IS TODAY.  For all children.   The only reason I get to make a quick entry here is because we are on a breakfast break.

Last night was a quick shopping trip to the mall to get clothes for John, my public school child.  Do you KNOW how much money we could have spent here?  Including me.  I was sucked in too.  The lights, the loud music everywhere, subliminal messages saying SHOP SHOP SHOP.  I saw several skirts and blouses I wanted, but I tried to focus on John.

One thing I did get was a pair of really cute Madden Girl shoes.  It was buy one get one half off, so after we bought John’s black high-top Converses and I made sure he didn’t want anything else, I said, “Oh, ME ME, I DO!

In the garden this morning, more and more orb weavers are working their webs into everything.  Be careful where you step!

I did some weeding last week and things are looking a BIT more tame. 

I worked a LOT on the goldfish pond last week, running the filter and then washing it out about every three hours.  I did that FOUR times.  Then we got a wonderful cleansing rain and now the pond is clear again.  The cats are SO excited!  The fish are NOT.

That’s all for now. We are about to very gently open our first Ambleside Book and do some reading.  We’re having a great day so far.  More specific notes later.

Happy Tuesday!

Lynn

I’ve laughed at it quietly in my own mind of late:  when the two sisters Eliza and Jane Bennet leave home on travels at the same time, their poor father, Mr. Bennet, says to Eliza, “Til you or your sister Jane return, I shall not hear two words of sense spoken together.”

We know he speaks of his three extremely silly, younger daughters and his sometimes-ridiculous wife whom he shall be left solely in the company of until his older, wiser daughters return. 

Hmmm.  Two words of sense. 

For some reason, when I come to my desk to post something here lately, I simply cannot string together two words of sense worth posting.  I think of Mr. Bennet.  Oh there is plenty of stuff rambling through my mind, but can I find two words of sense worth saying?

I don’t have anything profound to say these days, and not that I ever did, mind you.  It’s simply that life is busy with school and work and groceries and cleaning, and I feel very fortunate to have days of health and rest and enough to eat. 

And lately my mind is filled with the pushing of myself onward to do one more thing.  One more thing.  There have been appointments of late.  There have been extra work-days of late.  And meetings for work.  And long phone calls with a dear friend who needed an ear.  And several nice trips out of town.

Honestly, I just see more of the same on the horizon.  There’s not much to say about it, except that every day I am humbled by the peace that I have and the gratitude that I have that we do have enough to eat and that I am able to work and that we do live in a very beautiful and free country.

My prayers throughout the day are for the safety and well being of my children and family.  I like to hum while I work.  Taking joy, I find, is an art, that takes practice and dedication.  Keeping a song in your heart is no less something to be learned than how to play a pretty song on any instrument.

My son Joseph and I are truly easing slowly into his Rosetta Stone Japanese.  We still have not found our groove, though it’s been nearly two weeks since we should have officially started school.  I’ve been around the block enough to know, though, that it will be okay.

He’ll make it and so will I. 

There is a little Japanese proverb that I like:

Fall seven times,
stand up eight.

It applies to all of life… 

• Have the house in a big upsidedown mess seven times, clean it up eight. 
• Clean off the kitchen table seven times, set it for a meal eight.
• Forgive your spouse seven times, love him eight.
• Be forgiven seven times, blunder again eight.

It goes on and on.

The garden exists at a great crescendo now as fall approaches.  Many plants are at their largest.  Some are at their prettiest.  It seems that all of nature is trying to get in just a little more activity before nature goes to sleep.

I personally wanted to get so much more done this gardening season.  Wanted to put more up.  Wanted to learn more.  Wanted to dig more, plant more, clean up more.  I did all I could. 

Hopefully, there’ll be another gardening season next year, and gladly there’s a little time left even now before winter sets in, to stock the pantry a little fuller, make sure we have enough blankets, sweaters, hats, and coats, and to take some autumn walks with a heart full of happiness at all we have, in every way.

From Henry David Thoreau: 

“It is not enough if you are busy.  The question is, What are you busy about?”

It’s a question I would do well to ask myself every morning.

Lynn

My flower garden is surely small, but one of the things I love about it is that I can walk outside almost any time of any day and find some creature that amazes me. 

I usually have one of these writing spiders (Argiope) every year, but the excitement over spotting one for the first time each year never diminishes!

I placed the camera underneath the spider for this shot, and with the light behind it the actual spider looks a bit too dark, but I think it shows how iridescent the colors can look at times and it really shows the spider’s palps — those two fang-looking things right at the front, but they are not fangs.  

I was kneeling by the goldfish pond, dipping out dead leaves and watching the fish, when suddenly — with a loud rustling of leaves, this praying mantis jumped from a small nandina right at my shoulder and landed, facing me, at the edge of the goldfish pond.  Did I scream?  Almost.  I’m just thankful I did not throw my camera into the water. 

Lynn

My husband always tells me that when I’m in the midst of sorrow to look for something joyful.  This was blooming — first time ever — in my goldfish pond this morning.

I am sure that whenever I see one of these beautiful blooms now I’ll think of my friend.

The funeral is this afternoon.

Lynn

So the very young cat, Fluffy, had 3 kittens yesterday!  At least there’s only 3 that we have seen and can account for.

If the picture is blurry, it’s because I used no flash, in order to not disturb her too much.  Fluffy is turning out to be quite the mother, catching the kittens with her paw and pulling them in close if they roll away.

Fluffy is so tired.  She did indeed have the kittens in the cardboard-box-birthing-center we had set up on the porch for her. 

Fluffy was never really our cat, but a neighborhood cat that wandered around hungry.  She adopted us, I think because she loves our garden and especially Princess of the Universe.  I will keep everyone aprised of how the three little kittens are doing!

The garden this morning was glorious!! We have had very heavy rains that have cleansed the water in the goldfish pond and have the rain barrels running over!  The lightning we had caused flowers to open overnight.  (At least that’s my theory.)

Yesterday this peony was not open.

The clematis is in bloom now…

Everything in the garden just looks so clean and alive after a rain.  I love being in my garden after a rain.  First thing in the morning, there’s nothing like it!

I love the way the blooming garlic plants get all starry-looking, with their little pretty blooms dancing around like they do.

The birdbaths are all full, thanks to the rain.  It means I don’t have to worry about filling them this morning, but instead can just walk around with my green tea and admire.  The garden was the perfect place to sit down with my journal this morning and write down some thoughts for the day.

The lamb’s ear is so healthy and the leaves are so soft.  I was explaining to a group of little neighborhood girls how the garden faeries come out at night to watch over things and they use the lamb’s ears as their soft blankets. 

Princess of the Universe agreed, nodding confidently, yeah.  (She’s heard that story before.)

I love this thought:

Cultivate simplicity, or rather, I should say, banish elaborateness; for simplicity springs spontaneous from the heart, and carries into daylight on its own buds of genuine, sweet, and clear flowers of expression.

Charles Lamb, English writer, 1775-1834

Lynn

Princess of the Universe likes to play with some of her neighborhood friends who have a little creek (or “crick” as they say in some places).  It runs behind their house.  Well, guess what she came running home with yesterday?

This is a crayfish, which is a fresh water crustacean; it’s also known as a crawdad.

She let the crawdad sit on her shoulder.  I suppose there was a bit of fear that it might decide to pinch her lip?  The crawdad is a close relative of the lobster. 

I’ve been meaning to show you how clear the goldfish pond is right now.  This is pretty good considering that the pond is all natural — no chemicals to treat algae, etc.  You can see the base of the lily pad plant at the bottom of the pond.

I put an arrow to show you the little crayfish that the children decided would be perfect for the goldfish pond.  It seems like an okay thing to me. 

Have a great weekend! 

Lynn

I started out this morning doing a bit of cleaning around the house and then I headed outside to clean up the front porch and do some early morning garden (little garden ) chores.  

All the house plants have been brought outside to spend the spring and summer.  The peace lily got a good watering.   It’ll stay on the porch, out of the hot sun.

I scooped debris out of the goldfish pond, threw a few goldfish pellets and flakes in and sat down to watch the fish and sip on my green tea.   You might be able to see a few fish just under the water.  They are very slow to make themselves easy prey with all the cats in the neighborhood.  The do eventually come up to eat.  You may also note the two dark leave-looking things on the right side at the top of the water.  Lily pads coming to the top, finally.

I ended up at my garden table for a short time of thinking and reading.  So many garden happenings called to me.  I had to make myself stay put and read.  A pair of cardinals were in a tree behind me.  I turned around with my camera and thought to zoom in on the pretty female.  The male was on the ground “talking to her” while she was perched in a tree.  Between the time I focused the camera and the time that I hit the button, she decided to fly and I got it!  I didn’t know it until I loaded the pictures on the computer.  It’s pretty neat.  She’s diving down to her mate.  I suppose I took the same sort of nosedive when I met hubby. 

I spent some time just looking at everything that’s opening up.  What were just buds a couple of days ago are now full flowers.  Here’s the wild rose, that I called “red.”  It does look red from a distance, but in this picture it looks really hot pink!

You can certainly see some black spot setting in, common in this NC humidity! 

The Queen Elizabeth is still unaffected and looks so beautiful surrounding my porch.

Queen Elizabeth

The little Morden Blush rose is a very sweet light pink and also unaffected by the black spot.  In defense of the wild rose, these other two roses do get way more fresh air and space around them.

Morden Blush

Walking down the little path, I had to take another picture of the cottage pinks.  They have really jumped out in the last couple of days.  They make the entire garden smell good.

Fluffy and I watched in interest this morning as hundreds of termites emerged from the ground and danced in a cloud over the garden.

You can see them here all over the mulch before flying off.  (Please don’t eat my house.)

I have so many other pictures, but I don’t want to overwhelm you!  My sister sent me some pictures today for which I am very thankful!  What fun to sit with the children and watch the slideshow!

There was one of my mom and me on a walk on Christmas Day 2007.  Doesn’t seem that long ago…

There’s also one of a very important call I took the day we were at Hill Ridge Farms.

Some calls you just gotta take.

Lynn

I love taking a morning stroll through my little gardens with my green tea.

The Queen Elizabeth rose is covered in buds.  They will open into lovely pink roses.

There’s one last clump of narcissus blooming in the garden.  These are delicate and I like them a lot.

A very expectant Fluffy will hardly let me walk through the garden for her weaving around in front of me and wanting attention.

I love the way the plants grow up and bloom around the stepping stones, but I have to give in and cut back sometimes when the plants become too friendly with the stepping stones.

I also love the way little plants poke through the stonework that outlines the beds.  They bloom in hard places.  Can I bloom where ever I’m planted?

I have a somewhat “wild”rose the is covered in buds too.  Perhaps you can see some of the  many buds mixed in with the moneyplant.  I call it wild because it started out as a tea rose that did horribly.  So I dug it out, or so I thought.  The tea rose must have been grafted onto another, stronger rose root, because what grew back was nothing like the tea rose.  It has flatter, red blooms and has flourished every year, save a little black spot that I want to learn to deal with organically.

The planting of oregano beyond the pictured planter is doing great.  I plan to use a lot of fresh herbs this year.

Can you see the deep reddish-colored blooms of Jupiter’s beard just beyond our statue.  (She was named Sarah Elizabeth Gramble by Joseph when he was very young.  He’s quite good with names, don’t you think?)

The Knock-Out roses are covered with blooms.  This bed desperately needs weeding, but this is a bed from which I get a lot of “weeds” for my infusions.   

The very large spirea shrub is blooming and hanging over the stones that contain the bed its in.  I love spirea.  So old fashioned!

One of the first things I do is net the leaves that are floating on the water in the goldfish pond and then I feed the goldfish.

The potted diascia is doing great.  I’m in such a spray-painting mood lately, I’m tempted to spray paint this basket a pretty antique white. 

Well, that’s all for now, except a little quote that can certainly be applied to our lives.

The faint fresh flame of the young year flushes
From leaf to flower and flower to fruit.

Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909)
English Poet

Have a lovely Saturday!

Lynn

I woke up this morning knowing that I go back to work today after being off my regular days, and prior to that being sick.  It’s been 7 days since I worked last.  I have mixed feelings, to say the least.

I walked out into the garden early this morning.  I’m thankful to have a little garden to walk out into!  I was met at the door by two hungry cats.

Fluffy acts wild when she’s hungry. 

Once I had the cats’ bowl filled, I walked around with a bag of birdseed to fill up the feeders.  I love to watch the birds in the mornings while I have my green tea and read my bible.

On the way back around the house, I noticed just how close my Akebia is to blooming.  It can be an invasive plant, I suppose in a more wooded setting where it can go wild, but it’s one of my very favorites in my little yard.  Soon it will have my arbor covered in the sweetest-smelling, beautiful little blooms ever!  You’ll notice the sun is just peeking out.

Filling up the feeders was worth it this morning, if only for enjoying the beauty of a pair of bluejays that kept coming to the feeder.

Aren’t they lovely, even if they are a bit aggressive?  Later in the morning I went out to my goldfish pond to sit and enjoy my last bit of time at my home-sweet-home before going to work.  I love that the hyacinth is blooming.

I had to take a picture of the border so you can see how quickly it is jumping out.  Soon — I hope — this bed will be bursting with blooms!

I sat by the goldfish pond and admired the beauty of a camelia petal that was caught in the water fountain.

I take my thoughts of home and my wonderful family with me where ever I go.  My last couple of hours before leaving are spent sitting outside, talking with my children and just enjoying home.

Hope you are having a great Friday! 

Hoping to check in later,
Lynn

Apparently,

“What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.”  Charles Dudley Warner 1829-1900

It’s true.  But resting every once in a while is a big help too!

Guess who?

And guess where?

Yep, I was lucky enough to get some playtime outside today.  I finished mulching bed #7.  I am working on labeling everything that’s in bed #7 and I will put a link in the sidebar.  It will be amazing to watch the gardens change as spring arrives and passes.

Bed #7

Bed #7 runs right up against my neighbor’s yard.  There’s a lot of work to do in this bed this year.  At least, I remember being not too very pleased with some of what grew in this bed last year.

I did a bit of container gardening today.  Lettuce…

(That’s an Italian parsley in the pot that managed to over-winter.)

and radishes…

I also set up a bird-feeding station that I can see from the loveseat in the not-too-long-ago-redone living room.

Now I can watch the birds while I read in the mornings. 

I was excited to see something new in bloom today.  My violets!  They are edible, and I love to add them to my infusions.  I also have a tincture made from violets.

Woodland Violet

Confederate Violet

While I was busy working, my daughter and a friend were busy at the goldfish pond.

Poor little goldfish.  I’m sure they were terrified. 

We had cheeseburgers on the grill tonight.  And then for dessert (and fun) we toasted marshmallows outside over our old grill.

Hubby is the marshmallow-toasting expert.

But we’re all pretty good at eating toasted marshmallows.

Bye.  I’m off to read chapter 8 in Little House in the Big Woods!

Lynn