Summer Happenings

The summer seems to be flying by...does it seem like it to you? We are looking at the start of August this week, my DIL is already beginning school shopping for the grandchildren...where does the time go?

My oldest grand daughter will be twelve on her next birthday, I have a hard time wrapping my brain around that....twelve. I have a grand daughter that will be twelve soon! I know as she gets older we will have less and less opportunity to spend time with her. Once school starts things get really busy, she has homework and after school activities, it's just harder to get time away and I know we will not be able to see her as often.

We had been talking about taking a weekend trip somewhere with her for a couple of months now, but things never seemed to fall in place, it was either an issue of time or money. We knew her  Uncle had some concerts coming up, and ,Missy Miss had mentioned that she wanted to see her Uncle play, she plays the violin so music was something they had in common, so we looked at our schedules, made some calls and a road trip was planned.


This was our first road trip with her. She was well acquainted with the friends we were staying with so she felt right at home...they had an XBOX so I am sure that helped. We spent the first day chillin...(we rested...she played XBOX). Saturday we headed into DC via the metro, I love riding the metro, don't ask me why but I do. We spent most the day going through the Air and Space Museum, then just walked the mall area and took in some sights, the weather was beautiful so that was a blessing and as an unexpected bonus there were a few festivals going on in the mall area. It was fun looking through some of the booths...we even decided to sample some of the food....mistake... we should have gone with the food trucks..next time

After a full day in DC we rode the metro back to our friends home and got ready for the concert. I was concerned that she might find it "boring" or too long but she really enjoyed the evening and was very excited to see her Uncle. There was a reception held for the orchestra after the concert we were able to attend as well...always nice when you can add cake into an evening

I hope there will be more weekends like this in our future. Children grow so quickly, their interest change, their likes and dislikes change. This little girl is quickly turning into a young lady and I don't want to miss out in sharing this transition with her

The Will Of God

**THE WILL OF GOD**

The will of God will never take you
Where the grace of God cannot keep you,
Where the arms of God cannot support you,
Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs,
Where the power of God cannot endow you.

The will of God will never take you

Where the spirit of God cannot work through you,

Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you, 

Where the army of God cannot protect you,

Where the hands of God cannot mold you.

The will of God will never take you,

Where the love of God cannot enfold you, 

Where the mercies of God cannot sustain you,

Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears,

Where the authority of God cannot overrule for you.

The will of God will never take you,
Where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears,
Where the Word of God cannot feed you,
Where the miracles of God cannot be done for you,
Where the omnipresence of God cannot find you.

Author Unknown

Came across this little poem this morning and thought it was too good not to share. I need to be reminded of these truths often.

My Vegetable Garden

Every year we plant a vegetable garden, it usually consists of a few tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash and herbs, nothing big just something I can putter in and play farmer. My garden never produces enough to can (when we want to can we pick out at a local farm) but we have fresh vegetables through the summer and a little extra to share.

This spring it was looking questionable that we were going to get a garden in at all. Our spring was unusually wet, it seemed like every time we wanted to go out and dig the ground was too wet or it was raining

Then my back decided to go out...that hadn't happened in several years. In the past when my back went out it would "right itself "after about a week or so...not so this time, it took well over a month before it was anywhere near "garden ready" When I asked the doctor why it was taking so long...I heard something about being older...taking longer to heal...need to give it time...you know the drill...getting out there to plant a garden in time wasn't looking good.

Me with an ice pack wrapped around my back

My husband was helpful, he pruned my rose bushes and cleaned out the flower beds and probably would have dug up the garden and planted the vegetables but I really wanted to do it myself...did you detect any frustration here..when am I going to learn that I do not have control...not over the big things and not over the small things...but I digress

Anyway, he suggested we try containers...no digging involved, and with the way he set things up I had to do very little bending...cause that was a real problem

He put out two saw horses and set an old door on top...(this made everything at waist level), he filled the wheel barrow with dirt, set me up with some pots and I was as happy as can be. The cool thing about all of this is, my tomatoes have never done so well. Could be because of all the rain we have had, could be because the pots are close to the deck so I am constantly reminded to care for them...could be they are in nice amended dirt instead of heavy wet clay, maybe a combination of all three. Our squash is not doing as well but, I have high hopes...our growing season is long

We have been so happy with the results of our little container garden that I think we will be doing it again next year.

Object lessons learned here, when there are obstacles or road blocks in your path God just might have a better plan...and for me...something I constantly need reminding....I don't have control, not over the big stuff not over the small stuff...so relax...live like you really do trust in the Lord in all things (yup I really did get that from this)

And thank you to Vee for helping me get my little flower thing back on my "about me"

Go Figure

Okay fellow bloggers I need your help, in my zeal to clean up my picasa account I accidentally deleted my little rose that was on my "about me gadget" I have no idea how to fix this problem. I have considered removing the gadget and redoing it and adding another photo but was unsure if this would make me unfollow the blogs I am currently following (cause this is what appears on the blogs I follow)....or does it make any difference. Any advice/help will be greatly appreciated

Thankful Thursday

Time to stop, take a moment and list some of the things I have to be thankful for

1. Laughter among friends while playing domino's and cards. Squealing, giggling children (and adults) running around our yard playing soccer and corn hole
   
2. For the opportunities to play host to various family members and friends over the last couple of weeks, having people over is one of our favorite things to do...it is a blessing
   
3. For sweet time spent with friends last weekend and for safe travels back to their respected homes
4. For the sound of the french horn playing up in the room over the garage...young son is visiting
   
5. For the rain we have been having, my garden hasn't looked this good in years
   
   
   
6. Hummingbirds that dart from one feeder to the next all day long...one even came within a foot of my husbands face yesterday...his shirt was the same color as the flower the little bird had just visited, we think he was trying to decide if my husband was a flower...it was a wonderful moment
   
7. One week on Tamoxifen and so far the side effects have not been too bad, I have really been battling fear about starting this drug...I was supposed to start it weeks ago
8. That even though husbands hours have been reduced because of furlough, he still is employed
9. and in that same vein...husband now has a bit more time to do some needed chores around the house
10. For faithful friends I know I can call when I am fearful or when I am upset about a situation. I know they will point me to biblical truth and I know they will pray with me. I can't tell you how important that is to me....because sometimes I just can't see, or I forget and need to be reminded
11. And I am thankful that;

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion says my soul, therefore I will hope in him"

Lamentations 3: 22-24

Summer Goodness

 Who would have thought it would be so hard to pick four photos for a Note Card Party.  I have a ton of photos so it's not like I don't have any to choose from, actually that's part of the problem, whilst looking for photos I noticed some major housekeeping is needed at my Picasa site but I shall leave that for another day before I get so engrossed in cleaning stuff up that I forget why I went there in the first place. ...why was I there again...oh yes Note Card Party

This month I decided to do photos of good things to eat, the photo above is of peach preserves. My son tried the recipe first, we liked it so much we made our own. Good on toast or ice cream, see recipe here;
Earl Grey Peach Preserves

These jalapenos would make good "poppers", any good recipes out there, healthy of course (that would defeat the whole purpose of a "popper" though, don't think they are meant to be healthy

Cherry tomatoes beginning to ripen on the vine. Mix with a little fresh basil, olive oil and crusty bread and you have lunch

Strawberries freshly picked from a local farm, we made freezer jam with ours.

       

                                                   Sharing this with  Vee's Note Card Party

                     Now I really do need to get to work on my picasa site....thanks for the tips Vee

Farewell But Not Goodbye

Saying goodbye has always been hard for me, it feels so permanent, final, so today instead of saying goodbye to our good friends we said farewell. Our friendship started with a camping trip over seventeen years ago and deepened through the years as we experienced life together. So many memories...fun times that included several camping trips, day trips to Mount Vernon, weekends at Williamsburg, the cottage in the Shenandoah and a Lake House in Northern Virginia.

Most of the time we would just hang out at each other's home....theirs in the Northern part of the state ours in the South....we live about four hours away from each other. We met while our children were going to school together....they moved North shortly after our friendship started. We don't get to see each other often but are always able to pick up where we left off from the last time we visited

They have served our family so many times during the last many years. Most of the time by just being available. They have been surrogate parents to our two son's and have watched them grow up to be men. Now they are a another set of grandparents to my grandchildren...you can never have too many of those!!!

There is so much history, they have cried with us, encouraged us during the hard times. Laughed with us, and celebrated with us during marriages, graduations and births. They have seen the good the bad and the real ugly in our lives and still call us friends. We share a common bond....redeemed sinners, saved by grace, so you see we are not just friends but brother's and sister's in the Lord...we are family

So what is about to change, well they are moving, and you would think the way I am going on that they were moving to another country or at least another time zone....not the case but they are moving pretty far away, and it will take more than just a weekend to visit them....sigh...so my heart is a little heavy and there were more than a few tears when we said farewell today

These photos are from various excursions through the years. The one with us dressed all fancy was taken at my son's wedding...they were all giving the "victory" sign, I was of course clueless as to what was going on...good times

Were able to watch son perform a couple of weekends ago, they of course opened up their home to us even though there was painters all over the place. Will miss you guys!

Drivers Ed Needed

Had 4th of July cookout at our house this year, we were blessed to be able to host it for our Care Group. I say blessed because our ability to do much hosting the last several weeks has been limited...but things are looking better.

We had burgers and smoked pork, played corn hole and badminton and for the little ones we pulled out the sprinkler and the riding toys so they could play out in our cul-de-sac. The favorite toy was the pink Barbie car. Everyone had to take turns and my older two grandchildren were there to "help"

They are on the way....so far so good

Older two grandchildren supervising

Things were going well

Then they didn't 

The good news is both cars survived the crash but I think we may need  some additional instruction before these two hit the road again. Other good news...the van belonged to my son (his children his car) instead of one of our neighbors who might not have thought that this was funny

Mystery Solved

A few weeks ago I noticed the flowers from my hostas had all been nibbled off. Perplexed I called my favorite Garden Lady to get some advice. She said if the cuts were at an angle it was probably rabbits. That sounded reasonable to me because I had seen plenty of rabbits in the yard

Then I woke up to this, believe it or not it had been a beautiful tomato plant with fruit that was beginning to ripen. I began to have serious doubts about rabbits, the condition of my hosta convinced me we were dealing with something much bigger. 

I know it doesn't look like it, but this was hosta, eaten down to the ground. 

These are what are left of my Day Lilly's. Can you guess what was munching away in our garden? Wish I had a photo to show you but she was too fast and it was too dark.  Seems like we have "city deer" who would have guessed. Next step was to try to protect what was left in the garden, husband had the perfect solution

It was obvious the deer had jumped the picket fence, so we decided to go up. Extended the picket fence with some chicken wire and stakes. We had to act quickly because we were getting ready to go out of town the next day...wanted to make sure we had some garden left when we got back.

We weren't successful the first night, deer tried to jump the fence again, left some hair behind, knocked the picket down and crawled in between the pickets, ate the remainder of the hostas on the side of the yard and more Day Lilly's. Husband put fencing around the bottom of the picket that morning and reinforced the rest...all before we left for our trip...it made for a pretty hectic morning but we were successful. When we came back from our trip there was no more evidence of deer damage in the backyard but it continues in the front and side yards. So how about you, how do you contend with deer?