Happy Fall

A couple days ago Miss E and I went for a little walk and saw all these butterflies, there were a few monarchs too but I didn't get a picture.

It's smelling like fall outside!

I was trying to think how I would describe the smell of fall here, and I would say it's kind of dusty and sweet.

I like this poem I found in an old book called, "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady", by Edith Holden.  It's her journal from the year 1906.

She has lots of beautiful illustrations and poems, little bits of country wisdom, and her journal entries in the book.  I have been enjoying it.  There are several others she wrote as well.

Happy fall to you!

The August Garden

We have had a lot of beautiful rains this summer .  Everything is greener than usual for the beginning of August-- including my gardens.  Green with weeds that is.  But cameras can crop out the weeds a whole lot easier than going out there and pulling them in the heat and humidity!  So here you go- what's blooming these days---

Knock out roses just bloom and bloom, I love them.

Next year I am going to devote this flower bed to zinnias and marigolds and that's it.  They do so well every year.

My little bit of lavender.

I heard that marigolds are good for tomatoes, but this year the marigolds took over the tomatoes... oh well!

The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild rose smells amazing!

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory."

Isaiah 6:3

Loose Park Rose Garden

This year is our 19th wedding anniversary!  So to celebrate Andy and I took a little weekend trip to Kansas City.  One of the places we visited was the Loose Park rose garden.  It was really beautiful and so fun for me to see all the different types of roses.  The rose garden was started in the 1930s, and it's in the shape of a circle with these stone arbors going all around the outside edge, and with a pretty fountain in the middle.  We had a big heat wave last week and so the roses were suffering a little, I'm sure it would be even nicer in May or June.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Wreathe then the roses, wreathe,

The beautiful still is ours;

While the stream shall flow,

and the sky shall glow

The beautiful still is ours.

~Lord Lytton~

I am joining Home and Garden Thursday

A new tea set

It sounds so funny now, but deciding to adopt through the foster care system four years ago was one of the scariest things I've ever done.  I was scared of the big needs our child might have, scared of "the state", and scared of what it might mean for our family.  But it was so obvious over that summer of 2012 that God wanted us to adopt through foster care, so, in August we said "yes, Lord," and sent in our application.  Even though it seemed so scary, adopting through foster care has been the biggest blessing in our lives since then, because God gave us our little Miss E.

 

 

She doesn't look too scary, does she?  (:

God knows what he's doing, and if he is asking you to do something out of your comfort zone, don't hesitate to say "yes"!  He is always good, all the time, no matter if what he asks you to do ends up being extremely hard or easier than you thought.

 

Now for our tea time!  A couple weeks ago Miss E's foster mother, (who is amazing), stopped by to give Miss E a birthday gift- a beautiful blue tea set!  We decided to try it out in our secret garden, since the daffodils and grape hyacinths were blooming so beautifully.

 

 

We had a lovely time, the weather was beautiful, not as windy as it has been!

 

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD,

plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

 

I hope spring is popping up wherever you live as well!

 

I am joining No Place Like Home

Easter Garden

You know how those little fairy gardens are all the rage these days?  They have the sweetest little fences and bridges and paths all in miniature.  Well, I'm always on the lookout for new Easter ideas, because my Easter décor isn't really very amazing, so this year I had the idea of making an Easter garden.  I already had the Resurrection figurines from several years ago, and I thought it would be a fun project for the kids and me to do together.  We bought a few houseplants from the home improvement store, and gathered some interesting rocks to make a little creek and tomb.  It was a lot of fun and we are enjoying it!

 

 

At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden,

and in the garden a new tomb,

in which no on had ever been laid.

Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation

and since the tomb was nearby,

they laid Jesus there.

 

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning,

the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

but when they entered, they did not find

the body of the Lord Jesus.

 

While they were wondering about this,

suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

...the men said to them,

"Why do you look for the living among the dead?

He is not here; he has risen!"

 

John 19:41-42, Luke 24:1-6

 

I am joining No Place Like Home

No-fail flowers

If you live in the middle of America like me, you probably know gardening can be a challenge.  With our unpredictable weather, high winds, and hard clay soil, you never quite know what a year will bring!  But after gardening for a few years, I thought I'd share my favorite flowers that have done well in years of drought and years of steady rain.

Bulbs-
     Daffodils... Every spring I am so thankful I took the time and effort to plant daffodils!  They are the first flower to bloom after a long winter and they bring lots of joy as well as bouquets for Easter dinner!

     Tulips... They are the second flower to bloom and I just love them.  When we moved to our house I planted some red ones along the woods behind our house and they are so pretty and cheerful.

     Irises...  Irises just might be my favorite flower, or maybe roses, or lilacs, or peonies...  But yes, back to irises, they are so beautiful, and smell so sweet, and once you plant them they are good to go for many years.  We have irises growing in ditches around here with no house in sight.  The flowers lasted longer than the farm.

     Daylilies...  I'm talking about the old-fashioned orange ones.  They grow really well and are hard to kill.  We see these at old farmsteads around here as well, where they've been faithfully blooming for a hundred years.

Seeds-
     Zinnias...  These are my favorite flower to grow from seed.  They don't bloom till a little later in the summer, like July/August, so when the May flowers are a memory your garden is still beautiful and full of color.  Plus they attract butterflies, so that's fun.

     Marigolds...  These little cheerful flowers are easy to grow and give lots of color.  They are a little pungent, but are pretty if you don't get too close!

So there you have a few no-fail flowers for our part of the world.  Do you have any additional suggestions?  My flower beds are full so I might need to do some expanding this year! (:

I am joining No Place Like Home.

June

Oh June, is there anything nicer?

In the winter I forget how green everything can be,

so each June I am amazed once again at all God's created!

 

 

June  --  by John Clare

 

'Now summer is in flower and natures hum

Is never silent round her sultry bloom

 

 

Insects as small as dust are never done

Wi' glittering dance and reeling in the sun

 

 

And green wood fly and blossom hunting bee

Are never weary of their melody

 

 

Round field hedge now flowers in full glory twine

Large bindweed bells wild hop and streaked woodbine

 

 

That lift athirst their slender throated flowers

Agape for dew falls and for honey showers

 

 

These round each bush in sweet disorder run

And spread their wild hues to the sultry sun.'

 

I hope you can get out and enjoy June, wherever you live!

 

I'm joining A Return to Loveliness.

Garden Favorites + Fresh Salsa Recipe

 

We are in our gardening prime right now!  It's not too hot yet, so the weeds are still at a minimum, we've had the third wettest May on record, so I haven't had to water all month, and everything is so very green!  The kids love being able to head out there for a snack whenever they want.  I thought I'd share a few of my favorite things to grow in the garden with you all, they are pictured below.

 

Our strawberry patch has grown bigger and bigger the last couple years and now it takes up about a third of our garden, but that's ok, because we prefer strawberries over green beans any day! (:

 

Sugar snap peas are another favorite, they were introduced to me by my Grandma, who grew them in her garden.  They make a fun snack and are great in stir fry's, if any ever make it inside!

 

Later in the summer a big favorite is all the fixings for fresh salsa!  We have cilantro ready now, which reminds me I need to plant some more so we have another batch ready when the tomatoes finally ripen.  This year I planted more tomatoes than ever, and I also always plant a few hot peppers.  I've included my recipe for fresh salsa that I received from a friend, back when we lived in Tucson, so it's authentic. (:

 

Fresh Garden Salsa

 

3-4 ripe tomatoes, diced

2 hot peppers, seeded and diced

1/4 c. shredded cilantro

1/4 c. diced onion

garlic salt

salt

 

You can adjust this to taste, of course, some people like more pepper and some less.  You have to put in quite a bit of garlic salt and salt, but adjust it to your liking!

I'm joining Home and Garden Thursday.

Thinking...

 

For some reason I am having a really hard time coming up with anything to say lately.  But that doesn't mean I'm not thinking.  I have been thinking really hard the past few weeks about deep stuff like, what's my worldview really, and how does that affect my decision making, and I'm finding I know a whole let less than I used to think I knew.  Anyways, even though I can't think of anything remarkable to say I wanted to show you a few of our beautiful flowers this year.  We are having a wet and cool May which our flowers are loving, they are putting on a great show!  Here's a few pics I took this morning.

 

Oh, and the strawberries are ripe now too, so fun!

 

I will leave you with this thought provoking quote by C.S. Lewis,

it is kind of how I feel lately.

 

"I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all of that, into something beyond.  One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke.  Everyone there is filled with light.  But they do not call it goodness. They do not call it anything.  They are not thinking of it.  They are too busy looking for the source from which it comes."