my view

It has been a great day.

We started the morning at my parents' friends' house out in the country.   They're out of town and we helped ourselves to their bounty.

I didn't want to leave.  I'm a country girl.  Married to a city boy.

I walked up and down the rows in her various garden plots.  And drooled.  The ingenuity.  The creativity.  She had peppers growing through coils of old wire.  They didn't droop...like my pepper plants...but the coils made it even easier to pick peppers.

I would've taken pictures of those coils, but I was too busy picking.  And drooling.  And breaking up fights for the tire swing.

Despite coming home with bags full of produce, watching tadpoles swim in the pond, gathering ingenious ideas for my garden next year, the best part of the day was that we get to go back!  In another day or so the cantaloupes will be ready.  And the blackberries.  And more tomatillos!

Oh my.  I'm drooling again.

And there will be LOTS more grapes ready.

Bruiser and Doh Doh were more fired up about the watermelons than anything else.

Well, except for maybe the chickens.  They were a hit.

After picking at this amazing garden, we headed to my parents big garden.  From there I came home with purple hull peas, cucumbers, okra, squash, & more tomatoes.

And if you're wondering, yes my boys are in their good clothes from church Sunday.  They spent the night with my parents after church but didn't have any play clothes.  And yes, I have lots of stains to get out of their shirts.  And no, they might not be church clothes anymore.  But we sure had fun.

After all the garden work, Bubba and Doh Doh went back home with my parents.  Bruiser came home with me.  Alone.  And ate Lunchables for a  late lunch.  And a Hershey bar.  He played the Wii alone.  Built Legos alone.  And played his Ipod.  Alone. 

This is my view.  He's having his best day ever.  He has me all to himself.  Alone.

metaphors in a garden

it's true.  all my hard work in my yard is paying off!

i'm sharing pure eye candy.  but i promise, it's much better in person.

i really do love to work in my yard.  it never ceases to amaze me how many metaphors can be found in a garden.

one day i was digging and kept hitting roots from a Japanese maple.  not wanting to damage the root system, i moved to another area and found decomposing roots.

and i found that interesting.  roots attached to a life system will thrive, grow, and mature.  roots detached from their life system will rot, decompose, and wither away.

isn't that amazing.  and isn't our God awesome?

while doing some weeding and watering the other day, i kept singing one of my favorite hymns.  i don't know why it came to me while doing those particular chores, but it did nonetheless.

at first i started just humming it.  then singing it softly.  but the lyrics are so powerful.  i couldn't help myself.  and most of y'all know me...i just started singing it.  surely my neighbors are used to me by now.

come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace
streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise
teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above
praise the Mount i'm fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love

here i raise find my greatest treasure; hither by Thy help i've come
and i hope by Thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger interposed His precious blood

oh to grace how great a debtor daily i'm constrained to be
let Thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee
prone to wander, Lord i feel it, prone to leave the God i love
here's my heart, Lord take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above

here's my heart, Lord take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above

words by Robert Robinson, (1735-1790)

yard work & photo dump

we've been busy around here.  i've spent days working in the yard:  landscaping, mulching, digging, weeding, fussing over plant choices.  i'm so excited b/c everything is looking great!

later in the summer, when the rains stop, we have to put in drains.  so until then we have to wait on rock work.  and so besides laying cut rock around all the beds and another truckload of mulch, we're finished!!!

after the drains are installed, we'll have to landscape one side of the house.  i wish i could do it now while the weather is still nice!!

i really need to go out and take pictures with my camera.  but i don't mind getting dirt all over my phone.  so for now, i just have phone pics.  

while weeding my garden over the long weekend, i noticed it had gotten very quiet in the yard.  i looked over and found my Bubba sitting underneath the tree.  he was lost in his own little world.  drawing pictures, writing, letting his imagination run wild.  i loved it.  i hated to disturb him by snapping a picture, so i did it from far away.  he never even noticed.

and my girl continues to be my right hand sidekick.  as long as i keep her heavily stocked in flower petals.

my in-laws gave me this sign for my birthday.  i put it outside to just air it out (there was a STRONG odor!!), but i liked the way it looked out here.  so it has stayed!

my  man and i also enjoyed an impromptu tea party on the front porch.  a nice treat after working hard in the yard.  {that rhymes}

nothing better than a big fat glass of iced tea after working hard.  i like unsweet.  with extra lemons.  very un-Southern of me to drink it unsweet, but that's the way i take it.

and my garden is doing well.  this was the first of our summer tomatoes...they were gone in about 2 minutes.  the culprit had tomato juice stains all over her pink polka dot jammies.

that same girl is in her room crying.  i put her in the most adorable shorts (which she wanted to wear) that have a rope belt on them.  adorable.   then i put on a white sleeveless shirt with eyelet trim at the top.  again, adorable.  she looks like she's ready for the beach.  but she doesn't want the white shirt...she wants her rainbow shirt.  {sigh}

now seriously...how cute is that?  yes, the pouty face is cuter than the outfit.  i concur.  i think i'm just jealous...my hips don't look that cute in shorts.  {snort}

now excuse me while i go put a dress on my spoiled rotten girl.

spring in arkansas

i've said it before.  i'll say it again.

i love spring in arkansas.

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if you've never been to our beautiful state, you probably simply envision barefoot hillbillies.

and honestly, the barefoot part fits this girl.  but i'm pretty sure my love of opera music gets me kicked out of the hillbilly club.

but then again, my dad plays banjo in a bluegrass band and i've been known to pluck the banjo and croon the harmonica.....

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this Razorback state is beautiful year-round, but even more breathtaking in spring.

i've traveled to different parts of the world, and i'm always ready to come back home.  yes, i could do without a lot of the issues our state has...but that's everywhere.

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when i was  a kid, and wildly obsessed with all things LM Montgomery and the kindred spirits that are Anne and Diana, i spent many a spring hour cutting irises and daffodils out of my parents' front yard.  i would leave my windows open constantly.  listening to the whippoorwills, the bobwhites, and inhaling the aromas of spring & summer.

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i just can't begin to tell you how spring stirs my soul.  everything is coming alive.  and no, spring doesn't last long here in the Natural State.  but with summer brings boating on the lake, swimming with the cousins, and very brown skin for all of us.

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so i'll spend as many hours out in the warm sun as possible.  feeling the cool breeze against my sweaty skin.  sipping my unsweet tea with copious amounts of lemon.

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and yes, tomorrow there's a chance of snow in some parts of our state.  that's just how we roll.  don't like the weather?  wait an hour.  it'll change.

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some of you might not have known what i meant when i mentioned red clover in a previous post.  well, this is red clover.

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and it grows wild here.  and it is gorgeous.  just gorgeous.

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{sigh} 

don't you love that?  doesn't it stir your soul?!?!?!

i love spring in arkansas.

i heart spring

well, another brief hiatus.  oops.  the last week or so has been crazy busy.

baseball games
tennis matches
church functions
school carnival
'tis the season.  april and may are always crazy busy.  which i hate because spring in Arkansas is my favorite time of year!  <3 font="">

oh, y'all...seriously.  if you live locally you know....we're having a beautiful spring!  

blue skies
red clover  {gasp!!}
green fields
rain drops on roses...... {ha}

my last post i told you i was landscaping.  however, the next day it turned off cold and rainy.  then all kinds of commitments (see list above) and so this week I finally started!  monday and tuesday i bought everything and got it positioned just the way i wanted it. 

today i planted.

i had a little help as well.

just try to tell me that's not adorable.  brother's cowboy boots?  check.  sundress?  check.  chick purse?  check.  enormous shovel?  double check.  {sigh}

anyway, landscaping.....i'll show pics soon.  i need to take some good photos with my camera.  instead of quick photos with my phone that i constantly texted my man.

if you know me at all, you know when i'm outside life is good.  really good.  so it was a great day.  and the weather was sheer perfection.  my tan ain't too shabby either.

i also took a couple of breaks to play.

do you have window markers?  love those things.

my mom came today and helped entertain the princess so that i could actually work.  my mom also has an amazing green thumb....so it was a win-win for me.  #imblessed

i hope you are outside enjoying this awesome spring.  tomorrow rain and more cold weather arrive here.  i'm going to use that time to do laundry, clean my house, blog, read, do laundry, clean...and all the other things i've ignored while being outside in the sunshine.

the gorgeous, gorgeous sunshine.

june, you're bustin' out

June is busting out all over!  Name that musical.  Oh, come on....  The main character is Julie Jordan.  As in, You're a queer one, Julie Jordan!  Anyone?  Bueller?

*sigh*

What a glorious, glorious weekend!  Thanks for asking.  How was yours???

Friday morning we went swimming.  Friday afternoon I worked in the yard, filling holes in the garden,

pulling weeds....it's so therapeutic!!!

(Sidebar:  what idiot posts a picture of themselves shoveling?  Hmm?  Just me.  Yeah, I figured.  And no, short shorts are not my usual attire.  ahem.)

and picking 'maters.

My garden is doing very well.  And I am thrilled.  Beyond thrilled.

On Saturday, Bubba and I hit the nursery.  (As in the plant and flower nursery.)  I've devoted so much of my time to the garden (and raising some seriously cute kiddos) that I haven't planted any flowers.  At all.  No pretty flower beds.  No cutesy pots around the front door.  Until today. 

Sadly, Doh Doh's beloved pansies are no more.  Or rather, "no mo" as she says.  "No mo" picking a bloom and watching it sail down the water.  No mo leaving precious pansies all over my kitchen or family room floor. 

Dahlias have now taken their place.  Let me know if there is any kind organic kid-repellent I can spray them with.

Bubba was really into the flower planting.  

He even picked out flowers.  For his own little garden.  First he dug a "rectangular hole" next to my garden and planted begonias.  (Oh, how I love my Bubba.)

I had to do some sweet, sweet negotiations talking to get him to do the rest in pots. *wink*

Hideous picnic table isn't it?  It is now in between 2 of my beautiful rose bushes.  Just so all these stinkin' flowers of his can get some sunlight.  Hilarious.  The front 2 pots are Bruiser's.  He had to get in on the action as well.  The rest are Bubba's.  I think there were 6 total.  havemercy

 

I worked outside from 9 until 5:30.  It was a great, great day.  I love this heat.  I know that totally puts me into the freaky category.  I can dig it.  As long as I'm wearing a swimsuit or a tank top, I'm good.

And while all my other family members had retreated indoors, I worked a little bit more on the back deck.  And I am thrilled ecstatic pumped fired up drooling with anticipation to show you.

I took an old mirror, painted it, and turned it into a chalkboard.  For the deck.

And I love how it turned out.

We always spend a lot of time in this covered area of the deck.  It even has a fan.  ooh-la-la.  But now we super duper love it.  I've said before, we haven't found furniture for back here yet so we're "making do." But I'm really beginning to see the big picture.  (Yes, pun intended.  Or kinda sorta pun.)

And....are you ready for this?.......wait for it............wait.........waaaaaaaaaaaaaaait...........I said wait!!!  Ok, ready?

*ahem*  Even my man likes the new chalkboard.  Say wha??????  I know.  I know.  I.  Know.

Give it up for a cheap craft.  I'm thrifty like that.