US Botanic Garden Washington, DC

I just returned from DC where I visited (with my Mother, Sisters, and some friends) so many sites, I'm having difficulty recalling everything that I took in over our weekend. One of the highlights was the U.S. Botanic Garden, with the Conservatory full of diverse plant life and "rooms" like The Jungle, Children's Garden, World Desert, Southern Exposure, and the Orchid display, it was a vast collection of plants from all types of climates. I found it hard to take it all in, so I snaps some photos of my favorites. I also tried to capture some of beauty of the parks close by. I hope you enjoy this little photo tour.

My Sisters, Mom & I

My twin sister

A Perfect Weekend in Pictures

I hope you had a nice weekend and that the joy extends into your week :)

Playing Indoors - Baby Baseball

My Frendchman is the pitcher, our grandbaby's Mommy is the videographer. What fun!

When it Rains, it Pours

It's been raining for about 50 hours with a few breaks in the rain. The garden is loving it. The dogs aren't, but they've bee heaving so well. My grand baby and I have sung quite a few chorus' of "Rain Rain Go Away" and "It's Raining, It's Pouring". My Frenchman mowed just before the rains and the yard is a nice view from inside. We sat our on the screen porch and enjoyed the rain and the solar lights last evening. I've only been out to the veggie garden to pick a few sweet 100 tomatoes. The extended family drama continues so our nice evening was interrupted. It didn't matter that it was Dad's (the Frenchman's) birthday. I'm trusting Jesus and like the apostles in the boat, I keeping my eyes fixed on Him waiting for the next storm, since when it rains, it pours.

Rain!

After 10+ extremely dry days and heat in the mid 90's, last evening I had my whole family over for a dinner of their favorite french dip sandwiches. The only better thing than having happy family around is having rain during dinner. It's been so very dry. My corn that is just getting tassels was turning yellow. My lamb's ear was flat on the ground and I couldn't hand water fast enough. As we sat down to eat the sky opened and it rained, it poured!

Today the garden is lively and the marigolds from seed have bloomed. The lambs ear is standing up like a smile.

As I sit here typing on the love seat, I take a break to look out the window, I see something buzzing around the aloe flowers. It's a humming bird! Te first one I've ever seen in my garden in the 20 years I've lived here.

Today I'm thanking God for rain, for the possom my Aussie pulled out from under the gazebo yesterday (it played dead), for family, and for humming birds.

Ahhh, to sleep at the beach

It's been a year of adult child drama, but I won't go there except to say that our daughter didn't get married as planned. That's not such a bad thing at all. It was a good decision for her, even though she didn't make it. Meanwhile, there was this huge deposit made at the wedding venue and an option to transfer it to the beach house owned by the same property. Soooo, we chose the beach and boy am I glad!

It was a great long weekend in a beatiful (much too big) home. It helped us know that:

1. Our dream home is still cottage-sized not super sized like "The Retreat" where we stayed



2. We want to live closer to the beach some day


3. Sushi tastes better on the beach


4. I feel guilty using a 5-gallon-a-minute-rain-shower-head even on vacation
   
5. We don't really use lights much and so appreciate natural light.


6. Our grand baby is so very happy at the beach
7. Coconut hand soap can enhance your good mood


8. Daytona's City Island Farmers Market has some great deals


9. Angell and Phelps Cafe and Chocolate Factory is a great place to indulge


10. It's REALLY good to get away to the beach!
    

Chickens?

For years I've day dreamed about having a few laying hens. We do already have 1 1 3/4 jobs between the two fo us, a couple of tripical birds, a couple of spoiled dogs, a couple of sometimes-almost-grown adult children and a rambunctious 1 year old grandson who visits the garden daily. My Frenchman has always said that since we live within city limits, that the neighbors would complain (never stopped the neighbors who once has peacocks). Well, the landscape protects our home from all but one neighbor, a long empty foreclosed home. I suppose the next person buying it will make their purchase depending on if they can stand my curious dogs (only sometimes noisey)our backyard garden (chickens & all?).
I have to get past the fact that the very handy Frenchman would have to build a small coop. I'm working on researching my explaination of the permaculture benefits of chickens and the idea of a dozen fresh eggs a week for his breakfast. I'll let you know how far I get with my request :)
Happy Sunday!

Organizing a Busy Office

I am the Administrative Assistant at my church and love it here. Not one of those churches that's only open on Sunday; one that is hopping with people day and evening. We're in such a great place - seated between a high school and a middle school with two elelmentary schools in walking distance. I love kids and enjoy seeing families worshiping together, so this is a perfect job for me. My boss is a great guy; the founder of this church 11 years ago. He's very drivien and is always trying to look at the work we do from new perspectives.

I sometimes begin to feel weighed down by my work, especially when I start to get unorganized. I get so much joy working in nice environment that I made it my goal to change my office envoronment; right down to the work on my desk.

• I cleaned up the desk area and ask my dear hubby, the Frenchman, to build the tiny fountain that has been trapped in a box under my desk for at least a year.



• I scanned all the paper that I needed to file (I admit - I hate paper) into my computer.



• I created a binder. I admit that I hated binder and was a die hard folder girl for years. Binders seemed too large and hard ot manage. I imagine that the binder I made is a "comand central" type binder. I started to catagorize the tasks that come across my desk during a normal week. I even left room for weeks when there are more than a few events going on around here.



• I got down to work with a new joy and thought I would share the new photos of my desk (as opposed to Monday's desk).

Next...I'm thinking about attacking my home office/craft room :)