On this last day of October, I’m anticipating the last two months of 2020 to be better than the other ten months of this year. I suppose that’s due to the good feelings elicited by holiday memories. And I’m holding on to my optimism for 2021.

I’ll spare you the pictures of our yard full of scattered hurricane debris. My photos of Hurricane Zeta’s aftermath on Thursday morning look pretty much like the ones I showed you last month of what Hurricane Sally did. I thought Zeta would not be as destructive as Sally, but that was just my optimism talking. For us, the storm’s effects were about the same.

However, other people lost homes, vehicles, and several lost their lives as this storm made it’s journey across the South. Many are still without electricity, but utility crews are working hard to restore power. I’m thankful that we came out pretty well, and hurricane season is almost over.

Let’s move on to what you came here for.

I put the miniature rose Red Cascade up first. I need to find a way to rejuvenate it, since it hasn’t looked healthy this year. Maybe I should do a hard trim-back in February.

This dahlia bud is only opening on one side. I guess the other petals weren’t ready to make their debut yet.

Yellow is probably my least favorite color, but this buttery lantana brightens up its space very nicely.

I’ve shown my my tall cardinal spear before, but this week I saw one of its flowers with this strange formation you see on the right. I’ve never seen that before.

I’ve neglected to cut the heads off of the garlic chives, and now they’ve gone to seed. This is now an ASAP job. I don’t need more garlic chives.

Tonight we will have a “blue moon,” meaning the second full moon in a month. They don’t come around very often, hence the phrase, “once in a blue moon.”

I took this picture of the almost-full moon last night. I hope the difficulties we’ve all had to face this year only come around “once in a blue moon.”

In spite of whatever adversities we’ve met, just look… we’ve survived! We’re still here. In many not-so-obvious ways, we’re probably better for it.

Have you heard that saying, “The same boiling water that hardens the egg softens the carrot?” Someone else added, “And it releases all the flavor in the coffee beans.” That’s not just my optimism talking.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” –Romans 8:18

Shavua Tov. Have a good week.

Shalom, Dottie