Category Archives: heart

Porch Meals and Hearts Mesh

Standard

The rains came twice over the weekend!  It was like a miracle!  And with it came cooler air, more like normal summer temps, low 90’s.  We loaded our plants into the van in the wee hours Saturday morning, to make it to the Lake Saint Louis Farmer’s Market.  It was storming, but I kept at it in my rain poncho and Dean with his hat.  Our plants seemed happier, as well as their gardeners!   Later, I trimmed sun-scorched branches from some ferns, and moved them to more shade under the dogwood tree.  Sunday we repotted plants.  Our tropicals are gigantic, growing as long as they have water in their roots.  They thrive in this humidity. Dean & I met  at the front porch on several occasions this weekend. We  watched the storms come in and shared porch meals.  The green ambiance allows conversation to flow.  The electronic devices in the house don’t have that skill!  Our hearts mesh when surrounded with nature.  Whether camping, walking in the woods, and sitting on our porch bench with lovely greenery and birdhouses surround, life is simpler with plants and birds.  At least, most of the time!

 

Purple Haze Carrots and Other Veggies

Standard

This record breaking summer heat and drought is making for miserable working conditions for Missouri farmers.   Dean & I are a part of the local agriculture scene, though we farm more for organic promotion, recreation, and creation purposes.    For the farmer who is required to be outdoors all day and everyday, it is disheartening to see your crops dry up and wither in the sun.  My friends at EarthDance Farms as well as all the local farmers cannot seed any more carrots, beets, and beans for a fall crop because the earth is rock hard, and the seeds cannot germinate without rain.  I miss my favorites: purple haze carrot, candy cane beets, and tender  bush green beans!   Please pray for rains, several rains for Missouri and our neighboring midwest states.  We need God’s divine intervention. Deanna Greens and Garden Art’s tropicals and houseplants such as bird of paradise, hibuscus, banana trees, spider plants, red leaf philodenrens, arrowheads, rabbit foot ferns, and asparagus ferns love this heat and humidty as long as they are under our shade trees during the day and have plenty of water.  We water everything twice a day when it is over 100 degrees, which means almost everyday for the past 6 weeks!  Our oldest daughter took care of the plants, cats, and house while we vacationed in cooler Minnesota.  We were so thankful for a much needed break!   Now onward to the Saturday markets and the rebuild of our greenhouse.

The Dew of Little Things

Standard

“For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed,”  Khalil Gibran shares with us.  It was a “little things day” yesterday.  I awoke early Sunday morning as usual, even after 3 of my grandkids’ slumber party continued well past my bedtime Saturday night, which needs to be at 9:00pm!  After perusing the yard, taking in the morning sunlight, I returned to my kitchen to cook eggs, sausage, and toast before the little ones and my exhausted husband awoke.  He was up late working on the jeep, trying to take apart the layers to access any engine damage.  It looks like it is “fatal” as Dean says.   Shopping for a new engine now, or a new vehicle.   I let my husband work on those details while I played and relaxed with the grandkids.   We watered the plants and played with the hose a bit.   Frisbee and the neighbors’ dogs filled up the rest of the morning.  After our afternoon nap and quiet time I feel refreshed.  We watched a hummingbird visit the canna blossom.  We played with a bouncy ball, colored, and watched a movie.   I showed my granddaughters how to propogate cuttings of wandering jew and swedish ivy.  The slower pace of the children quieted my spirit, even in the chasing after my 2-year old grandson.  “The dew of little things …” 

Create Art

Standard

I contemplate what garden art to create as sales for starter plants have died down for now.  My antique pottery finds will make homes for some of our succulents this week, and tarnished serving spoons will make garden signs.  Relic stepping stones will feature treasures along my “gardening path”.    Pieces of  pottery,  hand trowels, canning jar lids, and  bottle caps, everything old will be cleverly displayed in these new garden stepping stones.  Creating something new from old, this is an art form to me.  Creating new recipes from standards ingredients is another art form to me.  The abundant herbs, pineapple sage and lemon thyme are needing the old branches pruned, to make way for new growth.  Those old leaves make a new crockpot dish with  chicken and brown rice for Dean & I’s Sunday dinner.   Yummy garden art!You know, God never gets tired of creating.  He is not done with me yet.  Thank you for that grace, my Father.  Many distractions, yet simply put, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”   My heart cries out to God this day, “God be My potter, I am Your vessel.”

Friends Forever

Standard

I dedicate this post to my Aunt Shirley & Uncle Lee, childhood sweethearts and best friends for life.  They were married 50 years ago in May.  The 1st photo displays the fun loving couple I will always remember in my heart, and their friends and family.  Included are my father (to the left of the bride) and my mother (to the right of the groom).   The 2nd photo is at their 50th wedding anniversary celebration with their children and grandchildren.  We lost dear Aunt Shirley on June 6 after many months of battling lung cancer, she died from a seizure.  I love you, Aunt Shirley and Uncle Lee. 

The Ambiance and Menu

Standard

The ambiance and local menu tonight was colorful.  My huge kitchen is decorated with vases of our cut flowers and the fireplace mantle is overcome by beautiful blue hydrangeas from my parents’ yard.  Dean & I’s  dinner plates were filled with roasted spring root veggies and beef  farm fresh by friends who allow their cattle to graze in their farm’s natural pastureland.  I sit on my patio listening to the evening chatter of the birds and crickets until the summer night sky is dotted with fire flies. I needed some beauty in my life today.

My feline companions bat at the moth and June bug on the patio screen hoping to get a hold of them.  Celine and Lily will need to stay inside as the neighborhood Great Horned owl visits our tall backyard maple tree some evenings.  This may be one of those evenings.  We protect our animals from harm with barriers like screen doors.  Maybe similar to how our God sets up boundaries for us.  I take in the beauty of our green friends, the plants we care for everyday.  Tonight I will not water or trim or plant.  I will sit and enjoy the greenery.  They endured the sudden hail storm yesterday.  Our elephant ear , banana trees, and birds of paradise have ripped leaves now.  These plants will come through after some shedding.  Is not life like that?  We get hammered by hard blows,  unwarrantly and needlessly.  Yet, we rise again to be ourselves, probably better people for it if we allow.  Thank you God for the beauty my eyes behold tonight, and the reminder that the heart heals.

God’s Hands On Earth

Standard

I ponder the Photo Challenge of the Week: Hands.  I keep coming back to the famous art work by Michelangelo’s “Hands of God And Adam”.  Adam literally means “earth” in Hebrew, what God called His first man.  This Hebrew word is derived from a word which means “to be red”, ruddy color like man’s skin or the Akkadian word “adamu” meaning “to make”.  According to Genesis, Adam was made from the earth “adamah”.   

With gardening, I feel the presence of God in all my senses.  I touch the dirt, the living earth.  I smell the basil as I plant it in the terra cotta pot, and hear the raindrops fall on its leaves.  My eyes and heart see the delicate pink hibuscus blossom opened wide to the sunlight peaking above the green tree tops.  And I taste the goodness of God when I indulge in my salad greens.  God is good!

Home Is Simple

Standard

Being home today brought a sense of belonging.  I am rarely home, and it was wonderful to be here.  “Home is where the heart is” as the saying goes.  I took a stroll around the yard checking the greenhouse plants that now make home here.  They like it here!  They nestle between trees and shrubs and in our lime green screen house.  The beautiful Japanese maple and dogwood trees in the photo below provide shelter so filtered sunlight peeks between the lush leaves, perfect for the red leaf philodenrons and ferns.After my morning stroll I ate my tuna sandwich and sipped on iced gingerale with the windows open, fresh air gently blowing in, and sunshine beaming through the tree branches.  This lovely May day brought another mild evening with a cooling breeze.  Ah, it is quiet at home as I am here by myself.  Only the sounds of birds tweeting while I prepare dinner.  Dean is visiting with family at his son’s out-of-town graduation.  Simple.  No conversation, no TV, no need for music as I sing my own tunes today. Life is good.

A Love Affair

Standard

The first electronic introduction … that first date … the fireworks shooting with the first kiss … discovering antiques, books, photos, music, food, church, and children together … long distance testing of the relationship … the “what-ifs” if we marry … sharing hearts … love … the proposal … wedding plans developed …wedding vows shared … marriage for our lifetime … sharing a home … sharing our families and friends … making life together … ebbs and flows like a lake shoreline … likes and dislikes … all a part of the journey.   So happy I am on this journey with my husband, Dean Gall.

Mocha Love

Standard

This spring morning was crisp, you know a hot cup of coffee, mocha, or tea morning!  We had not had one of those mornings for a few days as we have been experiencing early summer weather instead of early spring weather.  Not that I am complaining!  Someone on FB captured an unusal shape in their cup of mocha this morning.  “Mocha Love ” I call it … Gratitude and love filled my first thoughts this morning.  I am so thankful for a loving husband and family.  I spent last evening with my elderly grandfather.  He lay on the hospital bed after having his middle right toe removed that morning due to a chronic infection as well as a stint put in his leg to aid with circulation.  Yet he talked and laughed hour after hour of childhood memories, my father’s and uncle’s childhood stories, and the present day events.   I have missed out on so much, busy about my own life, parenthood, grandparenthood, working, and now the greenhouse adventures.  Yet I left late in the evening from the hospital with such a warm heart … “Mocha love”, I call it.  It carried to my morning and throughout this day.