Summertime

Summertime, an' the livin' is easy

Fish are jumpin', an' the cotton is high

Oh yo' Daddy's rich, an' yo' Ma is good lookin'

So hush, little baby, don' you cry. 

One of these mornin's, you're goin' to rise up singin'

Then you'll spread yo' wings, an' you'll take to the sky

But 'til that mornin', there's a-nothin' can harm you

With Mammy an' Daddy standin' by. 

Camping at Priest Lake

So we went camping last weekend.  Not bad for us; camping is often a thing we do quickly before the summer is over.  But hey, no garden = more fun.  :) And anyway, we didn't initiate the trip. We went with Nathan and Faith and their kiddos.  They had the idea and invited us.  We need friends like them.  Otherwise I'm afraid we would reside peacefully at 115 Branch Lane indefinitely.      So anyway, getting there involved a two hour road trip and about that long of a boat ride.  I get a little nervous when you mention my kids and boats in the same sentence.  Yup, I'm one of those "nervous women". I was actually ok once we were on the boat.

    Every camping trip has to have its memories.  Well, our memory this time was our redneck transportation. You see, we were using an electric trolling motor on the Jon boat to go from the lower lake to the upper lake.  We had our qualms about whether the motor would have enough charge to make it to the campsite, but we knew that Nathan also had a gas motor on his boat..... And there are always the oars......... Well now we know that the trolling motor doesn't troll for THAT long. We finished the trip with our boats tied together.  We did get gawked at a bit by alll those people in their shiny speedboats. :) Oh, and then we were joined in the evening by a few more friends who also completed their trip up the river with alternative energy (they rowed).  So going back down the river we had THREE boats tied together.  I guess there are things in life that keep you humble and proud. You have to laugh when things don't go as planned. It keeps you humble.  It makes you proud that you know how to improvise.  It makes you humble when the people with real boats look at your improvisation and smile. It makes you proud that you don't care if they're laughing because you're not in debt over your boat, and you're having fun. It makes you humble when the captain of your two and three boated barge wears a cowboy hat.  It makes you feel better to know he really does own cows.

What would little girls be without secrets!

The kids got right down to the business of playing as soon as we got there.  There was a beautiful tree by the water whose roots were exposed.  Excellent place to play.

The babies don't actually play that well together yet. But they sure are cute!

The above pictures are just picture that Jay and I couldn't help taking.  The lighting was just perfect.  

There is an unwritten law that mothers may not sleep well on camping trips.  For some reason, my perfect baby chose that night to cry loudly, often. And then he woke before six and became the sweetest little fire seeking, chair dwelling charactar.  His big sister joined him while it was still early, looking a little puffy eyed, but as brilliant as her little morning person self often does. 

  Just some pretties. Sun and water and kid tracks.

We got home the way you should. Tired and happy.  For real. The kids slept the whole way home. And then when we got home we just put everything away and stayed up until midnight doing laundry and cleaning the coolers.  And then we went to bed at 9:00 and slept soundly until 6:00.  And woke up to a sparkling house and perfect children.  :) Believe whatever you like. :)

June 11

Today was such a lovely day. The end.  Oh, ok then. I worked outside in the flower beds, digging weeds, moving plants like so much furniture, and happily lopping off out of control wild roses. 

 We aren't gardening this year. That is, we didn't plant a huge vegetable garden. I planted double the amount of flowers in my cut flower garden.  And then I had a little room left, so I planted two rows of beans.  And that's it, except for a few volunteer tomatoes in the green house. I've decided to take care of them. Who knows? We might get a few. 

The reason we aren't gardening this year is that I  told Jay that I didn't want to garden and take care of a baby. It turns out that baby is so good that I probably could do all that canning and freezing. But honestly, I am loving the break. And anyway, we are hoping and praying to add on to our house soon. If we are able to start that project this summer we will be very glad that we don't have a garden. So now you know. 

Back to today. Vitamin D in sunshine form is amazing. I feel tired , but strong and happy. If only laundry and dishes could do themselves! 

Tonight I took a walk with the kids. Before I left I snapped a few pictures of my flower beds. And then I kept trying to be fancy with the iphone. 

Shilah sees Red

Shilah was looking at my photo gallery and informed me I need to begin blogging again. She liked these pictures of Mima in red and thought I could publish a blog post titled "I See Red".  So I promptly, there at her kitchen table, installed a blogger app on my phone. I have yet to see if it works. But anyway, perhaps good things happen when Shilah sees red. :)

Challenged: Life is Good?

I sure did fall down on the photo challenge! Oh, I think I might resume again with the list.  It is fun. But obviously it won't be done in the month of June! What really happened was that life itself became too challenging.  Plain and simple. :)
I just got back from town.  I followed a vehicle down the hill that had the worn out "Life is Good" slogan on the spare tire cover.  I see it all over- on all the Subarus, and Jeeps, and SUVs, and Land Rovers.  I really don't have a problem with it; it can be taken as a reminder to count your blessings. But, everytime I see it I think to myself, "God is good." Kind of like mentally correcting peoples' bad grammar the instant they "seen" something.
Today I was trying to deal with my overwhelmed emotional state of mind.  I kept running into walls.  I understand how blessed I am.  I understand God's call to me as a wife and mother.  I understand that hormones and fatigue are playing a huge role in how I am carrying out my calling.  The conflict is between what I know and what I feel . I finally decided to let the tears go in the shower and then to quit trying to reconcile my feelings with the facts.  I don't think feelings can be rationally reconciled with facts. So my memo to myself is: do what ever you have to do, whether mandated by God or circumstances, and hold on; you'll feel better eventually. The thing is, maybe life is good, and maybe not. God is good. Always.



Grandma has beautiful poppies right now.

June Photo Challenge: Detail

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sea shells

June Photo Challenge: Half

Bread dough


Two hours later :)