How Green Is My Valley!

Again, it has been awhile since I've written here.  Either I find myself busier than I used to be or I am slower than I used to be ... Could it be both ! Or could it be that the years are catching up with me and causing  everything I attempt to take so much more effort??

Whatever the cause, I tend to tire out quicker and when it should be time to just sit at the computer and write in my blog, I tend to walk a bit too close to my big soft chair, which surely reaches out and grabs me and invites me ... Or entices me, to sit a spell first .. Then go about stuff I'd been heading for.  I think I found a solution to that now that I have this wonderful little iPad which can sit so comfortably with me here in this big old cuddly chair!  So here we are ...

This time the old chair didn't have to invite me, I just came in from the early afternoon heat of this truly summer day.  Husband said, "Wow! Is your face red !"  He knows how I really HATE being overheated!  But I had some plants I needed to get into the ground now that I am almost sure it won't snow on them.  But on the way to the potting shed, I noticed a fresh bunch of some Snow On the Mountain, which is a rather invasive little plant that looks great in the right place but NOT in my little  sunny spot by the patio steps! I wouldn't mind too much if they took over here, but being sunny here all afternoon, they soon start to turn brown and look pretty sad.  So last fall we dug them all out, or so we thought.  Now a few roots that survived our invasion have started in great haste and effort to fill up the space again!  Grrrr!  Who said I liked gardening anyway !    Well, after once invading their favorite spot, and a couple other stops along the way to pull some long grass from another bed I haden' weeded yet, I was feeling like I was being sautéed !  Enough!  Knowing full well that I don't belong out here in this heat, In I came to peel off all the 'tick proofing' long sleeves, pants, socks and boots and cool off my flaming face with our very cold water from the deep well, and drink about a
quart too !  Then, pop into my friendly chair with no coaxing at all.

Yesterday, we attended the Celebration Of Life for Den's Aunt Charlotte.  A lovely service for a truly wonderful lady.  She was one of thirteen children and the mother of four.  When we were first married, we used to love going to their farm.  She was a great roll model for her children and for me. I wanted to be able to be just like her. It was always a loving, serene place to be, there in the hills, away from any noise of traffic, and always some bread baking and other aromatic delights wafting around her kitchen.  At her service a few of her insightful poems were shared.

Once Spring decided to come to us, everything has blossomed, from the trees and their greenery and the fields and lawns, so green and bright, right down to the lowly dandelions.  Meadows are yellow with their blooms.  I have enjoyed a few meals of them.  I missed the fiddle heads but sort of intentionally as they aren't my favorites, although some folks really love them.  The invasive plant, Garlic Mustard, which people pull and destroy is very good to eat !  The tender leaves are good in salads or steamed like spinach and quite mild and a favorite of mine.  Last August, they went to seed.  Their little pods resembling small twigs, have a lot of tiny black seeds in them.  Picking a bunch and stuffing them in a five gallon pail and shaking them around frees these tiny seeds and they can be gathered up from the bottom of the pail and dried a bit then ground and a great and spicy mustard can  be made from them.  I made a couple jars and they were good.

On Friday we went to my Class breakfast.  Always a special treat.  Joanie makes it a really special occasion, decorating the tables with a theme appropriate for the month. (We meet once a month). This time was "May Flowers and Memorial Day."  She also has a door praise or two and always bake's something yummy for us all.  What a woman!  We sure appreciate and love her and thank her for caring for us.

Joanie's table awaits the classmates

Joanie and Natalie

Natalie and Me 

Riverside Restaurant morning Special 

Tomorrow we'll get the kayaks out from their winter storage and I hope it is as nice as today and maybe we can have our first paddle of the year.  Of course I'll try to get out early while it is cool and do my planting so I won't wilt !   It's funny thing, how I can paddle my kayak all day without wilting under the very same sun that shines on my back yard!

Enjoy this lovely weather!  Just don't get overheated!  Plant some herbs by the kitchen door and be sure to have a picnic somewhere soon.

A good thought to remember:  

"We are Christ's "letters of recommendation" to all who read our lives"                                                                        Our Daily Bread by Dennis Fisher