Planting

The graduation dress.



We put the seeds in today. We planted a lot of stuff! We don't know what will work out here so this is an experiment of sorts. We planted; watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, yellow straight neck squash, spaghetti squash, red and green bell peppers, Anaheim chili peppers, 3 varieties of tomatoes, bright lights swiss chard, corn and pole beans together so the the beans can crawl on the corn, bush lima beans, bush green beans, purple hull peas, eggplant, cilantro, basil and mesclun spring greens. We still have a row left to plant and the triangle shape in the back. I have 6 rhubarb plants coming. How big does rhubarb get?

We also got all dressed up for the graduation brunch; which was not today. The deadline to register was today the brunch is on Saturday. When I goof up like that I worry about myself.
We were all dressed up with no place to go. I took some pictures of Kayla. We went to Cracker Barrel and ate Old Timers breakfasts. You can eat eggs, bacon, grits, hash brown casserole, and mile high biscuits when your going to work in the yard, right?

Give Away

Rosie Kate at Paint Splashes is giving away a pint of their first home made maple syrup. Now this is a cool give away. A tasty home made treat. Go sign up!

The Business of Spring Continues

I picked this many just today. I've ordered 25 more plants. Does anyone know the best way to propagate strawberries? Mounded hills, or rings, how do you keep them suspended off of the dirt enough? Forget about planters I'm trying to develop a real patch. I want jam and pie and an abundance of these little yummers.


It is time to make decisions and place the plants and seeds. I have rhubarb coming.
I don't know anything about growing rhubarb. We tried last year to raise it from seed, no luck. Advice? Also does anyone like to grow eggplant?




Full flush of the rose arbor. It happens only once a year but this New Dawn is a healthy specimen and it has lasted here in the south. The foliage will remain green and it is hardy. The spectacular blooms and fragrance are worth the small window of time we enjoy them.





A bit of indoor rearranging too.


I drug out some old curtains and bedding. They are still pretty to me. Out of my memories I heard my Grandmother say, "it's so nice to see my old familiar things." So many of my belongings were hers. Whenever she came to visit she enjoyed so much the familiarity of not only her possessions, but the passing down of a way of life, creating a legacy.
She left a large imprint on my life a lasting one. I hope I can do the same.

The Man

I found these before the birds did. I used to eat only the perfect ones, but not any more. If something has taken a little bite, I just trim it off and enjoy the rest. Maybe next year there will be enough to make a pie. I have ordered rhubarb plants and 25 more strawberry plants. Burgess sells things pretty cheap, unless someone knows of an even better supplier for less?








I find the sight of my man working so attractive. There is something about the image of a man and his hands, forearms, and the way he moves them that stirs my heart. As I watch, and admire, respect grows for the skills, and dedication this man has to do good things for his family.

This old tiller belonged to Jimmy's uncle. It has plowed a lot of fields. Our little field is ready to plant. I wish you could see the fertilizer fly from his hands, it's like a dance. My heart is singing with the promise of the garden. I am praying for a good crop, and protection from ravenous big bugs! It will be war out there.

Tomorrow I am going to plant the seed for the herbs. We have to think and plan where everything is going to go. Lots of decisions to make.

Speaking of decisions. This man that I love turned down a very hefty differential in my pay to work night shift. I had to give an answer today about which I would chose. When I asked him he said, "we miss you, forget the money". Let me assure you this was no small sum, it is 15% of my total pay and with 16 years of experience that is no small sum either. It was good to discover that I can do nights if I have to. Even sweeter to discover that my family misses me when I'm not here. I felt liberated to chose the daylight. I am looking forward to summer evenings in the garden together and all that daylight holds. We were not made to exist in the dark.

Just when you think you already love, your heart can swell with more.

At the end of a good weekend.

This is not a pond, it's a small puddle after all the rain. How good to have God water after all our work.

My dear dogs grave, getting prettier with time.


The lillies are settling in.







It's been raining, settling the plants into the earth again and turning everything a dazzling shade of green. After eight years here I am still impressed each spring by the beauty of color in the south.

We rested today, the earth, the gardeners, and we just looked at the work that many hands have accomplished, and it was satisfying.



We have been having some great conversations lately about life. We are talking to each other more without a TV. Personally I am more content and less anxious. One of the key differences in our lives of late is that we have switched from being consumers to being producers; an interesting concept. Mull that over for awhile.

It's time to go back to work so see you at the end of the week, be blessed.

Rearrange! the garden...

These lillies were in the front of the flower bed. Can you see that there are a LOT of them?
They are going to be on the side of this shed. I also have two lantana for each side of the front of the shed. The door is definitely needing a coat of purple paint.


The pile of roots is a lantana plant that grows to enormous size each year.

They are still in the flower bed soon to be veggie garden, and they are fixin to be rearranged!
Yep, them day lillies are taking up too much space in our veggie patch, gotta go! It's so easy to get great ideas watching other people work! They put down 2 truck loads of compost today and then we all got busy moving plants around wait until you see the results, truly amazing. We had a blast.


We had a very busy day. I woke up at 4:15am and remembered that today was the day for our bible study with anyone from our neighborhood that wanted to come. We had one woman come and she was a joy to meet with. We had a very special time together and it was obvious that God wanted us to meet with her. It's always so amazing when God tells you to do something and you do it; then you are the one who is blessed. It's like this; the cook always eats well.

Before the meeting at 9:30am I made a loaf of banana bread, a dozen muffins and baked 4 loaves of Kerry's incredible Breakfast Bread. We are hopelessly addicted to it. I gave a loaf away last week and the woman called me to say the bread was, "breath taking." Wow, I never heard food described like that, but this bread is really awesome. I thought I was going to get to kick back and watch the manure/compost get shoveled, but nooooooo I had to go and get ideas. Once I got the ideas, I started digging and moving and hauling and shoooooieeee, I'm tard. But it was so great. We accomplished so much. Tomorrow I'll show you.



Kayla got a bit dirty today, she earned lunch! She is trying to hide. Does she really think a lunch plate can foil me?



Stop taking my picture! I think the little smuch of soot on her cheek looks cute myself.

Gardening and decisions to make

Kitty



When times get tough, the tough get tougher. This is a man removing grass to make space for vegetables. It's a lot of work. He grew up with a hoe in his hands. His parents were sharecroppers here is MS. They followed crops, picked, and worked. They made a living back when life was simpler. In a time before subsidies and illegal aliens to do this kind of work. The problem is these workers send their money out of this country and also use our services. On second thought, that's too big of a problem to tackle today.

When I see him work land it makes me think. All the skill in his hands, all the knowledge in his head of how to live without any of the things we have taken for granted. I hope the girls will learn from him.

We're going to plant a few things to eat. I'm sick of paying these prices. I went today to buy deodorant. Can we plant deodorant? I usually get Secret sticks with something not to perfumed. It is usually about $2 or a little over that. The prices had jumped to $4.00 for ONE. I kept looking and blinking my eyes. I watched a woman walk up and grab a sports type stick for almost $8, for ONE. I don't think she even looked. I kept staring and then finally found down at the bottom some for $2. I almost bought a dozen for fear of what it might be next time but didn't. I may end up stinky one of these days. It cost me almost $30 for seeds for the garden. Am I crazy? Am I the only one noticing that prices for the simplest things have gone completely stark raving mad?Well?

My husband and Kayla went to a tea party protest yesterday. They both thought it was wonderful. Did you go?

Ok completely different subject. Change directions radically,please?

I am going to work nights next week and then I probably have to decide if it is going to be days or nights. I am in a dilemma, here is the deal. The pro and con list.

Once I am sleeping all day like I did yesterday, staying up for the night shift wasn't bad.
I'll make almost $400 more a month just for working those hours.
The phone doesn't hardly ring.
The doctors don't round.
It's quieter and there is a lot of "down time." I can even read blogs sometimes!
The night crew are funny, they belch and laugh. They are goofy but they work together.
I don't feel much like eating at night, this has got to be a pro.

The cons are, it's harder to go back and forth from being awake at night to sleeping at night. I may get goofy and tired.
It can be a little boring if it's slow. My body can't figure out when it's supposed to poop. So far it's confused. I guess I am running out of cons. Wow when the con list is shorter that usually means the pro list is longer; duh really? So what do you think about working nights?

I made my room really dark and slept from when my head hit the pillow until it was time to get ready for work. Not bad!

I like reading yawl's blogs too. They play CD's and eat,...oh no! Not warm fresh baked cookies!
Really someone brought in two plates of warm cookies, I was so dead, ate at least 6, maybe more. You know one of the cons of wearing scrubs is they are baggy and have drawstring waists so you don't even know how fat you are until the next time you want to wear real clothes.

I've already had a memorable experience at this hospital. We have had a run of GI bleeds and drunks needing to detox because they are really sick. We don't do rehab but drunks can get so sick you have to dry them out or they die, and sometimes when it's been that bad they die anyway. I digress a little, blood is the topic. Bleeding and giving transfusions. I have been down to the blood bank so frequently they have learned my name!

Somehow when I went to spike the blood bag something went wrong because when I hung it up it started spraying out all over the place. It went all over the front of my top before I could get it down and what a stinking awful mess. I felt that sticky yukky blood oozing through my shirt and felt a bit of panic. I really really wanted to take my shirt off! Some one had gone to get me a scrub shirt. Next to the patients room was a little utility area with a sink. I went in there and pulled that nasty shirt off and stood there in my bra sponging blood off of my belly and bra.
There is a window in that area that faces the main circle where everyone is working. so basically I was in my bra in front of everybody. One of the cutest doctors on that staff said, "Um there is a nurse in there with her clothes off...." well you know if he hadn't seen an old lady in a bra by now. Oh well. I couldn't leave that stuff on me. My manager was really cool, he just said, " We have a shower for when it's really bad." People have been barfed on and all kinds of gory stuff. Oh goodie I can't wait.

You are wondering what my patient thought? My patient was unconscious. He was an alcoholic and we pumped over 15 bags of blood in him, 8 of platelets, and he died. That's life in the ICU.

The Grass Is....

Cabbage gone to seed. I let my cabbage flower and then seed. I think it looks pretty like big fat ballerina flowers. I'm at work tonight. The night shift is a lot easier as far as work, no doctors and no hulabalooo but holy cow....
I wonder if I'm gonna fall out flat, pass out, or just die. Wimpin out, really staying up all night makes me feel sick as stink....

BUT now you know that cabbage can make nice Easter grass! I like it a lot better than plastic, and it actually supported the eggs because of the strength in it.

HE IS RISEN!

Happy Easter.

Orange Mint in the kitchen window, what a delightful fragrance!



Lunch will be in the carport.



Like the "Easter Grass? Can you tell what it is?
No? You'd have to be a knowledgeable horticulturist to get it right.
Maybe I should let you guess a little, go ahead knock yourselves out.
Betcha can't do it.


How do you like our dining room? It is 2 work horses and a piece of plywood with a king size quilt on it and then another quilted table cloth that has been spilled on plenty, kiddie cornered. It was supposed to rain. We did manage to eat dinner outside and just as we went in the rain came down in torrents.

We had a new family over today from Washington state. They are in the coffee roasting business. They brought their espresso machine over and a carrot cake. We had lattes made from freshly roasted beans for desert. I thought the rapture had happened. I am so easy to please really I am. Just make the perfect setting with great food, good company, and divine coffee with desert.

I cannot fail to mention that this Sunday is also the best day of the year for a believer. If Jesus had not raised from the dead then we of all men would be the most pitiful, and our sins would not be forgiven. But He did rise. He is ALIVE and coming again soon. We know He lives because we have experienced Him in our lives. He was seen by more than 500 witnesses. Rumors of feigned death? Ridiculous, Roman soldiers were in the business of killing. Anyone who has seen death often knows it when they see it. I see it, being sick and being dead are whole worlds apart.
Blood and water spilled from his side, a drink offering poured out, that none of us would ever thirst again for the relief we need. We thirst to be filled, to be whole, to be healed, to be cleansed, to be connected. Connected
to the living resurrected Christ.
He is risen indeed!

It's Good Friday and Sunday is Coming.

Ideas

This kitty is wishing. See him in the window?
The rose arbor is beginning to bloom.


Sanding rockers the after and before.
Where we live we have covenants, what I now think of as a two edged sword. Covenants protect you from having a junk yard next door a common thing in Mississippi, but also limit what you can do. At times the limits are more than I can stomach. But I have the type of mind that will keep working on a problem until I can find an answer.

For the last 9 years that we have lived in this house I have wanted to make our carport into a garden room. My husband thinks I am crazy because of the long months of heat. We do have times of glorious weather. The spring and fall are glorious. Because our "carport" faces the garden it is a natural place for visiting outside. We have used it for parties, dinners, and even church services, even baptisms in our hot tub. It may be hard to believe but the car port is one of my most favorite places here and I have had big dreams for it.

Restrictions. We have had willing neighbors to sell us about 10 feet of side yard so we could build a garage. The covenants have restrictions about changing the lot sizes. Maybe it would be worth all the red tape to hassle with that. I don't really have the energy. Because I cannot build a garage I cannot enclose the carport for a sunroom.

Yesterday while sitting outside enjoying the breezes and dreaming of that space I began to feel the wheels in my head churning once again.

I am sanding down the rockers. They have two coats of paint on them that is chipping and looks terrible. I may be crazy but I like the effect! I was going to re do them but I am going to leave them like this.

Our carport has a regular ceiling and pitched roof with white posts holding it up. I'll take some pictures as I do the project. It has a cement floor. I have been talking with the husband about staining the floor and sealing it. That would not be too costly. As I was sitting there I began to imagine white gauze curtains flowing about. The wind picked up and the thought occurred to me that a breeze in the south can become a tornado and white gauze curtains could turn into a tangled mess of ripped fabric. Hummmm think think think. How about weights in the hems?
Wind could move those too. Then the light bulb went off.

Are you curious? Can I do it? Wooden closet poles or dowels come in any length. They can be attached with cup holders that can be screwed into each side of the posts. If we place one at the top and the bottom the curtains will be secured and also can be removed for washing and storage. so the carport would still legally be a carport. Ah but the carport with its nice floor and pretty curtains could become a lovely place of relaxing respite.

I would like to obtain some short concrete pillars and place a slab of granite on them for a table. The table could be used for meals but also art projects, pottery making and even some of the husbands carpentry projects. The slab would be the most expensive part of this project. But I may be able to find one in a natural uncut shape for less I will have to investigate.

Then to trim the room with small lights to have for evenings, and place potted plants in just the right spots. We will play the music and set the table, sit down and enjoy the beauty of being out doors right her in town, in a carport, and won't it be lovely?