Presence- the next supermodel~ changing seasons

"Presence is more than just being there.”

~Malcomb S. Forbes

Abby wearing Nikibiki

Meet Abigail Plunk. Accomplished horsewoman, tennis player and now model. My niece. 

At 17, she shares with Taylor Swift and Jenifer Aniston what the popular culture calls the "It" factor. I call it "presence".  Abby rocks everything she wears, but particularly little black dresses.

I need to put away some bottles of Little Black Dress wine to celebrate when she turns 21. James Beard nominee Elliot Essman wrote a wonderful review of the line.

Wherever her path in life takes Abby,  I don't see "our little" miss black dress growing up to live the life of Maxine. Unless she chooses.  

Maxine offers another face to the definition of presence. Crabby people can visit our heroine's fan page on  Facebook.

The tree. The bench. The bird feeder. They add their own kind of presence to the garden. I thought about moving the bench this week- that would be so wrong- the corner of the yard would be naked without it.

In the hollowness of a landscape cloaked in darkness, a single cluster of yellow roses exudes presence  She came in a box from Jackson-Perkins, with no name to call her by.  She represents the people who pass through our lives in dark times. Even if we do not know their names , that does not erase the beauty of their presence when God sent them our way.



The presence of a California poppy captured by Gene Sasse

Wednesday, both cars were scrubbed and polished. Thursday it rained. 8 drops of water on my car, 3 on Gerry's.  It was heaven's early warning system, a clarion call for change of garden duties. Within a week, the weather people are promising a genuine soaking.

Anyone with sunshine and empty dirt, it is time to round up some wildflower seeds, spread them and if the birds don't eat all the offering, when the blooms burst it will feel as if  magic is rising. But we know. Magic is not commanded from thin air. It requires action.