A Few Pictures of My Garden

A friend asked me for pictures of some of my flower beds and I told her to look at my blog. But when I looked at my own blog I realized there were no pictures of my flower beds. Sorry about that. Here they are....

This is the flower bed below our back fence. Dianthus/pinks(that I started from seed) in the back and golden creeping jenny in the front.



This is the flower bed near the alley. In the back is a butterfly bush. To the left is phlox "Delta Snow" in the middle is Blazing Star Laitris. The yellow to the right is a day lilly. There sea oats just behind the Laitris but they are hard to see. Their seed heads will turn golden in teh fall after the Laitris is done. To the left you can see the leaves of a bicolor lavendar iris which bloomed in the spring. And in front is a beautiful peach colored daylily which is also done blooming.

All the plants came from friend or from plant swaps and bring back many good memories. Thanks to all.

In looking at my pictures I realized that I rarely take a picture of an entire flower bed. I really like closeups and detail pictures. I will have to try to take some just for my garden archive in the future.

The Simple Woman's Day Book 9-19-09

FOR TODAY Saturday September 19th



Outside my window... The grayness of a new morning is fading and hinting at a day without rain. I'm glad as it has rained every day this week.

I am thinking...I'm not really ready plunge into the stream of busy ness that will be today.

I am thankful for...the quiet of the morning, when everyone else is asleep and I get go think my own thoughts and muse my own musings undisturbed, save for the cat who wanted his breakfast.

From the kitchen...we are now on week 2 of my rotating plan. Here is what the plan is...

Saturday- Lunch Chicken Enchiladas a green salad and watermelon. For supper we will pick up hamburgers on the way to Tamke-Allen Observatory. We are taking White Chocolate Brownies. I hope they will be good, dd wants me to try to make my regular brownie recipe with white chocolate, I'll let you know how they turn out.

Sunday-Talapia Quessadillas... this is how we got our kids to love fish.

Monday- Spaghetti and a green salad.

Tuesday- Daughter will cook Tuna Helper, mixed vegetables, fruit.

Wednesday- I will fix my favorite Beefy Rice with green beans on the side.

Thursday- Son will prepare Pigs in a Blanket with Carrot and Celery Sticks and Ranch Dip.

Friday- DH and I will go out on a Date and the kids will have dinner from the freezer.

I am wearing... A my very favorite sleep shirt. Some day I should get dressed to shoes before I start working on this. What would Flylady say.

I am creating... new seat covers for our dining room chairs and wondering if lazy boy refurbishes the seats on their chairs. I think too many children have bounced on mine.

I am going...to Tamke-Allen Observatory to see stars and see if the used telescopes we have will work. There has not been a clear public viewing night since we got them.

I am reading....Had to return Animal, vegetable, miracle : a year of food before I finished it. I will have to check it out again later. I have several books checked out but none of them jumps out today.

I am also reading/listening to the audiobook...... Making it all Work by David Allen. I finished listening to Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman, and highly recomend it to anyone who work with other human beings in any capacity, I guess it is one of those books I feel like everyone should read/listen to. I also listened to Tell Me Where it Hurts by Nick Trout. This is a window into the life of a Veterinary Surgeon and is a very friendly read.

I am hoping...my daughter feels extra loved and valued this week, as she turns 10 on Monday and has her Birhtday party on Friday.

I am hearing...my daughter's bed squeaking. She must be awake but not ready to get up yet.

Around the house...the yard needs mowed and clean up for the party on Friday should start soon.

One of my favorite things...my desk area in the Dining Room which I set up a little over a month ago.


A few plans for the rest of the week: Spend extra time with dd as her school is out Monday and Tuesday because of the Swine Flu. Prepare for the party on Friday, making sure all the friends are invited, recovering the last 2 Dining Room Chairs, baking a cake, decorating.

Blessings

Check out http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ for links to other Daybooks and instructions if you want to do one of your own.

When Wallflowers Dance

I just finished this wonderful book by Angela Thomas. Such an encouragement for the discouraged, wrung out woman to take God's hand and walk through this often challenging life letting God lead in the dance.

Here you will find encouragement and help to step out of hopelessness and into joy. Not a superficial joy that can be disturbed by broken water pipes or the flu, but the enduring joy of know all your life is in the Father's hands.

The Simple Woman's Day Book 9-11-09

FOR TODAY Friday September 11th...



Outside my window... It is still dark but looks like it will be a beautiful day

I am thinking...how strange it is that I only realized today was 9/11 when I typed the date above. It is hard to believe it has been 8 years.

I am thankful for...New flooring in my kitchen, repaired attic stairs and new glass in the basement windows.

From the kitchen...we are on week 1 of my rotating plan for a second week. I looked at it yesterday and realized that given that I was sick the beginning of the week and the kitchen was torn apart the middle of the week we had only cooked one meal from the whole plan so here is what it looks like

Saturday- I will be eating Lasagna at the Sister Splash meeting at church while my dh and kids will have Chicken Enchiladas
Sunday-We will have a favorite...Steak Ramen stirfry
Monday- Taco Soup the recipe is from AYear of Slow Cooking
Tuesday- Zoe will cook grilled cheese sandwiches and heat up canned soup.
Wednesday- I will fix Chicken Chasseur, a tasty dish with mushroom in a tomato and wine sauce, served with couscous and steamed broccoli.
Thursday- Aaron will prepare Chilighetti and a large green salad.
Friday- Jeff and I will go out on a Date and the kids will have dinner from the freezer.

I am wearing... A favorite long sleeved sleep shirt. It's not really cold enough for it but I couldn't find my favorite short sleeved one.

I am creating... new seat covers for our dining room chairs and wondering if lazy boy refurbishes the seats on their chairs. I think too many children have bounced on mine.

I am going...with a group from Tamke-Allen Observatory to see the Bay Mountain planetarium on Saturday.

I am reading...Animal, vegetable, miracle : a year of food life by Barbara Kingsolver.

I am also reading/listening to the audiobook...... Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman . This book has some of the most fascinating insights into behavior and all given in the context of real events and research.

I am hoping...my friend who told me some very sad news yesterday feels the touch of the Father's hand today.

I am hearing...the clock ticking, the radio in the other room and various sounds of our family waking up.

Around the house...the seat of one of our dining room chairs has been recovered, just 3 more to go.

One of my favorite things...the purple hyacinth bean and scarlet emperor bean growing on a trellis on the side of the house.

A few plans for the rest of the week: I'm working a lot this week and will be able to sow freedom and acceptance into the lives of my clients. And I will spend more time with my daughter reading together as she struggles to become a skilled reader. I will try to let every member of my family and my friends who are like family know how much I treasure them.
Here is picture and a thought I am sharing...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.-unknown

These bean flowers take my breath away every time I look out my kitchen window. Often there is a special treat of seeing a hummingbird enjoy them too. The backround in this picture is my new kitchen floor.

Blessings

Check out http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ for links to other Daybooks and instructions if you want to do one of your own.

The Simple Woman's Day Book 8-30-09

FOR TODAY Sunday August 30th...


Outside my window... It has been a beautiful day and we had church at a local park called The Cove

I am thinking...about the next week and all the preparations for it.

I am thankful for...Missus Wookie inspiriting me to do this and that I don't have to make everything better for all my friends, but I can be a listening ear and sometimes a shoulder to cry on.

From the kitchen...we are on week 4 of my rotating plan
Monday- spaghetti and meatballs and a green salad
Tuesday- Zoe will cook hot dogs with carrot and celery sticks and dip
Wednesday- I will fix Chicken Enchiladas a favorite recipe from Melissa M.
Thursday- Aaron will prepare BLT sandwiches and some kind of cold vegetable salad.
Friday- we will have Petros which is a fancy name for chili, cheese and corn chips, served with lettuce, tomato, black olives sour cream and salsa.
Saturday we will on week 1 and I don't have that printed up yet.

I am wearing... A favorite sleep shirt.

I am creating... a new way of thinking as I learn to use GTD.

I am going...to find out what boothmakers is about on Tuesday morning.

I am reading...a very funny book titled The Hand That Rocks the Ladle.

I am hoping...for a quiet week and good news from DT and BK.

I am hearing...my husband type on his computer and the fan running.

Around the house...the seat of one of our dining room chairs has been recovered, just 3 more to go.

One of my favorite things...our loveseat in our bedroom.

A few plans for the rest of the week: We would like to take the kids to see Night at the Museum 2, no date scheduled yet. Have lunch with a friend, also TBA. And be at Girl Scout Meeting on Friday.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...This lilly came up unexpectedly. So often beautiful things are found in unexpected places, we just have to keep our eyes open.












Check out http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ for links to other Daybooks and instructions if you want to do one of your own.

Bright Eyes and the Turtle

On June 25th Bright Eyes found a box turtle in the woods near our home. She played with it for a while and took it to visit her friends in the neighborhood. Shortly after Mom learned of the turtle's presence I assured Bright Eyes that it would not be a pet. Later that afternoon it was successfully released.

Tomato Row Update

This is the tomato row as of July 3rd. You will see a picture from almost the same angle in my June 4th post. They sure have grown and are producing yummy tomatoes. Hope all your gardens are growing well.

A Mature Christian Woman

"She feels pain. She suffers great life disappointments. She knows rejection and loss and loneliness. She could give you a hundred reasons why life hasn't turned out or why every day could be awful. But the mature believer is able to resist living in bitterness. I believe she has not surrendered to this desperate attitude because in her grown-up faith she has learned to believe God instead." - Angela Thomas, When Wallflowers Dance

She has learned to surrender it all at the Cross.

Tukie's Tomatoes

One of my friends gave me three heirloom tomatoes. Black Prince on the right, Dixie Yellow Giant on the left. There is assorted basil in the middle. The third tomato, Mortgage Lifter is in my main tomato row and will be posted soon.

Thanks Tukie.

My Favorite Podcasts

I know that many of you have ipods and or listen to podcasts. Missus Wookie asked me to list my favorite podcasts You can subscribe to any of these through itunes and all are free. Here goes:

Spiritual Development podcast

• 1 Year Daily Audio Bible Reading through the Bible in a year. Something I have committed to myself to do many times but have never followed through. But this podcast has made it do able.

Gardening podcasts:

• coopette.com- Alternative Kitchen Garden A delightful podcast from a British woman who has a backyard garden complete with growdome and chickens. She experiments constantly and is really fun to listen to.
• The Gestalt Gardener From Mississippi. Felder Rushing is just plain fun to listen too and has good tips about southern gardening. When asked can you plant a poinsetta outside in Mississppi his answer is yes, but it will die with the first freeze.
  
• You Bet Your Garden From Pensylvania. He is a little coarse but totally committed to being organic in addition to being very entertaining.
• Master Gardener From Georgia. Some very interesting topical discussions, iris, hosta, roof gardening etc.

Home/Life Management podcasts

• BTR: Flylady This is flylady's call in radio show and is also available on Blog Talk Radio. This puts reality and grace into the flylady "system" and has helped me with perspective and balance.
• BTR: Simply Organized This podcast is done by a Certified Professional Organizer (whatever that really means). She gives really good ideas for organizing, decluttering and more. This show has a different focus than flylady and gives good tips for dealing with certian situations.
  
• GTD Virtual Study Group A confrence call study group which explores GTD and how different people use this too in their own lives. Some session are focused on using certian gagdgets better. Some interview/Q&A sessions with big names in GTD.
• David Allen Company Podcast Good podcasts about the basics of GTD and some interesting discussion of good tricks to use. David Allen is on several of the shows.
• 43 Folders I recomend this podcast with some reservations. Merlin Mann used coarse, sometimes explicit language. But the GTD ideas on this podcast are excellent especially the Productive Talk Compilation from 11/06.

Astronomy podcasts

• The 365 Days of Astronomy Short daily podcasts that explore the length and breadth of Astronomy. These podcasts are done by different individuals who are interested in all aspects of Astronomy. Very interesting.
• Astronomy Cast A longer weekly podcast that more deeply explores Astronomy topics.

Cooking podcast

• APM: The Splendid Table If you are interested in food, the history of food and or cooking you will enjoy this podcast.

That's all of them. Hope you will enjoy some of these.