A dear friend gave me a card of country garden cottage. As I studied the picture, so many things came to me. This cottage, reminds me of a place I can go to relax and be myself. There are so many different pretty flowers in this garden. They remind me how God has blessed me with a beautiful bouquet of friends. I am happy to enjoy the company of one friend or several friends.They are all special and unique! Each friend that have has taught me about love. So I share this card with you and my thoughts of it. The cottage, with it's warm and inviting garden, makes me think of so many things. I think of the playhouse I had when I was a child. The house was simple, but with a child's imagination, it was a castle. Imagination is such a wonderful thing because we can have whatever we want. When I am with my friends, I feel safe enough to let the child in me come out. So like a child, I will use my imagination and just pretend what I might see at this cottage. So let's do that. This might be long so get comfortable! Now imagine as you enter the cottage, you enter a garden porch with large windows. A perfect place to fix the flowers you just picked. A place to kick off your shoes and sit and rest awhile. A place to hang up your sweater or garden apron. From the porch you would enter a large sitting room with a sofa that faces the fireplace. Imagine there is a large comfortable cushioned rocking chair that would be near a window where you could curl up and read a great book. The chair would be next to the fireplace to keep you warm on a chilly day. Imagine several women sharing their hearts and comforting each other. A place to share our dreams and prayers. Candles would be all over the place for those special evenings of sharing. The dining area would have a large country tressle table with long wooden benches that would be covered with pads that have a small floral design that matches the curtains. This table would host a number of women, sharing coffee or tea and something great to eat. This table could be used for board and card games. This table would be large enough to do crafts on or to decorate with a lace tablecloth for a tea party. When not in use, there would always be a large arrangement of flowers picked from the garden. In fact, flowers would be everywhere! By now you are wondering how such a little cottage could have room for all that. Well ladies, we are imagining and with that we can have whatever we want. So I will go on. Imagine that the side of the wall off the dining room having french doors going out to a latice enclosed couryard. And in that courtyard there would be a large spa to hold at least eight women. There would be chairs off to the sides and small tables all around. Hanging from the lattice would be more plants and flowers. There would be windchimes and birdfeeders gently swaying in the breeze. You could have complete privacy. The kitchen would have all the basic conveniences we are use to like the refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave oven, stove, toaster, coffeemaker and so on. There would be a large well stocked pantry. The sink would face the backyard and we would be looking out a large window to enjoy more of the beautiful garden. Yes this cottage doesn't look like it would have a modern kitchen, but remember we are imagining what we like, and we do like to eat! There would be a laundry room off the kitchen that would have a door to the back yard. There would also be an ironing board there. Next to the laundry room there is a bathroom with a window to let the fresh air in and provide plenty of light to do our hair and makeup. Upstairs are two bedrooms, each with four beds. There would be ceiling fans to keep us cool. Each bed would be covered with a quilted bedspread. Each room would have two dressors with mirrors that light up.There would be two free standing closets in the hallway for clothes and shoes. Next to each room would be a large bathroom with a deep old fashion tub. A small closet would hold makeups bags,blow dryers and curling iron. There would be a round wicker basket filled with soft large towels. A basket of bath oils and bubble bath would be near the tub along with some candles. And there would even be magazine rack behind the door. Now that I have described this place, it would be the perfect place for our PMS House. Oh but we don't want to think of that here... So this would be...A perfect place for a small weekend retreat. A place to have fellowship with one another and God. So when your days are busy with family, work and life, remember our getaway garden and cottage. A place where the grown up woman can be a little girl. Even when you can't get away, Remember to make time with God. The Bible says"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 51:10 We can take comfort and know that God wants to spend time with us just like we would like to take time to visit our cottage. God is our strength and refuge. Like the cottage, we go to Him for spiritual refreshing. Though we can't always get away, we can always make time for a visit with God. Thanks for visiting! Contents & Graphics Copyright © Susan's Garden of Friendship and the graphic artist listed. Our work is not Public Domain, and should NOT be taken from this site. Thank you for respecting our rights.