Chilly Night

I hope the scattered frost is a rumor, but I didin't take a chance with my first real garden. The tomatoes will sleep under flannel Pooh Bear and red & blue race car sheets, just like my little son did once upon a time. Stay warm my friends.

Dusk in the Garden

It's dusk on a windy cool spring night. It's 69 degrees and I've been wandering under the moon. I'm just getting over a rough bout with influenza. Poor baby Logan is still feeling bad. We get texts from his Mommy updating us on his symptoms. I smelled the orange blossoms and jasmine as walked around the garden, I hung a few more solar string lights and checked on the solar uplights on the crepe myrtle then did my best to capture a photo of the garden at this wonderful hour.

I'm going to enjoy this evening with the doors open and the breeze blowing through my little house.

A Peaceful Place

Ever wonder why it's so hard to get away from the hustle and bustle, the noise, the distractions? Are we afraid to miss something? Are we concerned about what small voices that we might hear if it's quiet? No, not the pshyco things we hear about on the news, but the little nudges we feel, some call it "concience", some instinct, but I believe it's more.

We leave the TV on as background noise, have ipods and cell phones ready to fill quiet times and deprive ourselves of peace. I've started to question why I feel so rushed and busy in my office and in my house and so peaceful outside and in the garden. It's not silent in the garden or outside at y work. It can even be loud with frogs singing and cranes squaking as they fly overhead. I've started becoming aware that I've even had profound thoughts in the shower; maybe that's because it's the only place peaceful enough to think or hear anything.

I'm now looking at the examples of Jesus. He went to beautiful peaceful places of solitude, for meditation and prayer (Matt. 28:16; Mark 6:45-46) like mountains and gardens. Meditation is not "new age", it's an ancient practice of calming the soul. Jesus was able to connect with God the Father most in a quiet place of solitude. He set this example, and I intend to follow it.

Yesterday I began to follow that example and found a peaceful place to pray and listen for that small voice.




Jesus and his followers went to a place called Gethsemane [a garden]. He said to them, "Sit here while I pray." - Mark 14:32

Garden Update

The rain was much needed and left us with some surprises. The Clematis (H.F. Young) has a bloom. This is a first on a 3 year plant. I have planted clematis twice. Once here and once at our home in Maine. I moved from that home before I saw the first bloom.





We have our first blooms on the tomato plants. This is my first healthy looking tomato plant ever, so you can imagine how excited I am!



I have a few garden "helpers"; Missy the Aussie, Ella the Chihuahua, and our grand baby. I found Missy chewing on one of my corn plants today. Not sure if she thought she was helping me weed. She tends want to pull things when she sees me weeding. My biggest helper is our grandson. He points and gasps every time he sees a squirrel, a bird, or a new solar light. He's so much fun and he tries harder than an of us.

Our Earth Hour

8:30-9:30 tonight we joined Earth Hour. We shut off the lights, cranked the air conditioning up so we were sure it wouldn't turn on and unplugged what we could. We took time for each other and sat out on our screened porch after looking over the neighborhood to see who else might be enjoying a quiet energy-free hour.

As we sat in the near dark (we couldn't shut off the streetlight that adds some light to our back yard), we looked over the new solar backyard lights and talked about more that we can do with solar. We desperately need a new roof so this is holding us back from adding a solar attic fan that will cost less than $300. We talked about our hopes that we can continue to add green energy and passive solar to our 20 year old house. We'd love solartube lighting for our dark bathrooms, a solar panel for our hot water heater, and we continue to talk about adding more solar lighting that extends to the indoors. We asked ourselves if we're the only middle class 40 something people who dream about these things.

The Good Life

Often, I day dream about the life I hope to have, when the kids a grown (ok, they are grown), when the bills are paid off (God willing some day), when we have more time...

I'm working to live the life I love - right here and now.

These are some things that make my life one that I love; right now (my top 20 in no particular order):

• Family (Especially my Frenchman, our grandbaby, my sisters - big sis & my twin sis)

• Caffe Prego in Ogunquit, Maine

• The little toad that lives in our vegetable garden
• LL Bean Flannel PJs
• Google - makes me look smarter than I am
• My Palm Centro with bible reader, pocket tunes, and audible audio books.
• Singing silly songs and laughing out loud
• Our dogs
• Flagler Ave Coffee & News in New Smyrna Beach, FL
• Motorcycle rides with my Frenchman
• Travel to new places and places I love to see again and again
• A house full of friends
• Dark Chocolate, skittles, real licorice, chocolate covered gummy bears, and snickers.
• New - Water view from my back door
• Early mornings alone with God

• Camping at Disney, Mi-ti-jo in New Hampshire, almost anywhere
  
• Lee's fried chicken livers (I know I lost you on that one!)
  
• MAC lipstick
  
• Ikea coffee
  
• Tivo-like DVR - my new discovery and time saver

Solar Lighting Comes Indoors

I wish I could remember the blog that I was reading last week as I was researching solar lights. I came across a post about Solig solar lights at Ikea. The handsome Frenchman and I started discussing solar indoor lighting. We live Florida and have a small home with lots of windows. Why not try it? So we debated the larger ($9.99) and smaller ($6.99) in the crowed isle at Ikea and decided on the smaller for this experiment. So excited that I couln't wait, I checked it out on the way home. Once home we sat it near a window and had family over for dinner on the screened porch. That night after eveyone went to bed, I used a velcro tabs to attach the domed ligh under the kitchen cabinet. I fully expected it never to shine again. To my suprise, it has come on at dusk and stayed on well after dawn for 3 days now! The little fixture is barely visable and casts a soft amber light across the counter that is enough light to get a glass of milk without clicking on a light. My only problem, I have a nearly unconrolable erge to shut it off when I go to bed! Looks like I'm taking another trip to Ikea.

Spring has Sprung in our corner of the world

Today, after breakfast out with our son and his son, we mulched the garden, planted corn and watermelon starts and sunflowers, marigolds, impatiens, and carrots. My hubby and I are encouraged to see the growth of the tomato and okra plants. We added liquid organic fertilizer a week ago, so I'm sure that helped.

We added some solar lights. One set of string lights and 6 small lights on pasts. I've been impressed that the beautiful bluish string lights have stayed on from dusk to dawn. They add such whimsy that I'll be adding more.

From the screened porch this afternoon and watched a family of four cardinals play around our tiny pond. It's a beautiful day and I'm getting ready for a short nap to top off a great day.