I’m back in town, settled back into my comfortable daily existence of kid cuddles, husband hugs and dog-petting. It’s a good life for sure.
But a weekend away with the girls at the lake? It was priceless. And very otherly. And that is exactly what the doctor ordered.
I’m still soaking in the fun of the past two days. First, there was the art gallery with my work on display! Here’s just a brief glimpse at the photography series I posted of the Bradley family. I hope to share more with you soon. For now, though, I will say that the night was a success and we had a great turnout of friends and family.
Then, last night was the grand community theater/backyard spectacle of Dr. Quinn: The Musical! This photo was snapped an hour before show time and, as you can see, the audience is getting settled. Go check out Renae’s photos to see what it looked like during the musical and to admire the primo seating one gets when such an event occurs in one’s own backyard! Our gardens have never seen so much excitement, and neither have we. The night was a blast.
**Photo disclaimer: These tomatoes are in my dad’s garden, not mine!
It’s getting to that time of year where I have to force myself to work in the garden. It’s mid-July, which, in Nebraska means it’s pretty hot and ridiculously humid outdoors. The mosquitoes find me irresistible while the weeds find my garden patch irresistible. Plus, the vegetable garden, by this point in the season, is doing well and doesn’t seem to need as much TLC anymore. It’s easy to throw up my hands and surrender to the elements by staying indoors with the AC cranked up. However, I need to resist that desire because my garden is growing like crazy and someone, moi, needs to keep up with it.
This year I planted kale, mixed lettuces, white onions, bush beans, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, zinnias and sunflowers. Oh yeah, and broccoli. Tender, sweet little shoots of broccoli, which made a delightful meal for some foul beast back in May. And yet, in an odd turn of events, a broccoli plant sprouted up among the beans and when I peeked at my garden tonight, there was a green head on the plant. Awesome.
We’re enjoying Year Two of our neighborhood garden. Again we were allowed a portion of the old Zion Church lot (now it belongs to our church, Redeemer) and again our awesome neighbors measured out plots, tilled the ground, and fenced off a bit of earth. It felt like a good old-fashioned moment of Americana when we gathered together for a BBQ outside the garden in June. Everyone was introduced, or re-introduced, food was shared, the young garden admired.
So tomorrow, I absolutely have to get into my little space and pull some weeds. Perhaps it’ll rain tonight and my task will become a bit simpler. The kale is growing like mad and I’ve promised bags of it to my mom and a friend. I am sure the beans are ready for picking and an empty vase awaits the zinnias. And maybe, if I’m lucky, a tomato will be ripe.
My heart has just started to thaw from the harsh and frozen memories of last winter. I’ll take the heat, the humidity, and even the darn mosquito bites if it means I get to enjoy summer for a little bit longer.
Sometimes it’s fun just to sit in an empty pool with your good bud.
And sometimes it’s fun to sit in that empty pool and pretend your good bud’s baby brother is a monster. Because then you get to scream.
And scream.
And scream some more.
Here we have Josh and Liv, throwing their illegal pickings into the air with glee and gusto. (And no, I didn’t know that the grapes were off limits when I snapped this shot.)
These kids, who apparently are planning on marrying one another, feed off each other’s energies and have a wildly fun time about 50% of the time they’re together. Hopefully, by the time they’re ready to walk down the aisle they’ve bumped up that number to at least 75%.
I have many hilarious shots of Josh and Livia playing. Now to narrow them down.
