random musings
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Hydrangeas and lemons
“The span between life as we intend it and life as we receive it is vast. Our true purpose is worked out in that gap.” Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God Last June the hydrangeas were in bloom for Julie and Chris’ wedding reception here at Maywood. Julie wanted a hydrangea theme for their wedding because Continue reading
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Is is June yet? YES!!!
Day One of summer vacation arrived with the theme song to “Rocky” ba-bum-bum-bum-bumming in my head. I awoke to Harper running into our room, “PopPop, when you are finished sleeping, will you get up and make me some sausage?” We had to get up anyway because it’s cleaning day and we had not tidied before going to bed. Up Continue reading
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Smelling the roses…
“Life comes at you fast.” We all love those insurance commercials because we could all have our turn starring in one. Sometimes it even involves a big insurance claim, like for my daughter who recently went through labor with their first child while her husband dealt with a massive basement disaster. Other times, we get caught up Continue reading
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Fluffball 2 (or is it 3?)
Lately there is always some drama going on around here. It has gotten so intense that I was really looking forward to the drive to Tennessee this weekend for a nephew’s wedding. Initially I was dreading using Memorial Day weekend for an all day drive, but sometimes you just need to get away and you don’t even care Continue reading
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Sage Blossoms
Sage blossom–it sounds like a paint color that my daughter Kristin would pick, except that she picks variations on sage green. Sage blossoms are purple. I didn’t even know that sage got flowers until two years ago. (Just shows how “expert” a gardener I am.) At that point my plants had decided they were mature enough Continue reading
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Tadpoles
What do you do when you and your favorite five year old find yourselves stuck at home on a gorgeous sunny morning? Check out the tadpoles, of course. We had gone down to the field to see how the blueberry plants were doing and, while I was yapping on the cellphone, I tried to distract him by making Continue reading
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Junior Beekeeper
Today was a very exciting day: we picked up four new boxes of Russian bees. It was a long wait from the time we realized all of our bees had died over the winter to the arrival of their replacements. John’s little apprentice was getting antsy to try out his new beekeeper suit. This morning we drove out Continue reading
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Wild Violets
We don’t have a lawn. We have non-wooded areas that get mowed. Occasionally those areas are supplemented with grass seed, and the grass learns to live in cooperation with all the other ground covers already occupying the yard. Right now the yard is sprinkled with delicate little violets, as are my flower beds and the vegetable garden, Continue reading
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Spring cleaning…or not
I’m avoiding spring cleaning the house by heading outside. There’s plenty to do out there. The weekend storm was so strong that two screens on the screen porch blew in. Twigs and branches are all over the place. And those last daggone leaves that refused to fall in the fall have finally tumbled into the Continue reading
Slightly Off the Grid 