Friday, May 29, 2015

This Moment

Playing along with Amanda today, for her last 'This Moment' post... in her familiar words: 


{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week (though my choice today is stretching it a little- this moment is from Sunday). A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.


Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Budding Photographer

The kids of late have been using their cameras to record audio, and that's mostly what came off of Audrey's camera this time around (it was hilarious). Probably over 80% of what was on there was a close-up of a finger or a neck and the sounds of two Littles being totally goofy. I'm glad I now have some recordings of their voices at this age... priceless.

Of course, mingled in with the blurry audio were a few good shots...









It's so fun for me to watch our little budding photographer's photos transition from what was obviously just what the camera was facing while she was moving and pushing the button at the same time, to her looking for a shot and taking pictures with intention.

Our little budding photographer.

Friday, May 22, 2015

This Moment

Playing along with Amanda today... in her words: 


{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.


Wednesday, May 20, 2015

A Walk Through the Garden, May 20th

I certainly can't complain about the weather these days... I haven't had to water my garden since I first put in the seed, and that's a first for me! My plants may be wishing for a little more sun, but all in all this has been a very green spring.


















Can you believe all that grass in the paths? It is positively taking over....

Oh, the blooms! My garden has been swelling with buds through all this rain, and in the last few days we've had bursts of fuchsia and dark merlot hollyhocks, giant Hopi dye sunflowers, orange merigolds, pink oxalis, and even a few mums and zinnias! And I finally spotted the first daisy buds ready to pop! I think flowers in the vegetable garden are well worth the space they take up.

In my pepper and eggplant bed my Ichiban eggplants are doing great, and I've already had the pleasure of harvesting three medium-sized fruits. Also in that bed are several good stands of spinach and a random, still-unidentified volunteer melon of some kind. I have no idea what it'll be, but I have not had any melons or cukes in that bed before so I'm not sure where the seed came from. I can't wait to see what it'll be (and how much room it'll end up taking up!).

My green beans are going crazy, though it's been a challenge to find opportunities to go out and pick them without getting drenched or eaten up by mosquitoes (oh the mosquitoes!). I am particularly excited about the beans because we had almost zero out of the 50 or so plants we planted last year.

Sadly my squash is still struggling. I've ruled out squash vine borers, and I'm starting to think that what might actually be the problem is all this rain- they might either have root rot or a soil iron deficiency. I think I'm going to head out in the morning and pull the yellowing plants out of the ground, do some amending, and plant some new squash seed with the hopes that it's not too late to get some replacements going.

The tomatoes are looking promising, though I'm starting to worry that they'll end up mealy and bland if we keep getting these constant soaking showers. Crossing my fingers that we'll balance back out before June is over.

So much is already bolting thanks to the cool down, heat up, wet wet weather we've had. I've let it all go, hoping to harvest seed soon and perhaps start another round of greens before the heat cranks up.

One last thing I noticed popping up throughout my garden space- thanks to the saturated ground- is all the fire ant mounds everywhere. I hate pesticides, and I especially hate the granular stuff since my chickens eventually get a shot at roaming the garden, but dang. There is just no cohabiting with these ants. I'm going to have to figure something out.


Aaaaaaand my last stop when I finish walking my garden is always a check on the peach trees which, despite the winds and weather, still have much of their fuzzy little fruits still clinging to their branches.

There is nothing more hopeful than flower buds and fuzzy baby peaches. Love.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

The Floppy Red Buckets Are Out!








Yesterday was the first day I would officially call 'hot.' It was mostly due to the humidity, because truly I think the high was only around 89, but it was oppressive. We were sweaty and sticky after only a few short minutes outside after Sister came home from school, and it seemed perfectly logical to drag out their beloved red buckets and turn on the hose post haste.

Thanks to those darling things my Littles were occupied for the entire stretch of afternoon between arriving home from school and dinner time. Bliss.

If the rain holds off again, it may be something that we repeat today!

All hail the coming of Summer and the floppy red buckets!

Monday, May 18, 2015

Right Now




(The last two photos are by my father-in-law)

Right now, I'm loving a weekend that saw...

...a stormy Friday night with two Littles sleeping straight through, and a Saturday morning clear-ish and dry.
...a little primping with my increasingly fancy girl.
...a quick breakfast, a meal prepared and packed, and a trip down to be with our mothers for a belated Mother's Day lunch.
...time with our families, cheesecake and coffee, and a gift of a life's worth of the most amazing vintage patterns, and even a few yards of vintage fabric, too!
...a lazy Sunday, a little making with beads, paint, and fabric, and the chance to plant a few trees before bath time.
...lots and lots of new mosquito bites, despite our homemade bug-deterring spray.
...our first green bean harvest, a few baby carrots and zucchini to go with them, and 36 hours without rain in which to hunt for them all!

Right now I'm attempting to balance all the things that need to be done inside with all the things that need to be done outside- before it rains again (it's supposed to start up again tonight or tomorrow). So far I've gotten the groceries taken care of, the chickens out in their tractor and their coop cleaned out with fresh sand and bedding under their roosts... and now I'm going to finish a little sewing before nap time is over and the girl comes home!

Wishing all a productive day! Happy Monday. 

Thursday, May 14, 2015

In the Craft Room





It figures that our rhythm this week would lead us to a morning spent entirely in the craft room on the first day it hasn't rained in... well, it's been a while... but anyway, here we are! There are fabric scraps, papers, clay, and cotton rope spread out all over the place, and we've been so wrapped up in our projects that we almost missed lunchtime!

I know- Henry almost forgot about lunch.

Almost.

So it's time for a break around here, but I'm sure we'll be back at it shortly. It's always good to have a day here or there to spend creating. We love being together in the craft room!

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Rain








Rain.

All. Day. Long.

Not complaining. Still not complaining.

But there's been a lot of rain, y'all.

It makes for some awesome puddles, though.