Posted on by Donna

Focusing On The Journey

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. ~Eckhart Tolle

It has been 8 long months since I was last here on this blog. More months than I originally had planned for a hiatus back in December. Who knew that between illness over the winter, arthritis in my hands and major technology snafus, I would be waiting this long to return.

The arthritis threw me as I had not had any major symptoms of it before. But when both my hands were hurting, and my right thumb was incapacitated, I sought help from my acupuncturist. Amazing what four months of therapy can do.

The technology snafu is much more complicated, but suffice it to say my friend who was hosting my blogs needed to move on. So I settled on another hosting company that took weeks to move my blogs with no success. Oh and add malware to the mix, costly bills to remove it, finally a new host and the unbelievable heavy lifting of my friend and I can say, I’m back baby!

Luckily in the 8 months I was away, I was focused on other aspects of my life. In the winter, I was busy planting seeds for my garden, reading and healing. As spring rolled around, I was able to get out and do some major work in the front gardens (more on that later). And I remained on social media, Instagram and Facebook, where I shared what was going on in my garden during the #the100dayproject, which just ended in mid July. The project put me in touch with an incredible community of creative folks, and got me back in touch with my creative center. I’ll share some of my posts from the project later.

Now is the height of the vegetable gardening season keeping us busy. And thankfully the hot dry summer seems to be cooling off. The house needs cleaning and my back is not behaving again (what else is new), but I wanted to get back to my blogs and my blogging family. To the writing, the sharing and the community of amazing writers, photographers and gardeners I have gotten so close to over the past 9 years. I can’t promise a weekly blog anymore. As we grow older, life shifts, and we begin to focus on different aspects of life. But I am determined to get back to writing and sharing the journey, as it goes uphill and down, using the garden/nature as my teacher. Back to my roots. Focusing on what brings me joy and what challenges me.

Before I forget I want to thank my friend, Steven Tryon, for his continued support of my blogs and his monumental effort to get me back to them. Without him, I never would have started 9 years ago, nor would I be here today writing again. He is an amazing technology guru, photographer and friend. If you want to see some wonderful photos, visit his blog, Walkabout Chronicles.

I am also joining  Cathy@Rambling in the Garden for her wonderful, In A Vase on Monday, meme. I grow these miniature sunflowers for vases, and they have finally bloomed. They make the most cheerful vase. I can’t help but smile when I see them.

All the pictures shared in this post were taken with my Nikon Coolpix or iPhone camera, and manipulated on my iPod Touch using the apps, Pixlr and Prisma.

I will be posting poetry again, almost weekly on Sundays, on my other blog, Living From Happiness starting this coming Sunday. I hope you’ll drop by.

All original content is copyrighted and the sole property of Donna Donabella @ Gardens Eye View, 2010-2019.  Any reprints or use of content or photos is by permission only.

39 Replies to “Focusing On The Journey”

  1. So good to see you back… we missed you. I did a whole pitch full of vegetables this year as my back veggie garden gets no sun because the trees have grown. And I love my trees. I think this is more mybspeed anyhow. I’ll capture some photos … my daughter is really the master gardener. She loves hot and spicy, so we have so many peppers!! Not sure what to do with them all!

    Hope you continue to feel better.
    I am looking forward to the poetry!
    Tom says HI!
    Joyce

    1. Oh Joyce thank you so much. It means so much to me. And I hope to see some photos soon. I love my trees too. Tell Tom I said Hi!

  2. Good to see your post, Donna, it has been a while. Overall, sounds like you’ve found a good balance between life’s ups and downs. Our gardens do keep us anchored!

  3. What a difficult time it has been and it is good to know that things are once again moving for you. I hope your arthritis has at least eased a little too. Good to know that you find the blogging community helpful and supportive – as you say, we build up relationships with all our blogging friends and they do notice when you are not there. Your sunflowers are gorgeous, and hopefully symbolise brighter times ahead

  4. So good to see you back on the blog! I’ve been following along on Instagram of course.

    I’m also glad to learn acupuncture has helped with your arthritis. It’s so much better to see if you can limit the meds first.

    1. Thank you Shirley for following along on IG. Thankfully I do not take meds and have found many alternatives to using meds….sometimes the hard way. My acupuncturist is also a Dr which helps. I agree anything to limit using meds.

  5. Welcome back Donna (at least Instagram kept you in the groove as it were and so glad to have found you there)
    Blogging world is quieting down in general and maybe illness helped slow you down and look for other things. Hope you are managing the pain.
    Most of all it is your garden (and family) that needs the time you are able to give – and it is full of rewards judging by your Instagram posts

    1. I am glad you found me there too Laura.I am managing the pain with rest, and limiting what I do every day. Knowing my limits helps. And you are correct. I have rearranged my priorities since retiring…..so important to build our relationships both in the garden and with friends and family.

  6. While I’ve been following you on Instagram, I’m happy to see you back on the blogging platform, Donna. Your technological challenges would have made me crazy but I’m glad you persevered to get through them, and that you’ve found relief from your health woes too. Your sunflowers are glorious. I’m still waiting for my sunflower seedlings to become flowers (and hoping they won’t become a bust like last year’s crop).

    1. Thanks so much Kris….the tech challenges did almost put me away as they say. I hope your sunflowers bloom Kris. Mine took heat and lots of water.

  7. Welcome back.
    Blogging is my only social media and I missed you.
    I am so glad that you found some relief from the pain and the techno woes. Both are all too familiar.

  9. Welcome back. I love your flowers and presentations. I also enjoy your cheerful voice and reminders to keep moving forward even if slowly through the pain and challenges.

  10. 8 months-well that is just about as long as a pregnancy. Perhaps you needed that time to give “birth or Re-birth” your creativeness over the .past months.

  11. Welcome back…..and for sharing your grit and determination, thank you. For your lovely pictures, flowers and words of wisdom, thank you again.

  12. Nice to have you back blogging, you certainly have been missed. I stopped by many times over the months and thought perhaps you had put blogging behind you. Love the sunflowers, they are a happy flower that always makes me smile.

    1. I wish I could have put a message up but my blogs just were not functioning. I am happy to know you stopped by and thank you for checking back. It means a lot to me my friend.

  13. Missed you! Hope your healing is complete. Love reading your blogs and so happy you have returned.

  14. Welcome back! So glad that your arthritis is better. Love the pictures of the sunflowers. Looking forward to future post.

  15. Hello, Donna. Thank you for visiting my blog and allowing to follow back to yours. First, I am happy that you are feeling better. Nothing worse than a chronic illness. It can be so debilitating. And second, good for you for being back to blogging. I always feel very connected through blogging to other people with common interests. Hope you continue to feel better.

  16. Oh it’s lovely to see you back Donna I am sorry to hear about your health issues. Sadly they do not always disappear but we learn to live with them and find coping techniques. So glad to read that you have been able to spend some time gardening in the interlude since you last posted. Those sunflowers are indeed a ray of sunshine. Snafu is a new word to me so I’ve just looked it up. I like it! Thanks for the introduction.

  17. Wow, Donna, for some reason I was just thinking of you today and wondering how you were – so glad to see you back blogging! Your posts have always been so lovely and inspirational. For years I posted at least once a week. I have been blogging almost 10 years now, and this year I moved down to posting every 1 to 3 weeks. I am hanging in with my original host, though Squarespace no longer supports my out-of-date platform very well. But to upgrade would be an enormous hassle. It would involve more money and a total re-working of my blog with no ability to keep previous posts. So I keep plugging along…Best wishes to you! Deb

    1. Deb how wonderful to hear from you. Thank you for your beautiful thoughts. And I do understand the hassle. I still have my own domain and use WordPress but just changed hosting companies and oh what a hassle. That is quite a milestone with your wonderful blog so I am glad you are plugging along. I hope to be back in the swing of reading blogs regularly again soon and promise to visit. I have missed you and your beautiful garden.

  18. Glad to see your comment on another blog … then to find that you are back on yours.
    As and when can be a comfortable alternative to weekly. Works for me.

  20. Donna, Glad you were able to get everything transferred and get this blog back up and running. Welcome back!

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