Daffodil field in South East Cornwall by Mark Robinson

Daffodils

By William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

 

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

 

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

5 for Friday!

Here are 5 random glimpses into my life.

1.

"Mommy! close the door we're about to blast off!"

2.

That black stuff would be auto grease, intentionall placed there by my loving husband because I "could use a little color" in my cheeks!

3.



Finally picked the greenbeans

Greenbeans hanging from our garden cage



The pumpkin plants grew up the sides of the cage. They are starting to die off but they were really cool when they were in full bloom!





One of our watermelons. It's a little bigger than a softball.



4.

What children want to capture with a camera.

This was intentionally taken upside-down.

Yes, this is a picture of the TV. A video game, no less. And my son interacting with his favorite character. We REALLY need to get out more!



And we can't forget these Mr. Potato head parts!

5.



Looking up to his hero!





Five Things For Friday, volume 1

1. I am linking up with Women In The Scriptures in her "Five Things For Friday" Post. Just because. So here are 4 more random thoughts from me.

2. My husband is leaving soon for Afghanistan. This is his first deployment in 6 years. My kids barely remember the last time. We are all stressed out. I find myself mentally counting down the days until he leaves, thinking "We have to this before he leaves." or "That can wait until he leaves." It's making me crazy! I am trying to distract myself but it isn't working very well.

3. 5 kids in school now. Wow. I feel like time is going by and I am not even noticing. I tend to be a procrastinator and this is just one more reminder that I can't put things off forever. My dad used to say "Indecision becomes decision with time." I tend to take that route. I wait until the choice is made for me. "I can't go now, I didn't make arrangements." I have to do that today or I won't be able to at all." It isn't the best way to get through life.

4. We ate a tiny little watermelon from our garden yesterday. It had spilt and was going to rot if we left it. It was about the size of a softball. It was really sweet but warm from being in the sun. We are still getting tomatoes, though not as many as before. I took James and Claire to pick the last few Raspberries. James ate them all as fast as I could pick them. Then he picked about six cherry tomatoes and ate those too! It was so cute with tomatoes seeds running down his chin! He's becoming a picky eater so I am glad he eats something fresh once in a while!

5. WARNING! CHOIR RANT! I need to blow off a little steam and I apologize if you get burned!  I have been choir director for about 4 months. I have been having practices every Wednesday night. I have added Sunday before church (we have Sacrament meeting at 12:00). I have consistently had 4 or 5 people attend choir practice. Not all of them every time. I often have just one person. It is very hard to have a choir one person! This week I had 4 Sopranos. They did a great job. But they need the least practice. People keep complaining that they want to sing their parts but they don't show up for practice and they don't practice at home so the choir often sounds like I picked a bunch of people form the congregation and handed them a hymnal. No blending, no dynamics, ...I'll stop. Those who make an effort do a wonderful job. It would be nice if more people were as dedicated.

Superpowers 101: Adventures in Gardening, Part 2

We put all the kids to work in the garden!

He loves the outdoors, mud and all!



Most of this is tomatoes from one day's harvest from our garden. We have lots of Romas, some Lemon Boys, Cherokee Purple tomatoes, and a few Big Boys.

These are grapes and raspberries from our own plants! We are so thrilled! This was the first grapes we have picked but we have probably had a cup or 2 of rasberried this summer.

Superpowers 101:Adventures in Gardening

We have tried to have a garden for the past few years. Sometimes it works out, sometimes, not so much. This year has been quite successful. We still tend to learn through the trial-and-error method but we are really excited about the succes of our efforts this year.

Here are some of the fruits of our labors.

Our first tomatoes

Tomatoes and herbs

Raspberries

.

  

 Strawberries

Grapes

Pumpkins!

Pepper

Greenbeans climbing the fence

Corn

MY GARDEN

by: Thomas Edward Brown

 

A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot!

Rose plot,

Fringed pool,

Ferned grot--

The veriest school

Of peace; and yet the fool

Contends that God is not--

Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool?

Nay, but I have a sign;

’Tis very sure God walks in mine

Superpowers 101: Gardening

I know what you are thinking, "I have 1 million things to do and you want me to add gardening to the list? Are you CRAZY!?!?!?" Now that you mention it...No, I am not crazy. Growing things is what women do. Even before I had children, I enjoyed having a plant to care for. It is a way for women to express one of our divine, innate abilities; to nurture.

I first made a genuine effort to have a garden when we were living in Germany. Our Relief Society President (the leader of our church's woman's group) was an expert gardener. Her passion rubbed off on everyone. Her name was Irmgard but my kids called her "Irmgarden".

Most of the women in our church group were military spouses, living in government apartments. Some people would have said "oh, well, no yard for a garden." and that would have been the end of it. Irmgard was the kind of woman who didn't take no for an answer. Every spring she organized a class activity about container gardening, complete with pots, dirt, and a variety of plants. It was fun and educational.

I have to confess that although I planted tomatoes, peppers, chives, green beans, lettuce, and strawberries in my balcony garden, I had a very meager harvest. Some of the plants didn't get enough attention. Most of the tomatoes were plucked off and rolled down the drain before they had the chance to mature. The birds dug in the soil and carried off the young strawberries. I guess this could be seen as a failure but I saw it as a learning experience.

A few years later, my husband decided we were ready for a real garden. By that time we had a yard with wonderful soil and plenty of space.The whole family helped with planting and caring for the garden. We planted strawberries, corn, peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, lettuce, green beans, potatoes and carrots. It became part of our regular routine to water the garden and check it for ripe produce.

Our strawberries were the sweetest I have ever tasted. The green beans were fresh and crisp. We had several pounds of potatoes. We only had 2 pumpkins but they made so much pulp that we had pureed pumpkin coming out of our ears! And speaking of ears, we had the most delicious corn! We invited another family over to help us eat it and ended up have just corn for dinner!

We still had some failures. The tomatoes rotted on the vine and the carrots never amounted to anything. We planted more lettuce than we could eat so some of it went to waste. Overall, we had a wonderful time.

This past summer we moved and could not plant another garden. After just one summer I am already disgusted with having to buy strawberries and lettuce. I wish I still had pumpkin in my freezer and home-grown potatoes in my pantry. Even the children have asked if we can plant a garden next year. I can't completely explain how or why this experience was so wonderful. I only know that it was.