“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” ― Laura Ingalls Wilder
Needlepoint
My little girl has taken a love to needlepoint lately. I keep giving her these felt squares and she just stitches away. She has a whole pile of them now. I think they'd make a perfect banner, but convincing her an idea that was my idea is a good one isn't an easy feat. So teenager of her....already. Maybe she'll come around. If not, we'll just have a basket of beautifully stitched samplers, which is also a beautiful thing.
Traditions
As of late, especially after our trip to my hometown, I have constant requests to tell about my childhood. "Mama, tell me more!" Sometimes it's hard to muster up yet another story when they have heard so much. Just today I was telling them about our summertime day to day tradition. My mom would bring us to swim lessons at the local beach, the moms used to huddle under the small pavilion shelling peas/snapping beans/chatting while simultaneously urging us to plunge into the frigid waters for lessons, followed by an occasional stop at the store for a slush puppy (are all those flavors still around? Watermelon...yum!), home to have a swig from our outside water fountain (at our own house...it was a really neat thing to have at home!) with a daily picnic outside on our red picnic table. We then would huddle on the couch and my mom would read us afternoon books on the couch...as many as we wanted. Then we were outside playing or helping in the garden until my dad came home for evening chores/dinner.
Fond memories of just the special day to day. We sort of do some of the same summer traditions as my childhood today, only in what seems to be reverse. We do not have an outside water fountain, but after telling my kids about that today, I think I have one on my 'want' list. Regular summer days at home here start with chores, garden work/time for them to play or help, lunch on the screen porch, then as many books as they want on the picnic blanket outside (today I read 20, Twenty!), then either a dip in the kiddie pool or a dip in the ocean (we go, swim and come back all within the hour, how lucky are we!), followed by dinner. I wonder if these are the types of things they'll tell their children when they hear "Tell me more!"?
There's a little tradition we do here that was not a childhood tradition for me. An hour before bed, it's no clothes, just underwear time. Don't worry, just the kids, not me. I'm betting this will be something that they will remember.
If not, it's mighty cute for me to see their cute little selves running around as free as a bird.
Fond memories of just the special day to day. We sort of do some of the same summer traditions as my childhood today, only in what seems to be reverse. We do not have an outside water fountain, but after telling my kids about that today, I think I have one on my 'want' list. Regular summer days at home here start with chores, garden work/time for them to play or help, lunch on the screen porch, then as many books as they want on the picnic blanket outside (today I read 20, Twenty!), then either a dip in the kiddie pool or a dip in the ocean (we go, swim and come back all within the hour, how lucky are we!), followed by dinner. I wonder if these are the types of things they'll tell their children when they hear "Tell me more!"?
There's a little tradition we do here that was not a childhood tradition for me. An hour before bed, it's no clothes, just underwear time. Don't worry, just the kids, not me. I'm betting this will be something that they will remember.
If not, it's mighty cute for me to see their cute little selves running around as free as a bird.
Gardening 2016: Update 5
The other 2016 updates
Garden Update #1
Update 2
Update 3
Update 4
And this pic was from just about a month ago, when I meant to do another garden update:
And this was August 18th
Certainly the weeds have one up on me this year. That's what happens with two weeks away. I just give up. I could talk about the annoying cucumber beetle, squash bugs, potato bugs or the Mexican bean beetle. Truth is, I'm great about planting and growing and have a lot to learn about pest management.
On the bright side? I timed my pole beans and my sunflowers perfectly, so my pole beans really did climb my sunflowers (I started the sunflowers 5 weeks earlier than the beans). 255 pounds of produce have been brought in. We've had potatoes once and have a ton more to dig. We've had corn once and more are coming. There's some produce in our freezer now. There's also a whole lot of tomatoes. Yum.
Each and every meal is almost all garden fresh. Certainly time intensive, but so good.
I also planted a lot more flowers than years past. Certainly the perennials are abundant here, but it's been nice having the zinnias, glads, dahlias, buckwheat, cosmos, marigolds and sunflowers add that pop of color to the garden. You bet that I've been bringing in bouquets too.
I wonder if my kids someday will say, "My mom used to always have flowers on the table." I love bringing that color in.
Garden Update #1
Update 2
Update 3
Update 4
And this pic was from just about a month ago, when I meant to do another garden update:
On the bright side? I timed my pole beans and my sunflowers perfectly, so my pole beans really did climb my sunflowers (I started the sunflowers 5 weeks earlier than the beans). 255 pounds of produce have been brought in. We've had potatoes once and have a ton more to dig. We've had corn once and more are coming. There's some produce in our freezer now. There's also a whole lot of tomatoes. Yum.
Thrifted.
Annual Antique Tractor Show
This has been nicknamed Adrian's "Favorite Fair of the Year". I don't think there's a single place that I could get more ginormous cheesy grins. And the big old Strawberry Shortcake? Yeah, I'll take that.
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