The Greenhouse (and peas) in April

These peas were planted last fall - I wanted to see how they would winter over. As you can see, even several snowfalls couldn't daunt these peas - they are verrry happy and covered with blooms. Peas will happen soon!

This is what the greenhouse was built for! Happy plants.
We collected seeds from two different wave petunias last year, planted them a couple of months ago. They are healthy and will be ready to plant out within a month.

The five kinds of tomatos are also thriving - aren't they beautiful?! And the leaves smell wonderful, Meg! Wish you could smell them for yourself!

The Sun is Here

Too bad I haven't the time to photograph it, much less bask in it. I feel like - who was it, the Rabbit? in Alice in Wonderland - I'm late for way too many things to accomplish! Listing them would be boring. I miss blogging and sharing pictures and cleaning my house, if you can believe that! Well, those who are self-employed had better make hay the whole time the - SUN SHINES! I get it! (Pausing to appreciate the totally unplanned pun.) Meanwhile I must not be the only one who is busy. Lots of blogs are pretty slow right now.

Wendell Berry - Found on My Own

S'true! I haven't seen what the fuss was about Mr. Berry (though I'm rather a fan of DAVE Barry!), but reading a very nice article in the Reader's Digest about a Viet Nam adoption, I followed down to the poem underneath and liked it. Then I read the author's name and chuckled. Okay. I officially get it. Here is the poem - see what you think!

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

I am reminded of Scriptures that might speak to Mr Berry's soul if he were of a mind to listen. There is Matthew 10:29-31 - "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

And there's the one Todd is fond of reminding me about when I fret, in Matthew 6:34 - "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I won't be all proud and say I always trust God and never fret - I don't, and I do! There are things in my life's circle and the greater world that are troubling, even distressing - sometimes very much so. If I can affect them I try to. But sometimes all I can do is pray and trust them to God, who truly can do that which should be done. The praying is the good stuff. The praying makes a difference.

It's been a while since I felt the despair described elequently above. It's better not to get to that point. But I still find peace where the wild things are.

Baby Smells

It is a point of fact that baby basil plants may equal baby tomato plants for smelling heavenly.

Sunny Day, Sweeping the Clouds Away...

Anybody else remember the old Sesame Street opening song?

What a beautiful day! The sun is shining, plants are bustin' out all over, the choir sang over the weekend and I am movin' on! (BTW, our Easter choir experience was WONDERFUL - our church does a community outreach service at the local HS on Easter Sunday, so Palm Sunday is our church family Easter service, and that's when we sang.)

The renters have moved out of Fairmount house, so we are trying, yet again, to sell. Boy, are we ever taking a financial beating on this place. Now we want to just sell really cheap and start over. As Dave Ramsey says, we are paying the stupid tax and learning from it! ANYhow, that means it needs to be staged again. Now, ordinarily that would sound like fun, right? Not this time, because all I want to do this week is garden! There's lots to do in the office, too, and a couple of ministry items that are clamoring for their piece of my attention. So, as wonderful and complete as my plan is for staging, the reality may be much more modest. Anybody want to have a staging party? Hmmm?

But the sun is shining, and it is Easter week, and I just can't stay under the load for very long - it keeps slipping off my shoulders! Four beautiful does meandered through the meadow this morning - so peaceful. As long as they're not eating my (newly-heightened and fortified-fenced) dogwood.

He is Risen!

Hi guys.

Once again we are celebrating the resurrection season

because Christ Jesus died on the cross to substitute His death for ours,

then He rose again from death and the grave to give us new life in Him!

Oh, how thankful I am, not only to anticipate eternity in Heaven,

but also for the peaceful, abundant life (not easy or perfect!)

that He offers to all who accept it.

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

The Buzzards are Back!

That is a pretty tiny picture, but it's "all I got"! (Which movie?)

I don't know if there's any way for you to tell, but this is a picture from yesterday morning of two buzzards sunning themselves in our old growth Douglas fir tree. It was a damp and chilly morning and they chose the highest perch available to spread their wings to catch some heat and Vitamin D. Wait - do animals require Vitamin D too? Hmmm... Anyway, Todd called us in to see them, and it was really fun to watch. (He took the picture and emailed it to me.) Since one of my favorite things about summer here is watching the buzzards ride the hot air currents, I am glad to see them return.

(And since my blogging literacy is limited at best, I can only refer you to a previous blog from Sunday, September 28, 2008, for my post about the buzzards migrating south.)