Emily is Smiling

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with my Grandma Rhonda and Ali.  We had all sorts of adventures together, like going to a French restaurant and ordering nearly all of the desserts on the menu, and staying up half the night talking.

One afternoon, Grandma Rhonda brought us to a Japanese garden near her home.  Despite the terrible drought that has affected Texas the last year, most of the garden was still beautiful and filled with life.  There were a few differently themed sections, but the most beautiful one was the Japanese garden, which featured a bridge, a beautiful waterfall, and a little creek that flowed through the garden. 

One area even had a place where you had to cross the creek on little stepping stones.  The water was covered with lilypads and filled with colorful fish.  Trees hung above us, shading our eyes from the bright afternoon sun and leaving small squares of light on our faces.

After you followed the stepping stone path, you came across a stone arch, surrounded by low-hanging trees.  Moss cloaked the gray stones.  Everything around us seemed to be so beautiful and filled with life.  Even the stones carried life.

Beyond us was a beautiful waterfall that sprayed the air with a cool mist.  After all, it was nearly a hundred degrees outside.

Another area of the garden was an American theme.  Little cottages that were hundreds of years old sat tucked amidst the trees and bushes.  In the middle of the stone path was an old-fashioned well.  There was no water in the well, sadly, but it looked so quaint and beautiful that Ali and I had to capture a picture.

Wouldn't it be lovely to have a little well like this behind your house, even if it wasn't real?

It would be wonderful to live in a cabin out in the woods, surrounded by shady trees and beautiful flowers and the scent of the earth.  It would be wonderful to live in such a quiet, secluded place, far apart from busy schedules and stress and time.

The garden was beautiful.  In a place of drought and wind and sun like Texas, a place like that was a sanctuary.