The View From My Kitchen Window

April 6, 2014

In our part of Alabama, the changes from my window in the early to mid Spring and mid Fall are so rapid that at times I feel as though I should take a picture every day to capture them.  With a dogwood tree right outside my kitchen window, there are even days when I feel as though the pictures should be made both morning and evening.

Then comes summer and winter.  It often seems as though there are no visible changes at all going on around us during those times.  I have learned that these seasons are when changes must be measured in other ways.

For some reason God wired my brain to be very in tune with the shifting and changing of light and shadow.  For as long as I can remember, I have been one to notice a difference in both the look and the feel of light over a period of weeks, months, and seasons.  Summer has always felt like summer because of the different angle at which the light dances through the window in the late afternoon.  Each year, the dance is a little different because of the growth of the trees and bushes around.

The light coming into our back garden is different this year.  The trees are taller, filtering more light and creating a different grouping of shade.  Even in areas where trees have been blown down ~ or been cut down by Mr. Marvelous ~ there is a difference because of the height and the fullness of the remaining trees.

I would like to think that living in the trees and being one who is so sensitive to the light helps me to slow down a bit and live at a slightly different pace.  That slower pace allows me to stop and delight in the patterns of God's light when the trees dance for me, and to reflect on God's Light.  It is easier for me to live at this pace; I am in a season of life when there are neither little ones needing constant attention nor work outside the home to rush off to.  My prayer for you today, regardless of whether you are in the middle of work or caring for family or just feeling overwhelmed by dark days, is that you will find a moment to stop and reflect on and delight in God's creation and especially in His Light.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”                John 8:12

Walkabout Wednesday: April Totals

April was a disappointing month for walking.  I walked, and I would estimate that I walked as much as or more than last April.  The problem is that I promised myself at the beginning of this trek that I would only count miles logged on my pedometer and would not give in to the temptation to estimate.  April brought with it some (more) pedometer woes.  Oh, the temptation to guess, to estimate, to average out the last couple of Aprils!  But the reality is that I only logged 58.32 miles bringing my total to a mere two thousand two hundred seventy point zero one.  Sigh. 

My current location is about halfway between the Salton Sea and Boreggo Springs.  I had planned to continue south to San Diego, but I realized this morning that if I do that I will miss things like the Palomar Observatory (how could I pass up an opportunity like that??!!) AND and opportunity to visit San Nicholas Island (think Island of the Blue Dolphin).  I may or may not swing up to Los Angeles; the big call to doing that (besides being a stereotypical, gawky sight-seer) would be the opportunity to visit Venice and roller blade there (think Blast From The Past).  We'll see. 

Google has changed the look of their maps again.  Oh joy!  But if you look at the Salton Sea you will notice that just west of there is a small mountain range, then a desert area, then another range of mountains.  I am not quite to the next range of mountains. Those mountains look formidable enough that I'm thinking about calling my niece Anne Caitlin for help getting up and over!

Hopefully by the end of this month I will be at least to the Pacific Ocean.  Perfect time to hit the beach!

Keep walking!

Photo from tourofcalifornia.org

A (Mostly) Completed Project

I usually like to wait until a project is 100% complete before posting.  However by special request I am posting this one that is only mostly completed.

I have had two window frames sitting in my basement for going on three years.  I bought them at the World's Longest Yard Sale and "intended" to do a project with them long before now (Boxwoods.  I know).

I have a friend who is one of those people who gets things done.  If Beth thinks of an idea, she doesn't rest until she has figured out how to do it and gotten it finished.  She's pretty amazing that way.  She has rubbed off on me a little (let there be great rejoicing!).

I decided last week to quit thinking about those window frames and do something with them.

For quite some time I have wanted to have some sort of sign or something to mark the fact that I have Scarborough Fair in my front yard herb beds.  You know; parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.  I decided to use one of the windows for that.

After going to Petals From The Past last weekend I got busy.  While this is not normal for me, I actually remembered to take pictures before, during and after.

Here's before

Ugly, isn't it?

Looks better after being sanded.

Work was interrupted by a series of storms that blew through here last week.  I had not done any storm prep since the winter so I had to take a break and get some work done around the house and the yard Monday and Tuesday.  I figured I could work on this whether I had power or not but vacuuming can only be done with the electricity on!

Wednesday I got back busy again and started working on the lettering.

I tried the lettering on the natural wood. 

That did not work.

So I painted the whole thing white and tried again.

Voila!

Since it is going to hang outside, I sealed it with polyurethane

(thanks, Beth!)

Next I picked the herbs and sealed them with a coat of fixative.  

I am hoping that will keep them from drying out quite so quickly.

With some help from Mr. Marvelous, I added some chain. 

Then I tied on the herbs and here is the (almost) finished product.

My parsley is way too small to pick yet.

When I went to visit my friend Lisa and get some from her I realized that I had forgotten my wallet!

I'll go see Lisa later this week

(Here's a shout out to Green Up Garden Shoppe!) 

Meantime, here is a shot of the new window hanging above my own, personal Scarborough Fair

And here is the update with the parsley added:

Monday Morning Memories: Boxwoods

Many years ago my Dad went to visit a member of his congregation.  She was recently widowed and was in that time when the busy-ness of planning a funeral is done and the grown children have had to go back to their homes and lives in other cities and states.

He and Mom went to visit this dear lady and had a nice visit talking about her children and remembering her dear husband. 

As they were leaving, the lady was apologizing for the overgrown garden path.  It seems that her children loved boxwoods and had planted some for their mother many years ago.  As time went on, they grew (imagine that!) and got to the point that the lady could hardly walk from her house to her car.  She didn't much care for boxwoods in the first place and she really did not care for them now.  She kept telling the children that she was going to dig them up but they kept assuring her that they would come and take care of that task for her.

She waited.

                            And waited.

                                                             And waited!

She finished telling Dad about this situation, expressing her frustration that her children did not follow through with their good intentions of helping their mother!

Dad jokingly said, "Well, you know what the road to Hell is paved with".

She looked at him with some confusion and consternation and replied,

"Boxwoods??"

Photo from bitsandbreadcrumbs.com

Happy Friday

From our bunnies to your home.  Remember: bunny kisses do tickle!

Happy Furday.....er....Friday!          

Blue Birds and Hummers and Art: Oh My!

Last weekend Mr. Marvelous and I went to Jemison, Alabama for a visit to Petals From The Past.

It just happened to be the weekend that the Antique Vendors were there showing off their pretties.

I met this delightful man, Bottle Tree Bob.

That's Bob in the hat

Bob loves hummingbirds and bluebirds.  He has just a few hummers around his home and shop, but on his property he has over twenty-one blue bird houses, many of them in use.

I think his art is beautiful and wanted to share it with you.

A Leghorn!

 

I wish I had taken pictures of everything he had, but you can flit over to his website here and check out the other things he has.

Walkabout Wednesday: Salton Sea

I will post April totals next week.  It has been another challenging month with some pedometer woes but I am determined to keep walking!

I don't know why, but abandoned places intrigue me.  The thought of wandering unhindered through an old, empty building and filling it with my imagination and stories of Used-To-Be's is fascinating.

It is probably related to the school I attended for my first two years.  I still have dreams about wandering through that old building and I still have not forgiven Greenville School Systems for tearing it down!

Postcard of Donaldson Elementary before the rear addition.  When I was there the trees were full-grown

Because of this, my wanderings have included some spaces that others would probably not find very attractive.  One of these places is the Salton Sea.

Photo from Salton Sea Modern Museum

The Salton Sea is located in the Colorado Desert in Southern California.  Wikipedia has an interesting article on it here.  I read the history of how it was formed, with the canals, the flooding, the railroad, the farming run-off, the Hoover Dam, and on, and on.

I wonder about the people who lived there long ago when it was a salt-mining town.

Picture from Photobucket

The folks who struggled to make a living farming the land only to have the Imperial Canal fiasco flood the whole area.

Photo from nps.gov

The men stationed at the Marine Barracks during World War II

Photo courtesy of Slab City Archives

The people who were drawn there in the resort years...

 

....only to have the dreams dry up and become crusted over with a layer of salt.

Photo courtesy of slworking2 from Flickr.com

Those first few folks who decided to make the abandoned marine barracks a place to live off the grid.

Photo courtesy of Chuck Coker from Flickr.com

Or a place to proclaim their faith.

Photo courtesy of pixeltoo on Creative Commons

Something about this area seems to draw people to try and capture it in words or paintings or photographs.  Independent film makers seem to have been especially captivated by this area.  It seems I am not the only one who finds the area visually intriguing.

The View From My Kitchen Window: A Rainy April Sunday

God waited to send the rain until we finished the week's planting.  Gardeners appreciate such blessings!

 

Weekend Wrap-Up

Wow, what a weekend!

Mr. Marvelous and I have been curious about a garden business about an hour away from us called Petals From The Past.  We kept hearing about them from various people, and were interested in their work to preserve heirloom species, but we just never quite got around to going there.

Saturday morning I packed a picnic and we took off and headed south to Jemison.  It was sunny and warm and the perfect day to wander through a garden. 

I hope one day my scuppernongs look this nice!

On the way home we stopped at Lowe's for some lumber so we could come home and build this...

We changed our homeowner's insurance this year to a different company, which costs about half of what our old company was after the latest rate hike. Their only request was that we fence off this drop-off.  For that much of a reduction in price, you bet we will build a fence!

After building the fence, Mr. Marvelous got busy tilling and planting.  Can you see the artichoke plants in the picture?  I'm excited about those.  We love artichokes and have tried ~ unsuccessfully ~ to raise them in the past.  I'm hoping that this year will be the magic year for them.

Meanwhile I cleaned up the herb beds and got the lemon balm, tarragon and parsley planted.

In between doing that and helping with the fence I got to work on this.

Before

And after.  This is just the very beginning of the project.  I figured that since the next few days are supposed to be rainy, stormy and generally indoor days, I will finish it up when I can not go outside.

Saturday night was grilling hamburgers on the back porch while sitting in the swing and lying in the hammock.  Mr. Marvelous makes the world's best hamburgers!

Sunday morning was a wonderful morning of worship, followed by a homegrown meal (Mom's version of rotisserie rooster).  

The thunder and rain waited on us to finish and the rest of the afternoon was spent napping while listening to the music of the weather.

I got a little behind on the housework over the weekend.  Curiously enough, rather than complain about a less than perfect house, Mr. Marvelous just kept talking about how much fun we had spending the day working beside each other.