Missing in Action!

Sunrise from my parent's doorstep

Hi Everyone!
Yes--I have been missing in action for quite some time.  It's not that I don't have anything to share--it's just that I haven't found that secretary who is going to follow me around all day as I dictate to her what I would like to write here on my blog! ;)  But yes, I really am still here!  And my computer broke.  And then my iPad started having major trouble.  But I "think" those problems are either solved or getting solved. . .

We have been busy with school.  And cooking.  And laundry.  And pet care.  And--well, with any number of good things.  They all keep me very very busy.  Which is why it is SO nice when something comes along to change that just a bit.  In this case, that something is called SPRING BREAK!!!!

My wonderful parents

So we loaded up the ol' mini-van and headed south---to visit my very favorite Snowbirds, my parents! :)  Yes, it is a sacrifice.  I mean, SOMEONE has to enjoy all that Florida sunshine and beaches!  And I suppose it is just too big of a job for my parents to enjoy it all by themselves, so we MUST go help them enjoy it!  ;)

My favorite shell collector

Making family memories.  The long drive.  The getting lost in Atlanta when everyone else in the car thought my sweetie didn't need any more directions, and he was just assuming we would tell him when to turn!  Ah--the things that will be remembered and joked about forever more. . . 

My Sweetie and favorite college student

Looking for birds.  Trying to capture them with our cameras!

Sunset

Beautiful cloud pictures.  Trying to find just the right setting on our cameras to have the picture show what our eye sees.

A tree just around the corner from my parent's place

Finding a tree that with the sunset behind it looks to me just like something from Africa--not that I have ever been to Africa, of course!

Under the moon with my Sweetie

Walks with my Sweetie, taking our cameras and watching for beauty around us.

It was good to get away. . . 

What do you notice when you step away from your regular day to day tasks?

Have a beautiful day with your beautiful Savior--who made a world filled with beauty for our enjoyment!

~Susan

A Bouquet for You!

Just thought I would send a little June bouquet to everyone. Hope you enjoy this peek into our yard. Many thanks to my wonderful teen-age son for his technical advice on how to make the collage!

God is Love

" 'God is love' is written upon every opening bud, upon every spire of springing grass.

The lovely birds making the air vocal with their happy songs,

the delicately tinted flowers in their perfection perfuming the air,

the lofty trees of the forest with their rich foliage of living green----

all testify to the tender, fatherly care of our God

and to His desire to make His children happy........

Through the things of nature, and through the deepest and most tender ties human hearts can know,

God has sought to reveal Himself to us.

But these are only sample of the fullness of His love.

Though all these evidences have been given,

the enemy of good has blinded the eyes of human beings,

so that we look at God with fear--seeing Him as severe and unforgiving.

Satan led men to conceive of God as a being whose main thing is stern justice--one who is a severe judge, or a harsh, exacting creditor.

He has pictured the Creator as a person who is watching with a scrutinizing eye to find any trace of error or mistake in a human being, so that he can visit a punishment of judgement upon them.

It was to remove this dark shadow, by revealing to the world the infinate love of God,

that Jesus came to live among us."

Steps to Christ, by Ellen G. White, p. 10

I hope you have enjoyed having a peek of what I found on my Sabbath afternoon walk--

as our family walked around on the beautful school campus where my hubby works! :D If earth has this much loveliness, how much more beautiful will heaven be, where Jesus is preparing a special home for each one of us. Come soon, Lord Jesus!

Garden Report

This morning was so beautiful I grabbed my camera and decided it was time to do a little "Garden Report". Our dogwood trees, by the far the most beautiful thing in our yard right now, I cannot claim any credit for. They have been here in this yard a long time before we lived here. They are old and knarled, and when the wind blows I wonder how some of them can still stand--but they seem to hang on!
I thought the view of the blossoms from underneath the tree was paticularly lovely. I would like to spend the whole day here, gazing up at the sky......

Of course, the view from the top of the blossoms is also beautiful.

Our little home from the road. It's hard to tell, but there are two rows of Rosborough blackberries planted here on the right side of the photo. Then next to the driveway there are two almond and three peach trees. Far side of the driveway are three apple trees. These are all pretty small, as we only put them in a year ago, and the deer came last summer and made a meal of our fruit trees. :( The larger trees in the front yard are all dogwoods.

Two beautiful baby peaches trying to grow. We'll see if they drop off or hang on, and whether the deer eat them!

Rosborough blackberry buds about to open.

Closer view of the Rosborough row. They are only around 1 1/2 feet tall. This variety grew much larger for us when we planted them in Texas. Maybe after some more time they will grow larger.....on the other hand, everything IS always larger in Texas..... ;)

Blueberries-to-be---we planted six bushes last summer. Still small, but alive! They are planted just to the right of the carport.

A row of Doyle, thornless blackberries--thanks to my garden friend Sylvia who sent them to us! The paperwork that came with them SAID they would put out these incredible long canes, but I wasn't really sure I believed it. HOW could a blackberry put out 40 feet canes????? "Oh ye of little faith".....well, I haven't measured ours, so I don't know that the canes are 40 feet, but I can say they are well over 20 anyway, on our first plant that has been in for two years now. I'm not sure how we would have built a trellis large enough for them even if we HAD believed the papers! So in the mean time, they are just sort of curving around in loops--but they seem happy in spite of us! And the rest in the row should be catching up with the first plant soon.

Ceicle (sp?) Brunner rose, just about to open. I brought this as a tiny plant in a pot when we moved. I had "thought" it was the bush variety of this rose, but guess what??? I think it's the climbing variety instead, and it is way overgrowing the small garden trellis we just stuck in back of it. Ah well. Good problem to have. I hadn't even noticed when I was taking the picture that I have aphids--looks like I need some hungry ladybugs around here!

Our little swing in the back yard. Property line ends at the wire fence just behind the swing, so you are mostly looking into our neighbor's back yard. But the wire fence behind the iris' on the left is not the property line--our yard goes back into the woods probably half an acre more. I have daffodils planted back in the woods. Was wondering if I could get azaleas growing back in the woods. I think they would like it there, but just don't know if they could survive on rainfall only for water. I am NOT liking the idea of hand carrying buckets of water to them, and a hose would never reach. So whatever I plant back in there has got to make it on it's own.

Our little garden spot in the back yard, to the left of the house when you are facing the front of the house. So far, we just have two garden beds put in--and as busy as I am I should be wise and leave it at two for now. I am planting one bed for butterflies--both flowers, as well as food for the larva to eat. In previous years, I greatly enjoyed collecting Black Swallowtail caterpillars and bringing them into the house to finish growing. They get protected from hungry birds, and we get the fun of watching them and learning from them. Wonderful homeschool project, though I think it's something that I enjoy more than my kids!!! Anyway, so the bed on the left in the photo is for the butterflies, and I will grow Morning Glories up that side of the trellis. The bed on the right side will be for a few veggies that we squeeze in, and we will grow beans and cucumbers up the trellis. The big leafy square area is where we put tomatoes, and a couple squashes.

Rue that I grew last year from seed I collected from my plant in my Texas yard. I was very happy to be able to grow it here by seed, as I had purchased the original plant at Wild Seed Farms in Texas, and I have not seen it for sale anywhere else. This is probably the favorite food of the Black Swallowtail caterpillars that come to my yard, followed next by the parsley. This plant survived our Tennessee winter, for which I was very happy as I was too busy to collect more seed and grow it inside again this spring, like I had last year. So it was nice of it to cooperate and not die back, inspite of several snows.

Baby lavender plant just planted yesterday--again, for attracting visiting butterflies.

Well, that's about it for my little yard tour of this morning--hope you enjoyed it! :D

"Spring Hunt" Finds & Treasures

Volunteer green onions coming up in our garden. Last year the bunnies ate them all!

Alison enjoying the flowers. A year ago Fall I planted them all throughout our woods.

Volunteer parsley in the garden from last year--planted in hopes of attracting Black Swallowtail butterflies.

Weeds in our yard--but still pretty.

Forsynthia volunteering underneath another shrub. Maybe the birds planted this?

^^A beautiful peach bud.

^^Daffodils in our woods.

^^Daylilies starting to creep up among all the weeds in our front flower bed.

Spring has Sprung!

Spring feels like it is finally creeping it's way up to our corner of Tennessee. The winter here has been much colder than usual--like it has been for much of the U.S. We had snow that actually STUCK to the ground several times. Kids got a chance to make snowmen, etc., and it has felt like it would never turn spring--just tempting us with the occasional warm and sunny day, before returning to cold, rainy, and overcast. But finally, today, the sun is out and it is feeling warm! :D I have started giving my teen some clean-up-the-garden chores (Teens are VERY useful--everyone should have at least one!) to get our garden beds ready for planting. I only have a few minutes before I need to leave to take the little one to swimming lesson, but I am going to grab those minutes and go on a "Spring hunt" with my camera. We'll see what I find....