Random Beauty

This is some of the beauty that I find uplifting on a summer morning. There are so many things that will fill your heart with joy if you just open your eyes really look at the beauty around you.

I'm Back!

It's been a long time since I last blogged. A really long time. I thought I would share some photos from this morning's wandering around the yard.
Summer has finally loosened it's unbearably hot grip for the first time in months. The sky is a beautiful blue. The air is actually a comfortable temperature and the humidity is not smacking me in the face when I step outside. In the months of June, July and August, I dream of Washington State, Montana, even Alaska (anywhere where the temperature is below 80). I watched Miss T drive off to the high school. (Yes, Miss T drives. I said I hadn't blogged in a long time.) Minnie Mouse the Dachshund wandered around sniffing under bushes looking for lizards or bunnies or the neighbor's cat.

 I checked on the garden. The okra is finally starting to produce really well. We ate our first pan of fried okra a couple of days ago. I could eat it until it is coming out of my ears! My husband will pickle some of it and we will chop and freeze some for future batches of gumbo. Yum! Shrimp Gumbo!
 Okay enough wandering for now, it's time to get busy before the heat returns.

A Rainy Day

It is raining this morning. If you live in the Northwest, you would say "Again?". But here in in the South, a rainy day after 2 weeks of temps in the mid 90s is sheer relief. It was such a simple pleasure to sip my coffee and watch the rain. I'm not the only one enjoying the rain, my plants,lawn and the birds are delighted! Later the sun will come out and the humidity will rise, but for now I will savor this time. Today would be a good day to bake or cross stitch, but unfortunately there is grocery shopping and a doctor's appointment on the agenda. (Heavy sigh.) So for now, I'll have one more cup of coffee and savor the rain.

The View From My Bench

I've been busy lately creating a haven in my backyard. I live in a subdivision with houses all around. I began this particular project a year ago. It's taken quite a while, but it is near completion. I originally just wanted to hide the view of my neighbor's trailer, which has since been relocated. It has now become a private place to sit away from the noise of the air conditioner and hum of the pool filter system. A place to just be alone. I began by digging up the yard and helping my husband put up a lattice trellis. Then I edged it with leftover bricks (from a previous project), put in plants which consisted mostly of daylilies, roses from my mother in law or various things from other parts of our yard. To anchor the bed, I moved an old climbing rose to the center of the bed. This rose has history! It started as a piece of a rose in my mother in laws garden 14 years ago. I planted the piece in the yard of a home we rented. When we moved into our current home (10 years ago) I planted some of it on the east & west sides of the house. I have found that no matter where you plant this rose it puts down some pretty "deep" roots. As it turns out, it is growing well not just in the new bed, but also in its former location.

Last winter a neighbor, put the bench out for trash pickup. My husband brought it home, put a fresh coat of paint on the wrought iron and attached the wood with new screws and bolts. Now, I have a nice bench for my retreat. The roses have started to cover the lattice quite nicely. I've added plants I've discovered at Lowe's & Home Depot, but my favorite plants and the knockout roses have come from the feed store (one of my favorite places). I found the bird bath at the Tractor Supply Store. It's amazing the places you can plunder through when you live in an agricultural community!
In the afternoon, the area is shady (thanks to my husband's boat shed). Now, I'm adding little things that suit my fancy and make me happy. I hope to enjoy many warm days enjoying the flowers, the shade, and the calm while reading or stitching.

I hope you can find a retreat like mine. It is well worth the effort. As things grow and change, I'll give you an occasional glimpse of the view from my bench

Spring in My Front Yard

It's a beautiful spring day here. I love spring! I know, I know in the fall you hear me say I love fall! I guess what I love about spring is its beauty and comfortable warm air and sunshine. I love fall because the sun seems to move further south, casting a golden glow on everything. There are also the beautiful fall colors and most of all the sweet relief of the summer heat and humidity. Summer on the other hand is not my favorite time of year in our part of the country. It is hard to enjoy days, (No, make that months!) of temps in the 90s and humidity in the 90s also! I scurry from air conditioned place to air conditioned place or to a body of water!

Okay, back to spring, this is the time of year when our Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow bush has a profusion of various shades of purple flowers. It is named this because the flowers are a different color the first three days after opening. It is an evergreen here and blooms most of the year, but it is prettiest in the spring. It also puts out lots of baby bushes, which I'm relocating to various parts of the yard. The pink roses are Knockout roses. I've come to love Knockout roses. They produce a profusion of blooms mostly in spring & summer and don't require much watering or care. That's quite a feat for plants here! I've been thinking about putting in a brick walkway that will meander around the day lily bed. Ah well, enough daydreaming and planning. It's time for Maddie the Labs' morning walk and to enjoy another beautiful spring day.

Lists

I am a "list" person. I have a habit of making a list of everything I do or need. It helps me to focus and get things done before my household and life turn into complete chaos. I get satisfaction from crossing things off when I finish. It's a sense of "Take that! You're conquered!" When you look at my fridge you will see grocery lists, my oldest grandaughter's school schedule & karate schedule, notices of upcoming events, recipes of things I want to cook and important business cards. The only 2 things on my fridge that don't apply to time are a Zits comic about teenagers, which gives my 13 year old granddaughter and me a laugh, and my 16 month old granddaughter's note (dictated to her mom) and a drawing made with the crayons I sent to her. (Thank you Naomi! It's beautiful!)
Yesterday, I started out early in the morning with just a few things on my list. By midmorning, I had composed a "full" page of chores! Of course, I realized it would take me days to get through this list, but when I finish there will hopefully be more of a sense of order around here. I find a lot of chaos can wear you down. I did accomplish a lot yesterday, but as you can see, I still have a long way to go. The biggest things I did yesterday were laundry, defrosting the freezer in the garage, bathing 3 dogs, skimming & cleaning our pool for the warm weather coming up, taking apart the pipe under the bathroom sink & unclogging the drain of Miss T's lovely long locks, and doing a general house cleaning. Of course Maddie the Lab needs to be walked twice a day to get rid of some of her "Lab" energy!
Today, I don't feel as ambitious, so I will tackle the things on my list that are either small things that don't require much time or things that I enjoy. Cleaning out and organizing my closet & dresser (my least favorite chore) can wait until tomorrow!
So, after spending some time this morning piddling around in my pajamas, doing things I enjoy, it's time to get busy.
I hope your day is good & your lists are short!

Eating Local

I've always had the urge to do what I can to "save the planet", or live green, or leave a very small carbon foot print. I must admit that I don't always recycle that shampoo bottle or aluminum can as I should. In our little town there is no recycling pickup, but you can haul plastics, newspapers, aluminum cans, & cardboard boxes to the recycling bins at the high school. I've also been thinking about eating "local" since I read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. In the past week I've noticed 2 new produce stands popping up on vacant lots in the middle of town with one advertising fresh, local produce. I'm going to stop by them very soon. Today, however, I went to The Windmill Market in Fairhope after seeing their facebook post announcing local strawberries just picked this morning. Pints were $2 and flats were $15. I bought 3 pints and a bunch of locally grown spinach. I wanted to see just what I could buy and prepare that was organic and/or locally grown. For lunch today I made scrambled eggs (from local yard chickens) with garlic, onions and chopped local spinach and a salad which included today's spinach, carrots from my garden and the strawberries. My granddaughter Miss T declared it delicious.! Dessert was yogurt topped with Magnolia Granola which was made a few miles from here using organic ingredients. For dinner we enjoyed shrimp cooked in garlic & butter sauce. (The shrimp was purchased last fall from a local shrimp boat & stored in the freezer.) We also had Pappardelle's spinach lemon, herb fettucini ( not locally made, but also purchased at The Windmill) Tomorrow we're having hamburgers made from the beef of grass fed cows raised 30 miles away. It wasn't cheap $6 a pound.

Though it was hard, I walked away from all the homemade bread and pastries, deciding instead to bake bread myself with the help of Miss T. She learned how to knead bread today. We made one white loaf and one cinnamon loaf that we're having toasted for breakfast in the morning with those delicious strawberries or with strawberry jam I made last week.

I still have quite a way to go in my effort to eat local, but it will get easier in the next few months with the community farmer's markets starting up and our garden's tomatoes,peppers and cucumbers producing as fast as we can eat them. I'm going to try canning tomatoes this year if all goes well.

Finally It's Spring

Spring has finally come. The Bradford pear trees are all in bloom including the one in my front yard. It has more blooms than in any previous years I've spent the past few days tidying flower beds, trimming and planting bushes. Here are a few pictures of spring at our house.
Happy Spring!

Around the House

Today was a beautiful sunny almost warm Saturday. I spent today working around the house, inside and outside. This morning, I got caught up on some routine house work. Miss T helped out so the work went quickly.

After lunch I tackled a very neglected flower bed by weeding, weeding, and weeding! Did I mention there were a lot of weeds? I also removed some old posts and filled in the holes. As I worked, I thought about how nice it will look when the climbing roses (I planted last fall) cover the lattice screen my husband and I built. I'm going to fill in the area under the lattice with daylilies. I can get them from my mother in law. She grows prize winning dayliles. (Thanks Mom!) I was also thinking about putting a bench that we found in a neighbor's trash and fixed up to provide a nice shady place to sit on a summer afternoon.

My parents in law came over in late afternoon to check on my progress and to bring pizza. It was a nice visit. Mom always has good suggestions. Their yard is always so beautiful. They live on a busy highway and people frequently stop by in the spring to ask if they may take pictures. They always have some kind of gardening project going.

Tomorrow after church (if it's still warm & sunny), I hope to plant the basil and mint I bought at the feed store yesterday. If you want to get a real taste of spring, go to the feed store. The peeping of chicks and ducklings, and all the vegetable plants, seeds and flowers make you want to dig in the dirt and contemplate growing things. Right now in our small town , that's where the action is. There are not only farmers and gardeners, but parents bringing in their children to see the baby chickens and ducks.
Sometimes it is the simple places and things that bring the most pleasure.

Simple Inspirations

Here are some words to live by for today.

"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."-Beverly Sills

"God made man, and then said 'I can do better than that' and made woman."- Adela Rogers St. John

"If you can't make it good, at least make it look good" - Bill Gates

"They may become harder to achieve, but your dreams can't stop because you've hit a certain age." - Dara Tores (I like this one best.)

"In our society, the women who break down barriers are those who ignore limits." - Arnold Schwarzenegger

'The trouble with talking nicely is that, unfortunately some people don't hear you until you scream." - Stefani Powers

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." - Muhammad Ali

Waiting for Spring

It is a quiet morning at my house with the exception of Maddie the Lab's snoring. My husband worked night shift last night, so today calls for quiet activities while he sleeps. I woke up at 5am in order to have a quiet cup of coffee and Bible reading before my husband came home and my teenage granddaughter woke up and prepared for school. I love the quiet and calm of early morning.
This morning I've read some inspiring blogs that speak to the creative, home making person that I strive to be. They've also awakened a longing to sit in a sunny place this afternoon and wait for spring. While I wait, (You know me, always multi-tasking.) I want to stitch on a cross stitch blanket for my next grandchild due in September. When I'm sitting in the yard, I'll also visualize future projects like laying more brick pavers or adding more bushes that flower and attract the birds. I'll also watch the wren (who we call " Miss Priss") scrounge around for bugs while the yellow finches fight over the feeders. If I'm lucky, I'll hear the pair of cardinals chirping and waiting patiently for me to go inside so that they can have a turn at the feeders.
Supper will be simple tonight. I've promised Miss T that we'll have a breakfast for dinner. I'll use the eggs I bought at the Windmill Market from a nice couple who raise yard chickens. I'll make toast using the sourdough bread I made yesterday. Of course living in the South means a pot of grits. I'll fry some bacon, but alas I can only have one slice. High cholesterol is a problem for me. I have some apples so I could make an apple raisin salad. I don't think I've ever made it for Miss T.
But right now, I'm in the mood for a cup of tea. I think I'll also have a bowl of Cheerios to help gobble up some of that bad cholesterol in the bacon. In a while, Maddie the Lab will require one of her walks to stretch her legs (and mine). But first, I'm waiting for it to warm up and yes, I'm waiting for spring.

Small Things, Big Joy

As I sat on the patio reading my Bible and a daily devotional, I enjoyed the cool and quiet of early morning. That period of time after Miss T gets on the bus and before my house and pets call for me to get busy is my favorite time. I have had a feathered companion on the past few mornings. A very young and a little scraggly looking male cardinal has been nearby. When I sit with Miss T on the front porch waiting for the bus, he chirps his greetings from the tree in the front yard. When I gather my devotional materials and head for the backyard, he joins me. He chirps from the bushes and occasionally joins the other birds for a snack at the feeders. He doesn't seem to mind Maddie's company as long as she is sitting quietly by my side. I've really come to look forward to his morning visits. It makes me slow down for just a bit and feel pure joy, no matter how busy the day ahead looks or what trials I have to contend with.
I guess I entitled this entry small things because this small bird doesn't doesn't take up much physical space on this earth, but he creates a joy that is so big it can't be measured.

Weekly Favorites

Here it is the last Sunday in August. I had a devotional time early this morning on the patio. I'm currently going through My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers. As I enjoyed the peace of early morning, a flock of geese flew low over my house. I watch them fly over each morning, and sometimes I catch their evening fly over. It always fills me with joy. I started to think about things that bring me joy. Some days it is an easy thing to do. Some days the list is very long and other days I have to stretch my thinking to find it. Joy is always there, it's just that sometimes it is buried under the every day busyness and struggles. So in an effort to make myself uncover that joy that gets buried in life, I am going to post an occasional joy list. Perhaps everyone could think about their own joys and add to it. So here goes.
A Joyful Sunday
1. the sound of geese on a quiet morning.
2. a good cup of coffee. (My son Jim's is the best)
3. the smiles of my grandaughters
4. a fall sunset
5. a day when I've accomplished everything I've set out to do.

Garden Update

Maddie checks things out and gives me updates through out the day. I do sometimes detect a little "onion" breath.
The pole beans are putting out runners and climbing the wire. The bush peas seem a little slow, but we'll see.
We ate our first yellow squash a couple of days ago. We are going to be up to our eyeballs in them real soon. The zucchini should be ready to pick tomorrow. I like them grilled the best. The cucumbers are climbing the trellis and it won't be long before we'll see little cucumbers. Some of the tomato plants already have little tomatoes. I'm looking forward to "homegrown" tomatoes versus "store bought".
Maddie so far has only tasted the onion tops. She is more likely to just walk among the plants and sniff. However, I did fence off the beans and peas to protect them from her big feet!

Cold Snap

After a lot of rain in the last two weeks, all is sunny but not warm here. We're having the early April cold snap that comes after the garden has been planted. Usually around Easter. If you wait to put in your garden until mid April, the plants will wilt in the summer heat (which will probably be here by May 1st). So what you see in the pictures is our way of protecting the plants from the freeze warning that was issued for last night and tonight. The tomato plants' cages were wrapped in plastic trash bags. Yes, I know it is not ecologically correct and we've enlarged our footprint, but it is what works best. I'll try to find a second use for the plastic. Under the buckets are the squash and zucchini plants. It's a good thing I save those detergent buckets. They are so multipurpose! Everything else is blanketed in pine straw, except for the onions. I've never grown onions before, but they seem pretty hardy.

Now I've got to go out and uncover the plants with plastic and buckets before the sun makes it too warm for them. We will cover them again this evening. I'm going to leave the pine straw alone. All this just makes the vegetables taste so much better than store bought when we finally harvest.

Labs, Dachshunds & Girls

The photos of Maddie and Trellany, I've entitled A Girl and Her Dog. Dogs can be a girl's best friend. They listen to your problems or wishes and keep your secrets very well. They give kisses and extra love when you're sad. They are just plain fun and good for laugh when you need one the most. As you've read in previous posts, life with Maddie the Lab is never dull!

Sometimes I feel like Minnie Mouse the Dachshund. I just want to crawl back in bed and pull the covers over my head. Minnie is good for snuggling and when awake, can look at you with such intelligence! It is as if she knows what you're thinking. Smart dog!

Spring In My Backyard

I love the view from the kitchen window these days. During the winter, I watch the birds at my feeders and hope to glimpse a cardinal or two. Mostly I'm visited by doves, chirping sparrows, house finches, and our winter visitors the yellow finches. When the yellow finches arrive before Christmas, they are mostly gray, but in late March when they leave, they are a bright yellow.

Now that it is spring, there are other colors to brighten the view. The plumbago has pretty deep pink flowers. The white flowers of the spirea really stand out against the darker colored bushes. The jasmine on the fence still has a few yellow flowers, but reached its peak in February with a bright yellow display. It was gorgeous. I don't know why I didn't take a picture! Oh well.
I love that the grass (and weeds) are green. Unfortunately that means mowing. I use a push mower in the backyard. I don't mind cutting grass when it is 85 degrees or less. I also don't mind cutting grass once a week. Unfortunately, it gets above 85 from April to September and thanks to Rick's use of Weed and Feed, I have to cut grass every three days or risk losing Minnie the Dachshund in a jungle!

As you can see from all the roofs in the background, there are a lot of houses around me. Thanks to fences, there is a little privacy to enjoy the view. Fences really do make good neighbors. It gives you a place to retreat when you don't feel like company sometimes.

Maddie Gets Mad

Maddie the Lab was not amused when I left her Thursday to take Trellany to a karate demo in Daphne. Her anger pushed her to do something Bo, our previous Lab did when he was about Maddie's age which is 17 months. Rick came home from work to find that Maddie had chewed his TV remote to pieces. Bo ate not only ate one remote, but also ate the replacement remote which had been placed on a high shelf out of his reach or so we thought. Bo lived to be almost 13 years old and we never figured out how he did it. From now on, our replacement remote will be placed in a drawer when we leave Maddie.

Her mischief doesn't end there. The next day while I was substitute teaching and Rick went to the grocery store, Maddie took a supposedly empty yellow ink cartridge from the trash can by my desk. I usually recycle them, but was in a hurry before I went to work and dropped it in my trash. When Maddie greeted Rick, she had bright yellow whiskers, a bright yellow tongue and yellow feet. There is now a yellow stain on my carpet. Rick called Epson to see if the ink was toxic (which it wasn't), the vet to see if the ink and plastic were harmful. The vet's office, after a good laugh, told Rick to just watch her to make sure the plastic passed and didn't bind up in her system.

Up until now Maddie has been really good! She hasn't eaten the garbage, books, homework, tables and entire chair arms as Bo did. Yes, there were some skeptical teachers when my sons said the dog ate their homework. They were vindicated when they produced the text books totally chewed up! I guess she's entered the terrible twos of a Lab puppy. She's a late bloomer.

Spring Garden

The first picture shows what used to be a flower bed, but has been changed to a vegetable garden. I put in sets of onions in the closest one. In the second one I've planted pole beans, purple hull peas, and radishes. The seeds have all sprouted and now have to be thinned out.
In the second picture is the main garden or Rick's division. He is in charge of tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and cucumbers. The cucumbers seeds have just barely poked their heads up by the trellis in the back. The rest were all plants purchased at Lowe's. I'm hoping to try to get in ahead of Rick when possible to try to keep him from needing the use of pesticides. He does love his chemicals!

Maddie Takes Over

Due to a back injury, Minnie Mouse the Dachshund has had to be confined in the kennel to keep her from jumping and running so that she can heal. During one of Minnie's breaks from the kennel, Maddie decided to take over that space. Not only did she take over the kennel, but she also took over one of Minnie's favorite squeaking toys. In the past, there have been many tug of wars over "Hootie".