Pruning

These were taken on the 24th of June, the tomatoes were much much bigger by the time we got back from vacation. They were heavy with all the green tomatoes, especially the two not cherry varieties, the Amish paste had actually started roots off the vines that were along the ground and were growing toward the fence! Many tomatoes were spiting and rotting, it was a MESS!

Yet, when it came time to prune them Jason pointed out all the tomatoes we were throwing away, all green still. He seemed surprised that I was so sure about cutting them off and tossing them out, and even that I didn't hesitate. Well, I want some good tomatoes this year, so even though there wasn't anything "wrong" with them, no disease, or pest or what have you, they had to go. I know I can trust in the productivity of what we still have. Here they are all staked up and still laden with fruit! And we can now clearly see the basils and the ground beneath so as to keep it free of weeds, which at the beginning of this day it was not. I have already enjoyed lots of the cherry toms this week and am looking forward to the bountiful and continuous harvest I'm sure we will have this summer.

I've been thinking how much like life this is. How important it is to stop once in a while and look at the bigger picture. See how spread out one is. Will there be any chance of a good harvest if we are pumping our energy into too many things? Of course not! It is good to look at your life every so often and do away with the unnecessary. Not because it's bad, or there's anything wrong with it, but because it is distracting from what is most important. Such as one's spouse, or children, or what hobbies really do bring complete relaxation. This life is too short to spend stressed out and tired all the time, but it's quite easy to get that way with out noticing when we aren't doing a thorough inventory of our lives from time to time.

Well, enough of that, the preacher in me is coming out, can't have that!! Must wake my husband up from his much needed and deserved nap. :)

Growth

Grammy always told us that she wanted the three of us to sing at her funeral. She said she didn't care what, but all three of us. I find that this past week the songs we sang as a congregation have been in my mind a lot. When I had breakfast with Abby, the one in the middle, she said she was having the same experience. It's like she's singing to us. That is more comforting that I can put to words. I have so missed worship, and she could do that, humbling and amazing to behold. Our garden in growing! These are the big tomatoes we're doing. the others are Amish paste and a cherry tom variety, they all have fruit on them! I need to mow, but it rained and stormed this afternoon, so perhaps I'll do it tomorrow.

Happy 30!

This past Monday was my honey's 30th birthday! He took the day off work and we celebrated by doing whatever he wanted to do. But first he had to open his presents. The above gnome was in the box below along with a book, the other box had two more books. Got to keep him in new books! The gnome, well, when we went on our honeymoon he wanted to get a Gnome for our garden, and instead he found a very cool praying monk which now lives on our hearth. So I thought he might like to get a gardening gnome. Birthday boy just got a steal of a deal on a NordicTrack WalkFit! We are going to get fit this year! That is a sweater I made for him. Started it last year, was glad to at least have in finished in time for his actual birthday. After two hours in an awesome flea market we got some Subway and went to the park to feed the ducks some old bread we had for them. The first view is from the bench where Jason proposed. When Serenity was there this summer she dubbed it the Love Bench. Silly girl. All in all it was a good day. We have such a good life, I never thought I'd be this happy!

Halloween and Happenings

This is a printers drawer my father gave me, it's been creamerized and cleaned up an the shells and rocks in it are all ones I got myself, most at the beach, but some from a creek on the AR/OK border and all with my sister. I like this, and just need to figure out where to hang it. Halloween! I was Mrs. Peacock in the (insert room here) with a rope, Jason made me a noose to carry around. I think it's obvious who he was, but it was a totally homemade last minute thing and he was rightly very proud of his costume! His cape had pockets! And on halloween day we did some yard work. Two new boxes Jason made and we filled and he made a nice compost box there in the corner, so so happy!!!! Next spring will be awesome! This week I did two pages because I didn't do any last week. Wed was a rough anniversary for me and that is mostly what these are about. And yesterday I had a tooth pulled and am recovering well. Jason went and got a sofa from his folks and now we have a nice comfy sofa in the living room!! I am so blessed and well loved!

Growing

Aiden with the Guano, chillin', There's a caterpillar in the dill and Serenity wants to keep it. That child is fearless with nature! This is a fraction of the collection, they went through all of them before it was over and Jason came up with a structured game for them to play, I'm so proud of him! Happy 4th of July! Iris looks SO MUCH like Joella, it blows me away. And she's become quite the adventurer, wanted to go as far in the cave as she could, further than Aiden! WOW, been a month, that's no good, no way to have a blog. LOL. OK, We had the children last weekend, pictures above, and are only just now getting caught up. Jason basically worked 10 days in a row, silly man. I am so lucky and blesses and all the rest to have him. He is so good for me. He makes me excited to live the rest of my life with him. This is a nice peace. Other good news, I've lost 19lbs!!! Lost it pretty fast, three weeks, so I'm thinking it will slow down soon, but I'm not giving up. I want to be able to enjoy the rest of my life with him, and to do that I must be healthy. Much healthier than I am now. It's hard. And stinks. I don't like being hungry and I don't like not making and eating cookies whenever I want, but the trade off for not doing those things is HUGE. So, here I go!! I've been doing a lot with the crazy quilts and am so grateful to Linda, Jason's mom, for the fabric and notions she was able to get for such a crazy discount! I will post about the sewing and some other things maybe even later today. School has been great. I switched teachers and am so much happier. I told Jason last week that every morning should begin with Dr. Murray. I guess it helps to love the subject too. Music history of the 19th cen. :) Heaven! You can KIND OF see the garden in the picture of the girls with their sparklers, it's huge!!! Overflowing actually. Need to post about that too. Would have taken pictures this morning, but the rain nixed that. It was great to work out there in the rain. Ah, life is very good. :)

I Might Be Crazy

This is what I walk into and away from while gardening...when the windows were all open he'd sit in one and meow at me. He doesn't want outside as much as just wants to be where the awake one is. As you can see, we've experienced some growth. Jason thinned the onions a bit and we ate the yummie little ones with a fish and rice dish he made. It was delicious! I like to do companion planting to cut down on the bad bugs and such, it's a very organic way to garden. (On a side note, when I first heard of organic gardening I about flipped. Isn't gardening organic by nature? But then I learned more about the pesticides and plant foods used and how they are so bad for everyone....it always helps to try and get the WHOLE story before getting all up in arms about a thing.) One of the things about companion planting is the use of marigolds. I used to HATE them. Mostly their scent. It's harsh, and there was a time when I thought orange was about the ugliest color ever.....times change, there are 30 marigolds in our garden. They are edible, the flowers taste peppery, or so I've heard. Jason's folks came for a visit earlier and I went to my first baseball game! I've been to basketball games and played softball--sort of-- and volleyball, but this was a real first. We had a great time, Jason, Joe and Linda were great about making sure I knew what was going on and we had a very nice time....even if the local team was having it's ass rather thoroughly kicked. HA! So, why I might be crazy. I'm in a graduate level course for five weeks. I'm liking it so far, and excited about the projects, just nervous that there won't be enough time in the day. I know school comes first, but there are so many projects I want to work on!!! So I'm working out an hourly schedule for the four days a week I'll be in class and babysitting. I think that will help. Below is a picture Jason took. I guess he couldn't resist. I hadn't even brushed my hair! But the dough needed to start rising, we do what we need to do!