I love hollyhocks, but consider myself to be more of a dandelion 🙂
Happy is that people whose God is the Lord
Very much enjoying my August blog break. It’s given me opportunity to play with my camera more, work on schoolwork, do some other writing, and read a lot of books. Oh, and sleep 🙂 I hope you’re giving yourself some time through the year to pull back and rest a bit, too. (Wait, was that a blog post?)
STILLNESS
FLORAL
MIDDAY
Blessings,
Loving the August Break so far. Nice to break out of my comfort zone a little bit, grey hair, fine lines and all (they do fall in pleasant places, I think. Ps 16:6)
SELFIE
DIAGONALS
TASTE
Are you breaking out of your comfort zone a little this summer? Trying anything new?
Blessings,
The potager is in crazy full bloom and I’m dying to share it with friends. We had some unexpected guests show up last week (that actually happens quite a bit!) and it was fun to show them the wonderful fulness. I sheepishly told one of them that it wasn’t really *me* growing anything, and he said, “Your husband did all this?!” Haha! Well, he did build all of the raised beds, put in the drip irrigation, design the fencing and do all of the hardscape. What I meant was, the LORD makes everything to grow and sometimes He uses good ol’ perennials to do it!
I’m not really harvesting much of my herbs this year, just letting it all go mostly to seed. It’s nice to take a break from that. But I *am* cutting plenty of one of my favorite flowers, sweet peas, to keep within my close view indoors! Enjoy the tour 🙂
butterfly on rhubarb leaf, feverfew
honeybees busy on lavender
kale that I need to cut and use quick!
lilies galore
another favorite flower of mine, calendula (obviously needing deadheading)
walkway; lots of squash, green beans, mints, sage, kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate flowers, apples
oh wait, these are my favorite too! borage
sigh….sweet peas….love….
so the funny thing is that I *think* this is yellow squash…and not pumpkin…
oh look! blueberries my kids haven’t found and eaten yet!
ok, I DID harvest garlic….lovvvvvve my garlic….
you can see the whole other garden out front…lots of onions, tomatoes, squashes, beets, broccoli (done now)…
and more cabbage than I know what to do with (quick! find the woman a sauerkraut recipe!)
Thanks for visiting my back kitchen garden. I hope yours is just as lovely!
Blessings,
I was talking with some friends yesterday about how our drive for getting things *done* sometimes makes our awareness of needs–and blessings–in front of us sorely lacking. The problem is that as often as we push past cultivating awareness of our surroundings (and the people in them), that God-given sense of ours becomes dull. Really, we ought to be sobered when something happens and we say in response and astonishment, “I had no idea….it was out of the blue…” Most things are probably not in those categories at all. Usually, there were inklings, if not downright pushes….but we lost our sense of awareness when we disparaged that to either hold up the almighty *check list* or to lose our minds into the ether of too much entertainment or gadgets. Furthermore, we don’t trust our awareness of things anyway. It’s not something we can photograph; it’s nebulous. It’s not even something we can practice or meditate on for five minutes and then move on to our more (we think) rational part of our brain and day.
How aware are you?
Do you sense when something is awry with your marriage? Your children? Your pet dog? Do you notice when the sparrows return, when the bread is leavened, when that guy at the market makes you feel just a wee bit creepy?
I think awareness is important to having a life made out of meaning, not just minutes.
Two things have helped me to build awareness in my own life, and continue to do so. Maybe they would help you, too?
1. My garden, and living in the woods. I can sit fascinated by the breeze fluttering the alder leaves, casting shadows and light, sparkling in the sunshine. I enjoy listening to the variety of birds that return in the spring, trying to name them, to own them in my heart. Enjoying creation is one way to build awareness.
2. My camera, sketchbook, and journal. Trying to frame a photograph, trying to capture the feeling that evokes joy or peace or wonder…it can’t help but cause me to slow down, pay attention. I find the same is true when I am photographing my kids. Similarly, writing two or three pages in my journal causes me to dig deeper, to ponder and turn things over in my mind. Sketching does the same, utilizing other areas of my brain, encouraging me to see differently.
So, how about a quick tour around my place? These are some outside things I’ve noticed lately. I bet if you grabbed your camera or sketchbook and took a walk around your house, you’d find things to wonder about and grow your sense of awareness too.
…around my kitchen garden….
…in the barnyard….
….and in the front pasture, a treehouse is going up…
I feel like I’ve been MIA in my blog lately, but I’m still here and hope to share more with you soon. I see you, dear faithful (and persistent!) readers, and I miss you, too.
Blessings,