Yard Shenanigans

Coming out of the fog of pain that was in my brain! Flowers and herbs were planted, children were enchanted. Finally, feeling sociable after a week of intense headaches. A delightful weekend was spent with family. On Saturday morning we attended a swap and social. Continetal breakfast was served and everyone brought stuff to trade. I mostly brought stuff to send to a new home. I did find some fabric to make a curtain for the hallway door and some craft stuff to add to my burgeoning supply. I am unable or unwilling to part with anything remotely crafty or artsy! One never knows when inspiration will strike and supplies must be on hand. I was able to start the herb garden. I am so excited. Please Grow!!! Sunday afternoon was spent admiring the flowers and herbs. The wee darlings decided they needed to rake and dig a bit. Everyone also thought it would be a great idea to roll down the sloping yard. Of course I landed in the swamp at the bottom, dizzy as heck. Yoga was demonstrated and practiced. Children played and romped and jumped as children are wont to do, reminding the "grown ups" of the sheer joy of sunshine, laughter and playing really hard! Oldest daughter said she was being artsy fartsy with her photographs! I think the pictures are some of my favorites to date. I am once again reminded to live every moment to the fullest and that LIFE IS SO GOOD!!!

Flashback Friday - Gardening 101

I love Spring! My minds runs rampant with projects both indoors and outside. I love a beautiful yard and garden. Unfortunately, I did not inherit my mother's green thumb. I would love to pretend that the above pictures were indeed my lovely garden. NOT! They are in fact taken at the Riverbanks Botanical Gardens. This is what my patch of land would look like if I had unlimited time, funds and a really handy GARDENER or two! Some of my friends have stunning gardens. I have good intentions, really I do but I tend to under water, over water, or just plant the wrong things. Or when the thermostat reads 100+ , the only way I'm going outside is to sit by a pool or lake. That said, when the girls were small I wanted to encourage them to grow stuff. We started with small things, however, my father-in-law was appalled that we had so much land and "nothing" planted. Over the years, he took over the entire backyard of his suburban home. You could barely get out the back door without stepping on peppers, cucumbers, you name it. Imagine our surprise when we came home one day to find the back yard plowed up and planted in green beans! Amazingly, the things grew and grew and grew and grew....I think my father-in-law came by periodically to check on the progress and add his magic growing dust to these green beans. We ate green beans almost every night in every way imaginable. I CANNED green beans, gave them away, pickled them, froze them and finally when the weather hit the 100's and the gigantic locusts started visiting I turned the green beans over to said locusts or giant grasshoppers,whatever they were, they thumped hard when they landed!

The girls enjoyed watching the beans grow, picking them and eating the fruits of their labor. Baby girl in the background was not fond of being dirty but to give her credit she did do her part! My father in law was killed by a drunk driver and taken out of our lives a lot sooner than expected. I have never had as much success growing anything since the year of the bumper crop of beans. As the weather improves, my thoughts have once again turned towards spring planting and what I should add this year. I do have some beautiful flowers and a lovely lawn! I have plans for some herbs and a few easy, peasy vegetables...maybe my friend Phyllis can sprinkle her magic growing dust! How does your garden grow?

Good Grief, what color was my hair?!!! Green Bean Summer circa 1987. Life doesn't get too much better than this!!!
For my daughters in honor of farming and gardening, yes it is the blue jean jumper and flowered shirt! I will probably wear the shirt whilst weeding the flower beds this weekend. The jumper has sadly gone where the "what not to wear" clothes go when they are mocked.

Have a happy weekend, if you're bored, I have plenty of weeds to go around!