots of balloons everyday.   On Saturday I spent 8 hours filling balloon orders.

Weddings that were planned are becoming smaller or being postponed.

People are not travelling as much.  I have

not gassed up my car in a month. 

So much of our social life has stopped. 

I am in great hopes that things will soon slowly go back to 

a new normal.  I feel I will probably be one of the last people to be

able to stop wearing a mask.  I work with money all day so

I'm sure I will have to wear gloves and masks for longer than other people.

I keep hoping that hot weather may be what causes this virus 

to be stopped, perhaps I have too much hope in that.

I have decided to try to make my garden look better this year.

I have neglected it the past few years.  Why make a poor attempt at gardening

when you can walk in a garden that is so much more beautiful and not have to 

do any of the work.

There were things that I was trying to learn to do this year, and

this virus has actually helped me in this, believe it or not.

I wanted to eat out less, and now I do because you can't eat out.

I wanted to become better at menu planning and buying

enough food to not have to shop everyday that I leave work.  I am now

doing better at this because when I leave work, I want to be out, and I don't want to

be near any stores on my day off.  I want to stay where I don't have to wear masks and gloves.

I wanted to exercise more, now to help relieve stress I walk

two miles everyday on my treadmill.

I wanted to grow closer to Heavenly Father.  

Now I have a lot of time to listen to conference talks,

and to study the scriptures.  My favorite scriptures to study are the Psalms and

I have found two books that focus on them.  

I am working hard to #HearHim 

and think on the times that He has been in my life.

I wanted to do more family history and since I am home more than

I am out I have been doing more of that too.

I also wanted to get my photography organized, and I have slowly been doing that.

So in some ways this Coronavirus has been helping me achieve some of my goals.

I am glad that in this struggle I can see some positive things in my life.

There is a podcast I listen to called "Cultivate Your Life with Lara Casey." 

She did a wonderful podcast on April first about thriving in the midst of uncertainty.

It is a very uplifting podcast that really helped me feel more calm in these uncertain times.

You should check it out. 

Have you been thinking of things that are not happening at the moment?

Has this time of staying home helped you reach any goals?

Has this time of staying home helped you to turn to the Lord and think of Him more often?

What is something you want to do when this is over? 

Stay safe my friends.

G.G.