Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Amazing Universe, Blackberry Lilies, Squash Blossoms
It finally rained last night. Big thunder boomers and lots of sheet lightning forced me to unplug all the computer equipment. It really did help to cool things off and today has been in the low 80’s..a blessing, with breezes, as well. It’s been a morning that included our Sunday morning meeting and then lunch at Olga’s Kitchen and then off to the Marina in Alton where they were having an antique boat show. I wasn’t up to walking much, so I sat in the car with the windows down and read while my beloved walked around lusting after ChrisCraft and all sort and sundry water apparatus. The knee is worse every day, and I cannot wait for Wednesday to come so that I can see the doctor. Getting old ain’t for sissies….lol
Tonight I am going into town again for another meeting. A dear friend is celebrating 10 years tonight and one of mine is getting her 6 months as well. I have been out in the yard, and dug up a clump of blackberry lilies for her as a gift. There is nothing she likes more than flowers from other people’s gardens, lol. SO –I have made her a lovely card, have a 6 month coin for her, and will bless her yard with beautiful, odd blackberry lilies from my yard. She’s a miracle on so many levels…
Here’s a picture of the lillies from my backyard…
When the season is over and they go to seed, the pods crack open revealing a seed head that looks exactly like a blackberry. They are way cool, actually. (Little things like this always excite me, lol)
Hubby is off at Beaver Dam, doing a little fishing and walking. I am here, looking at all the housecleaning I need to do tomorrow, making cards for my friends and reading and resting. All in all, the perfect way to spend a Sunday, in my book.
It’s time for me to make juice again, but I’m not doing it until tomorrow. I now have beets and cucumbers in my garden that are ready for eating/picking/juicing. The corn is up past my shoulders, the green beans have grown at least 6 inches in the past few days, and the squash is loaded with both flowers and fruit… Growing food is the most amazing thing in the Universe, surely.
Alrighty…guess I’d better go look for a quick and easy something to make for supper. I think there is a batch of bbq’d pork for sandwiches. That with chips and salsa, sounds like supper to me!
I’m going to go sit in the yard, where it’s cool….ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..
Namaste.
Filed under: Uncategorized
June is flying past like it has wings. It’s been horrendously hot the past week…so glad things stayed nice for the gathering at my house. Whew!! This is crazy. It’s still 80 degrees at almost midnight…it was 80 degrees when I woke up this morning at 8. The heat index has been so high there are weather advisories out. I got my fill this morning…
I wanted to share a little thing..well, a poem actually, that was read at the Solstice Celebration on Sunday. I really loved it… It’s called The Summer Day..by Mary Oliver
Who made the world ?
Who made the swan and the black bear ?
Who made the grasshopper ?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth
instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous
and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms
and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open,
and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention,
how to fall down
into the grass,
how to kneel down in the grass
how to be idle and blessed,
how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done ?
Doesn’t everything die at last,
and too soon ?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life ?
And, really—what is it you plan to do, with your one wild and precious life ?
Namaste.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: black raspberries, eco groovy priests, Summer solstice
Today we celebrate the solstice, the longest day of the year. The first day of summer, though you’d never know it to look at the temps the past week or two. We have been hotter than all get out around these parts.
Life is a continuum, a river flowing ever on. Found out yesterday that the priest that has been in charge of the Oblate where we attend all the classes and solstice celebartions is being moved on down the road somewhere. I read in the newsletter that he was taking a leave of absence and when I asked him tonight, he said that August 14th is his last day here. When I read it in the newsletter, I started to cry. I don’t even know why…I just like him so much. He’s an absolute joy of a human being and the most eco-groovy priest I have ever met. Tonight I told him that it made me cry when I read he was leaving, and he blinked back tears and said that was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him. He will be truly missed around here…and though he’s leaving everything in very wonderful and capable hands, it won’t be the same. He didn’t say where he was going, but they will be really blessed to have him, wherever the call takes him. He’s been instrumental in the success of the community gardens here at La Vista, as well as all the other stuff he does.
This all sounds funny coming out of me, to me. I am not Catholic, and have never had much truck with most of their doctrine. I have only known a handful of priests, and they were usually benign enough. But I feel a psychic connection with Father Maurice, and I don’t know what it’s about…probably just that we share the same opinion on so many humanitarian issues.
Went to visit some friends last night and played cards. My! Haven’t done that in a long time! We had so much fun, learned a new game and just had a simple old good time. I made a no-bake cheesecake to take along, and I stirred in some wild black raspberries and then topped it with the rest of ‘em that hubby picked. Today he picked another 2 pints and made some trails out behind the woodpile where they are. The cherries are ready to be picked too, I need to try to get on that tomorrow morning I guess. We spent the earliest part of today mowing and working in the yard…it still got way too hot way too fast, lol. Glad we got the mowing done though, the grass was up to the middle of my calf. It’s been eith way too hot or way too wet to mow since last week.
So, the yard is looking good again, I even got in there and weeded some of the flower beds. In a heartbeat, the weeds will be back and the work will go on, as if today never happened.
Job security, right ???
Namaste.
The dog days of summer feel like they are upon us. Yesterdays temps were in the high mid-nineties and the heat index from this godawful humidity was 109. Sheesh. I had a sort of full day yesterday, though I did find time for a small little 30 minute window of napping. 
I had lunch with SIL and came home, tried to read for a minute and immediately realized the futility of THAT. Went in and lay down on the bed and immediately went to sleep.
The gardens are growing into gargantuan masses of foliage and fruits of my labours. This morning I have got to get back out there and pick snow peas, and the squash plants leaves have tripled in size. Not only the leaves, but the stems and vines themselves are now about 1 inch in diameter and heading out for parts unknown, spreading their wealth throughout the aisles between the beds. There’s also a lone volunteer that’s growing up at the compost bin and it’s HUGE. Baby green tomatoes are dotting the plants, the cucmbers are awash with bright yellow flowers, promising a bountiful harvest. The potatoes are all aflower, and need to be strawed again. The pumpkin vines are cheerfully meandering out of their bed and spending more time with the rhubarb. The kale and mustard are flourishing and we’ve been eating those for quite sometime, as have the chick-a-doodles. They seem to especially love the mustard, I’ll have to note that in the garden journal for next year’s endeavor. I think I’ll make a kind of wilted lettuce salad for lunch today, using the kale and mustard and butter lettuce from the garden. Yum..that DOES sound good.
The grass is in dire need of mowing, but it’s almost 90 out there already, at 10 o’clock in the morning. Tonight I have an 8 o’clock meeting. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler… maybe I can get it started then.
Life is good here today on the Prairie. I was with a friend last night til near midnight as she suffered through a drinking/suicide threat binge of one of her kids who lives across the country. It all turned out relatively okay, and I got to eat Bunny Tracks ice cream and drink wonderful coffee with her. SO, really, it was a win/win situation for me. lol
***I just lost the whole second half of this post when the satellite was apparently out while I was typing it and nothing was saved. AARRRggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!****
Never mind. At any rate, I’m posting this NOW. Before the next ourage rolls around. lol
Namaste.
Ahhhh….I’m resting up after a long weekend of friends and fellowship and food food food. Amazingly enough, I actually LOST a half pound this past weekend. And it felt like all I did was eat…
The gardens are growing at a maddening pace. We had almost 2 days of rain and the heat is moving up towards the mid nineties. Too hot for my taste. I need to mow, but the ground needs to dry out first. So I guess that’s on hold for now.
The last of my comapny has gone and I went through a period of feeling really blue this afternoon. Interesting…I had decided to lay low and read and just take it easy, when I was overcome by some tears and gloomy feelings. Not sure what it’s about, but can be reasonably sure that “more will be revealed”. Am glad to be settling back into my quiet routines and sure do miss my pal.
I have just finished reading the second of Stephanie Meyers Twilight books. “Full Moon” , it’s called and was very entertaining. Ready to start on the third “Eclipse”. My favorite sponsling brought me the first 3, but I had already read the first one. She’s reading the final one now, so I’ll have it to read when I finish this one. She reads like I do, and it’s fun.
Have a busy day planned for tomorrow, lunch with sister in law, meet up with a sponsling for a quick chat, and she has a gift for me for my birthday this past Friday. Then it’s back to pick up himself from work and then home and then off to pick up another sponsling and off to the womens meeting. Then to her house afterwards to work on her second step.
I need to be in bed. I am tired and cranky and not fully aware of what’s going on with me. Maybe a good nights sleep will make everything look better in the morning.
Can’t hurt….
Namaste.
Oh my.
What a glorious week I have had. My friend from Canada arrived on Wednesday night and the fun began! We have had such a lovely time, and then my friend arrived from Ohio and then my blogger pals, Prayuer Girl and her trusty sidekick, Stevaroni. lol We had a whole weekemnd of fun amd food and fellowship and getting to know one another. On Saturday, the local gang arrived to help us out with all the burgers and ribs and dogs and pork steaks…bringing armloads of wonderful foods and desserts and we all had a great time.
My friends helped me celebrate my 19th anniversary sober, and Stevaroni even played Happy Birthday to me on his violin!!! I was standing there in the backyard, feeling God with every brush of the bow across the strings…I have NEVER felt more loved and blessed in my life! I cannot thank God (or the beautiful couple!!) enough for a birthday I will never forget.
Today it’s raining and lazy and quiet. My friend from Ohio has returned home, and Andrew is here with me and the dogs. Hubby is at work. I am feeling rested and content and especially blessed.
Just got a call from the travelling gypsy…she is home in Ohio and ready for a nap. I am blessed to have such a good friend. I met her online about 6 years ago, I guess. Funny how all this works, isn’t it?
Not a whole lot to say today, except that all the hoopla is over for now and I intend to get back to my blogging routine…at least until canning season starts! lol I am amazed at what a full life I have.
A shout out to ((Gabi)) and ((Kristen))–I have sent along some Prairie sized hugs for you both. They should be arriving shortly!! *wink
Namaste.
Filed under: Uncategorized
A rainy morning here…70 degrees by 8AM already. The weekenmd past was my family reunion and it was good to see couisins and aunts and uncles and siblings. It was a good time…the weather stayed perfect and all the kids had fun. My grandson came home with us (his folks are camping one more day) and he’s in the living room eating scrambled eggs and toast and watching a movie.
I’m tired. Felt like I could have slept another 3 hours this morning, but had to get up and take Patrick to work so I could keep the car. I’ll be glad when this week’s over so I can get back on a normal schedule. I feel like I haven’t read any of my favorite bloggers in weeks and I now have about 3 days to finish getting things in order. Yikes.
The rain feels good–it was very hot and humid this morning. I have to go out and remopve the cover from the central air condenser so I can fire that baby up and make sure she’s working okay before the weekend. It’s been getting pretty hot, but I haven’t even tried to turn on the AC yet.
I feel like I could use a meeting too. I was at one on Thursday, but that seems like eons ago now. lol
Okay. I need to get on with the day, as I’ve nearly finished my second cup of coffee. I may be back later….
Lots to do today, and have already been at it sionce about 7 AM. Things looked manageable enough to my trained eye (lol) to take a break before I go into town to the store.
Tonight is our women’s meeting open speaker/potluck. I have sloppy joes and hot dogs on the menu, and have been chopping onions, gathering together all the accoutrements and making lemonade to take. My households chores list will be minimal today…
Still cool today, but sunny. Supposed to get up to 72. Yesterday never topped 60. Weird, weird. Sunstroke 3 days ago, freezing yesterday. lol
Since everybody’s falling all over themselves to answer the culture question of the day, I’ll give you the answer [here]:
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Paul Zindel, this is a joint effort of husband and wife team Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. Produced and directed by Newman, Woodward portrays the eccentric young widow who is raising her two disparate daughters in an atmosphere of bitterness, hatred and over-protection that threatens their very growth and development. Embittered and misandristic, she raises her daughters in an atmosphere of hate that leaves them as depressed and neurotic as she is. The title of the movie comes from her anger at her daughter’s science teacher for encouraging her to expose marigolds to gamma rays as a science project. Her experiment shows how radiation sometimes kills growing marigolds, but sometimes it causes them to grow even more beautiful. This experiment becomes a metaphor for her own life, as she struggles to bloom in a household deadened by her mother’s alcoholism and her sister’s lethargy.
( BTW, it was 1972.)
The daughter wins a prize for the science project, and the mother embarrasses her at the awards ceremony, staggering up on the stage and saying “My life is full…” and some other choice bizarre things.
When I saw this film, waaaaaay back when, it really affected me. I’m sure Netflix has it, you might want to check it out.
Somedays I’m Joanne Woodward and somedays I’m her daughter. The stark realities of alcoholism, from both sides for me, is a chromatic study in human behavior and dysfuntion. If I live to be a hundred and four, I’ll never completely understand the effects of alcohol on the psyche…
Time to run off to Pappy’s Market. Hoping I can not look too hard at the shelves outside with the plants and herbs on them. Although I could use…
Namaste!
It’s chilly this morning, only 60 degrees at 10 AM. The past few days it has been over 80 by now. It’s rainy and dreary and the rain seems to have stopped for now. I’m thinking of making a pot of ham and beans for supper. Guess I’d better decide, eh? It’s not like you can cook beans at a moments notice…I found (?) lol-a half a ham in the freezer yesterday. The good ham that’s produced and cured and smoked here locally, called H&B Hams. I think I bought a whole one back at Christmas time and only used half of it because it was huge, so I cut her in half and froze that part. Maybe instead of beans, I’ll cook some big old ham steaks with pineapple rings and apple slices, and bake a couple of small butternut squashes to go with. Yum…hubby loves ham steaks…
Well, it’s scale day, so I need to see how much weight I’ve lost so far. I’m doing pretty well aboput nopt getting on the scale every day. Weight Watchers says only once a week. I remember that–I am not doing WW now. I’m just replacing 2 meals a day with my juice that I make and then eating reasonably the rest of the time. So far, so good.
The garden work is ongoing and things are looking so great out there. The snow peas have finally started flowering–lordy, they’re over 3 feet tall!! The string trellis that I put up has worked beautifully. I spent a good part of yesterday morning (before heading out to my planned day) out there mulching the potatoes and the rest of the garden. We always do that with the potatoes, it works out pretty well, holding moisture in the hotter months, and providing fertilizer as well. The farmers around these parts are crying about too much rain and they’re having a hard time getting the crops in. In about a month, they’ll be crying because there’s not enough rain and it’s too hot. lol It’s just the nature of the beast.
Got lots of little things to do today before heading out to a speaker meeting tonight. GUess I should pull up my big girl panties and get on with it. Need to catch up on my blog reading again…sheesh…it’s so much easier to just do this every day, isn’t it? Right now my life is spinning like a whirling dervish…in a good way, but rowdy nonetheless. I miss you, all my blogging friends, and someday my life will be back to normal. I realized that I’m coming up on blogging for a year. WOW !!! I love you all…my life is full. (LOL–anybody know what movie that fractured quote is from??) Guess I need to look and see exactly what my “anniversary” date is here. June, I think? Or maybe July. Hmmm…..
Okay. The day beckons, and I’m off to be in it up to my elbows.
Namaste.
