Friday, July 8, 2016

Finally, some pictures...


I wanted to share some of the photos I have stored on my iPad, but had to consult Siri to find out how get them on my blog.  She's quite helpful at times.

This first picture is my little Honda the day of my accident on December 29th.  I had traveled this commute for 8 years and this was my last week at Swish White River, LLC in Hartford, VT.  God knew what he was doing and worked all this out for His honor.  That day, I must admit, I was a bit downhearted.  We had just gotten the car ready for inspection by replacing two tires with studded snows and fixing the front wheel bearings ( a tricky process that required a special tool ).  But God knew we would not need two cars since I would not be making this commute any longer.  I now work 10 minutes from the house.

I'm now driving my old Dodge Neon with 354000 miles on it.  It's still chugging away and we are putting some money away for a 4 wheel drive so I can get up our driveway and up the hill to work.  Then we'll probably retire the old lady.
my poor little squished Honda

Now on to happier things...
I got home from church a couple Sundays ago and the sky was soooo incredibly blue and the trees were just the perfect shade of green.  I just had to take this picture.  These are the trees up behind our home.


Any question why these are my favorite colors?

 
We had great success with the greenhouse this spring.  I raised all our plants except some of the beans and peas in the greenhouse and then transplanted them into the garden.  We can plant away, but God makes the little seeds grow...


Sorry the pictures are a little fuzzy... still working on my picture taking skills with this little iPad. 


I didn't raise the geranium, that was a half-price buy at Walmart.  I have that plant in a planter now and it is covered with blooms.  It was a great investment.
more greenhouse plants.  We gave many of these away.  It tend to "over-plant" in case we have some sort of plague and then I don't have room in the garden for all the stuff.


baby beets and squash.  Our four tomatoes are in the foreground.  They are a lot bigger right now.  We've had some great growing weather this year so far.  I've picked some summer squash and grilled it for our supper already. 
baby kale and chard and in the foreground pole and bush beans.  We've had several meals of chard and kale so far.  I love that stuff!





This is my perennial / herb bed.  I have dill, basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram and sage.  In other places I have tarragon and caraway which come back year after year.   




I've removed some of this oregano because it was crowding out my Corral Bells. 



first fruits.  We had greens for supper and the strawberries for dessert.  The chamomile I dried for tea.  I have it growing all over the place, but don't normally save a lot.  It does make a good tea and reminds me of summer when it's the middle of winter.


the second picking.  These went to Brandon's graduation party for strawberry shortcake.  Yum.

Well, that's all for now.  Just thought you'd like a little glimpse into our lives.  I am enjoying my new job as the Town Clerk/Tax Collector in Groton.  I've learned many new things and have been very busy.  It's a gift from God that I am closer to home and can spend more time there.  I've also gotten started in a water aerobics class and will be getting some physical therapy for my old arthritic knee.  It was getting quite painful.  Since I started swimming 3 times a week, it has loosened up quite a bit.  I know it will never be completely well again, but I want to keep it limber as long as possible.  I might even do some biking yet this summer. 

God has surely been good to us.  I'll include a couple more pictures of the beautiful lupines He gave me this year.  I think all blue flowers must be my favorite.  I have to force myself to get other colors.  You will see in the perennial bed I have yellow, pink and red now, so I'm making progress, but blue is still my favorite flower color to go along with the green leaves.

That's our electrical building and some of Doug's vehicles in the background, but just ignore those and take in the beautiful flowers.


More of the same


The "Bee" garden.  I've planted this for 3 years now with morning glories.  They are annuals so I added some perennial Holly Hocks this year.  We'll see how they do together.  The bees all came from my friend Betty.  My Sweetie calls me his "Honey Bee", to that's how this got started.  The heart shaped rock in the front is intentional and given to me by my "Sweetie".


I hope you all are having a very happy summer.  Get out there and enjoy it 'cause it's way too short.















Written April 18th/Posted July 8th... hmmm what wrong with this picture?

Odd for us that it is April 18th and we've had some really great weather.  I started my greenhouse about 3 weeks ago and things are coming up!  I went out yesterday afternoon and did a little cleaning up in the garden getting ready for some early planting such as peas.  We did have the chickens out there cleaning up in the spring but the fence wasn't able to hold them due to winter damage and with Mr. D busy building a fortress for pigs I just decided to take down the fence.  It will make it easier to till and plant anyway.  The blueberry bushes are outgrowing their fencing so that will need to be hiked up a little.  The fencing we use for beans need to be repaired so there are many little details to take care of.


I'm getting excited to get my fingers in the dirt and it's coming quickly this year.  Yea!!!


The girls went for a little hike on Sunday and sent a couple pictures over FB. 
I think that Norman went hunting for salamanders already so mom just let him wade in his skivys .

Brandon is getting so tall.  Nice picture of the two of them together. 

It was a beautiful day Sunday and the temperature was a steady 74 at our house all day.  I looked at the weather map from last year and on April 24th we had snow.  I'm not saying it can't happen, but I don't see anything about snow on the weather calendar for this April. 

I haven't taken out the camera in a few months.  My job keeps me busy and I thought with less travel and another entire day off I'd have a bit for free time, but not so.  Seems I'm busier than ever now.  I gotta get some pictures going so I can remember these times and preserve them.

Norman comes over sometimes to see us and so doesn't Brandon.  Grampa has fixed up a bed that stretches across the backs of the seats in the dining area of the camper so he can get a good night sleep when he comes over.  When Norman comes over he sleeps on the couch.  He loves coming over to Gramma and Grampy's house and we love to have them both.  It's not a big place and certainly not "classy", but we've got lots of love.