Monday, September 1, 2014-
The last couple of weeks have truly gotten away from me. I
have stayed really busy with my work gaining more than 16 new career strategy clients
in about as many days. Thank God for blessing me with ample work! It just gives
me less time and energy to write blogs! J
It’s really nice to all walk the quarter-mile to the end of
our driveway each morning before the sun comes out to meet the school bus. It’s
a nice way to start the day: a brisk walk in the dawn air, seeing the moon and
some planets and stars while the sun rises in the east, night time paw prints
in the sand, coffee and groggy conversation with your kids.
I like to take a few extra moments outside to watch the pink
and orange glow come up over the trees and breathe deeply the fresh morning
air, maybe catch sight of an owl or other nocturnal animal returning home for
the morning. Then I head inside to my office to start the work day by seven.
Many days I’m done in time to enjoy some free time before the kids get home,
but there are plenty of days when I’m working until dinner or beyond to meet
deadlines. I love those days I can take a solo swim, go fishing, take a little
walk to the creek or in the woods, or just sit and take in the natural beauty
surrounding me in the afternoon!
The heat has been amazing these past weeks. Daily highs
topping 100° and the heat indices exceeding 106°. The cheap $1 thermometer I
have on my front office window that gets full afternoon and evening sun often
reaches its max level of 120° most every afternoon. The official temp has hit
95 or higher ten out of the last fourteen days. We are blessed with a nice,
well-insulated house with great air conditioning as well as that pool! A quick
jump into the pool after walking up from the bus stop in the late afternoons is
a decadent treat!We got about 2.75 inches of rain yesterday along with lots of thunder and lightning and even some good quarter-size hail! During a lull in the storm at dinnertime, Chris said, “look! What is that?” We all got up to the windows and low and behold – a family of at least 20 turkeys came waddling out of the woods and up the hill. “Get your gun. I’ll get my camera!” I told Chris in jest. (It is not turkey season until spring.)
Chris has worked hard to get our fall garden in and I hope
the heat doesn’t just kill it all. So far he planted bush beans, cucumbers,
dill, beefsteak and roma tomatoes, green onions, borage, crookneck yellow
squash, and zucchini. The beans came up quickly but also very quickly dried up
and died. (He replanted cukes in their spot). The first batch of cucumbers
planted are up and seem to be doing very well despite the heat and lack of
rain; though Chris does water most every night and morning.
On Labor Day, Chief Farmhand Chris spent the afternoon tilling a 20x20
planting zone and one 3-foot wide bed that is 26’ long. During the month of September,
we hope to plant the following seeds: arugula, beets, broccoli, carrots,
garlic, kale, leek, lettuce & mesclun mix, radishes, spinach, and maybe
even Brussel sprouts. I also intend to get some herbs in the mix and start a
herb garden for the perennial herbs. This month I hope to plant my chamomile,
cilantro, parsley, and more dill & borage if those don’t pop up in the
primary garden. My next door neighbors gave me some fresh basil over three
weeks ago that has sprouted roots in the vase on my kitchen island!
Inside, I have the majority of the house in order,
organized, and unpacked. I have four boxes of photos that I will have to go
through eventually and not found the need to open four boxes marked “china
cabinet / wine glasses / kitchen” in the month we’ve been here. (I love moving
to get rid of the things we truly don’t use!) Those boxes will go into the shed
for the next six to 12 months. If I haven’t needed those things before then, I
will sell or give away the contents of those boxes! (Please see me if you need
wine glasses. Please.) I have not hung
any photos, art, or whatnots on the walls and that will be a project for September.
We still bake all our bread and baked goods from
scratch by hand and prepare healthy meals with items
that do not come from cans
or boxes. It’s harder to do without our garden-fresh produce or even a local
farmer’s market. My daughter is an excellent pastry chef baking us tasty
brownies, peanut butter cookies, and other sweets! Farmhand Chris has learned
how to bake bread, too. We all pitch in in the kitchen, but I get the fun of
planning out our meals and finding (or creating) recipes. We made a homemade
garlic-mozzarella cream sauce for pasta that we served with homemade
basil-garlic bread; pancakes from scratch served with hand-shredded hashbrowns
and handmade cinnamon syrup; remarkable potato soup and a black-bean vegetable
soup served with fresh homemade bread. Some of the best things out of my
kitchen are things we threw together at the last minute or combined from
several recipes and ingredient shuffling! 
The mailbox is a source of mystery, fun, excitement, and
intrigue! We’ve received so many cards, letters, and packages (okay only two
packages to date) from our friends and mailed so many letters and postcards
that this old-fashioned method of communication has become something fun for
us. My son will be five in just five days and daily he checks the mailbox to
see if anything new has been sent to him! For those of you who know us well
enough to know our mailing address – please take a moment to write us a letter! We’d love to
hear from you. I encourage us all to get back to letter writing as an art form
and way to communicate. Don’t allow modern technology like texting, social
media, email, and the phone let this form die. Write a letter to your mama,
your best friend, a pal living in another state or another country – anybody!
I would
never suggest that anyone try to live their lives according to my definitions,
but I believe in this busy world of ours it’s easy to lose track of the small
things that can bring simple pleasure into our lives. So here is
my suggestion of stuff you ought to give a try to this week:
- Watch the sun rise or set
- Take a brisk, quiet morning walk (no earbuds)
- Jump in the pool
- Try a new recipe
- Write a letter
- Find ways just to simply be good to yourself & others
 |
| God's Creation in All It's Splendor! Take Time to Enjoy This Day, We are Given so Few! |
No comments:
Post a Comment