Aug10

I Felt The Air Change Today

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I felt a whisper of refreshing air last night while in the screen house  repotting succulents into darling little vintage pots … maybe?  Early today I stood by the opened patio door to hear the morning greetings of our feathered friends, and I felt the air change.  Yes, autumn is around the corner!  Every year for over 40 years, I have said those words “I felt the air change today”.  I grew up watching the weather and hearing about it from my farmer father.  He would read the Farmer’s Almanac, have a weather ban radio playing in his office every morning, evening, and on occasions of severe weather threats. Mostly I remember the feeling when a shift in air direction and the front would roll in with clouds and sometimes rain with it.  And then the refreshing change.  Awe!  Autumn in 4 – 6 weeks, and saying goodbye to sizzling summer.  My oldest daughter remembers these words well, too.  Rachel wrote a poem about these words, her mother saying them, and autumn.  And we chatted today about those words …

The woods begin to vibrate with gathering and preparation. 

The sounds so crisp, electric.

Her words were “I felt the air change today.”

Red, orange, yellow, green, brown.

They dance while falling.

A choreographed waltz.

Every year she said “I felt the air change today.”

Beautiful, breathtaking, loyal.

The Canvas.

I think I felt the air change today.

Aug9

Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree

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This summer our fiddle leaf fig trees have shown much growth being outdoors under our shade trees with this Missouri humidity.  Their leaves are bright green and shiny when they first leaf out.   Our biggest one will not fit inside the greenhouse structure any longer.  Its tap-root was pulled from the grounds of the greenhouse’s original site in May, and has grown another 3 feet since.  It is the companion to one of our maple trees in the backyard.  We will repot the “jolly green giant” and look for a buyer with a cathedral ceiling as it will not survive Missouri’s winter.   I have grown to love our overabundance green foliage in the front and backyards.  Wishing I lived at Hilton Head Island, SC  or Savannah, GA where our plants would have a chance outdoors year round.  But then again, I love Missouri’s autumn colors and spring’s growth and renewal from the frozen earth.  Missouri has the four seasons, some shorter than others.   This year, it has been a long summer.  The day will come any time soon when I can say “I felt the air change today” in anticipation of autumn.  More on that in another post …

Aug6

Porch Meals and Hearts Mesh

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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!

 

Aug3

Time

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“Time, you left me standing there
Like a tree growing all alone
The wind just stripped me bare
Stripped me bare
Time, the past has come and gone, gone
The future’s far away
An hour only lasts for one second, one second

Time without courage, time without fear
Is just wasted, wasted, wasted time
Oh, oh, oh, ooh ooh ooh

Time, why you punish me?”

These lyrics from Hootie and the Blowfish’s song “Time” keep playing in my mind tonight.  This post is continuation of my thoughts in my last post written 5 hours ago.  I cried when I walked upon that boat dock at Island Lake last week.  I felt my father’s spirit with me, though in body he could not be there with me.  Valhalla was Dad’s favorite place to do his favorite thing, fish.  Such an appropriate name. “Valhalla” is the Viking’s heaven after he dies from warfare.  My father has been fighting such a battle.  Dad’s days are running short.  He is dying of brain cancer, and I keep thinking about his life.  Dean & I visited his father, my 96-year old grandfather last evening.  Grandpa Earl tells us stories of his childhood and my father’s childhood.  Yet he is cognitive enough to ask about his oldest son, my father.  A copy of a photo arrived in the mail today from my cousin.  A 1945 family portrait of my Grandpa Earl, Grandma Anna, Dad, and Uncle Earl.  Mom called this evening on the way home from work.  A hospital bed is being delivered to their Bowling Green home.  Yes, the bed my father will be in when he passes from this life.  God, I am so thankful for my father, Martin Kenneth Bates.  He has been strength to this family for many years.  And now we are his strength.  He will be with You soon.  And I will miss him greatly.  I do not want pain for him, just Your peace, comfort, and rest.

Aug3

The Big Dipper and the Northern Sky

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My Dean & I so enjoyed our stay at Valhalla Resort on Island Lake outside of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.  It was a peaceful vacation, time to slow down our pace.  Our stay included meals with friends, walks, swims, and fireside chats with tales of old.   Friends shared stories of our childhood sparking laughter one after the other.  One evening turned into a 1:00am departure from the dwindling campfire.  A night owl called to us, or maybe he was talking to the rabbit hiding in the bushes.  Bugs chirped.  All dogs and cats had long since retired to their favorite beds.  As Dean & I walked to our lakeside cabin, we saw the Milky Way.  The Big Dipper shone so brightly in the clear northern sky.  It brought to memory my father sitting a boat nestled near the dock for that particular summer night, telling a young audience how to tell time from The Big Dipper.  My friends recalled this, too.  It seemed like yesterday …  Dad seemed to explain it so easily that we understood it. Here are a few web links on telling time with the stars: http://www.johnpratt.com/items/astronomy/telltime.html, http://www.av8n.com/physics/star-time.htm,  http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~huffman/dtime.html

Aug3

Purple Haze Carrots and Other Veggies

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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.

Jul19

I’m Dreaming of A White Christmas …

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“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas …”  I am!  I had enough of these 100 + temp days!  How about you?  Well, if I cannot have a white Christmas right now, I will settle for milder summer days in the north woods of Minnesota with friends. 

Dean & I are headed there for a few days!  Need  to hear the loons once again! 

Jul16

The Dew of Little Things

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“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 …” 

Jul12

Lemonade Summer Evening

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It is a lemonade summer evening, maybe the hard lemonade kind tonight.  Trying to make lemonade out of lemons!  We had 2 vehicles break down this past week, one fixed and another one to go.  Then we had a fender-bender with our white beast of a van this morning parking near my work in Clayton.   Did not damage the beast, but the nervous lady’s Mercedes luxury sedan has some damage near the bumper.   I think Dean will be ready for that spiked lemonade.  Maybe watch a summer rain storm come in tonight.  What is your favorite lemonade?  I found a recipe for Lavender Lemonade, and adapted it to suit my tastes.  I cannot wait to try with the crop of lavender in harvest season right now.  This herb is beautiful, fragrant, and so versatile.  Where is the bottle of vodka in this picture???

Jul9

The Movement of A Summer Storm

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St. Louis, Missouri and surrounding areas have encountered 10 days in a row of record high temperatures, triple digits with no or trace rain for almost a month.  The corn is turning gray and rustles with the wind like fall leaves. We have had to water our plants 2 times a day during the drought.  God, the plants need rain!  Nothing beats real rain water!  It finally brewed up yesterday, some places more so than others.  We marketed at the Chandler Hill Vineyards Farmers’ Market yesterday afternoon, watching the clouds turn to thunderheads and shift different directions.  Wind gusts would sway the tents one direction and switch in another minute.  Maybe movement for the better?  On our trip home we left the storm further behind us.  Awesome views while in the wine country hills of Defiance.  But yesterday evening finally my hometown St. Peters received 1/4 – 1/2″ of rain with the summer storm.   My cats even seemed curious about that rumbling outside.  We had not heard this in weeks.  Hallelujah, our rain buckets are full now!  Our plants are saying “aaahhh!”  Another summer storm is brewing up this afternoon.  Maybe more rain?!