Kukka by Sally Kilgore: Content in the Good Things

Rockwall, TX (March 27, 2024) – Happiness is a place between too much and too little. – Finnish Proverb

Happiness is continuing to desire what we already have. – Saint Augustine

The above quotes are favorites of mine. The first, a Finnish Proverb, is one that has rolled around in my spirit for years. Not only because I am a Finnish American, but because of just what the quote reflects. Contentment. Though brief, it says it all, speaks right to who I am and is an enduring tenet in my life. “Happiness is a place between too much and too little.”

The second quote, I just heard recently. We headed out to the movies on a Saturday and enjoyed two hours and sixteen minutes immersed in a sublime, sumptuous, gorgeous movie. The movie ‘The Taste of Things’, is mesmerizing and stunning. I won’t give you a review as you can find plenty of them. I’d sure make a point to see it if I were you!

The quote by Saint Augustine was shared near the end of the movie. Hearing it and reading it often since, fills me with a sense of joy, of holding the life we have in such high regard; of the solid warmth of knowing the good things in our lives, of fires that continue to burn within. When we find we’ve no reason to change much and are happy in our own, unique lives. “Happiness is continuing to desire what we already have.”

I’ve not much else to profess about these quotes, but I wanted to share their beauty with you.

It’s magic time in Texas. Everybody and their sister are writing about wildflowers. The past two weeks have brought a bright smile of spring to life, with more on the way. Displays of wild Daffodils and Jonquils are abundant in fields, pastures and on roadsides. Redbuds are blooming in town and out in the country, creating a purply mauve haze, and a row of Bradford pears, poofing out clouds of white blooms, is pure inspiration.

The bluebonnets should be here anytime now, I hear they are already out in Big Bend, the Hill Country, and popping up here and there, east in Rusk. Wildflowers of every color will bring forth oohs and ahhs.

With the meadows greening and blooms abounding on the sides of roads, in pastures, woods, and gardens, this is a most beautiful time of year, in Texas. We’ll enjoy it now, because in August it’s not gonna be all that great!

I was headed out to Emory the other day, driving across a lake on a glorious, cool morning. Fishermen were standing in their boats casting into the still water. Just up the curving road, views alternated between trees and fields. A bright front pasture filled with wild Daffodils came into view and I kicked myself for not pulling over. The kick was hard enough that I watched for the pasture when heading home, and I did pull over and stop to gaze at the field of green, dotted with patches of yellow Jonquils and Daffodils. They pop up suddenly in the landscape, out of nowhere, arriving when the weather still feels a bit cool, and the days just begin to warm up. When we see them and so many other glories in nature, we know spring is imminent!

Roses, perennials and other flowering shrubs and vines have popped out and are mounding up in The Mildscape (my garden), oh joy! The Carolina Jessamine is waving her sunshine yellow trumpets through the window at me. Everything is awakening after winter and starting anew. The spring feeling is fabulous. Hope is affirmed, whatever the circumstance, we can start fresh.

In the last month in The Mildscape, I’ve watched the Peggy Martin Rose as she began to poke out little bits of green here and there, and then a little more, sort of a green haze. Then the canes started going crazy and now she’s fully covered with green canes that fill out more each day. She’s growing right over the trellis, and I can’t wait till she blooms. Garlic Chives and Society Garlic are poking up spiky grassy foliage, the pungent scent wafts up as you walk by. Lemon Balm is rounding up in the brightest green.

I was once an autumn girl. It’s kind of funny, now I’m here in these autumn years, and I find myself always longing for spring. As spring approaches, I eagerly await the best time of the year. Sunlight and warmth fill the days, the gardens grow, hope is easier to come by. New breath fills us, and we are energized. Life feels good, and all that we have – can be more than enough.

Just two years ago, my first Kukka was published in the Blue Ribbon News, a column about the perils of a February ice storm and the Carolina Jessamine that is the earliest bloomer in my garden. I enjoy sharing my world here with you all. Thanks for reading!

By Blue Ribbon News special contributor Sally Kilgore, resident of Fate. She is married to her long-time flame, Judge Chris Kilgore, (aka The B.O.B.) When not writing, gardening, filling in at the local flower shop or hanging out with grandkids, Sally devotes her time to serving Bob Kilgore, a well sized, Tuxedo cat with panache. Contact Sally at SallyAKilgore@gmail.com , and visit her website: SallyAKilgore.com