Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Middle Week

Today it is Wednesday which to me is always a day of reflection and planning. It is a good time in the week to pause and make note of what has been accomplished and to plan what to do for the remaining time before The Weekend. I do not have much planned beyond finishing up my two sheer dresses for our next reenactment and starting Malachi's double pink gown. It is nice to have a slower pace this week after our last few hectic ones - but at least I did get the painting done last week! Time to sit and read books with the boys, have picnics in the yard, weed the flower beds and watch the garden grow. Speaking of our garden, our plants seem to now be established enough to take a picture of. So, here is our little plot of earth:We do not have everything planted yet that we want to plant. The reason? Rain. Abundances of rain. It has been too wet to plant much lately so that is why my green beans and squash are not yet in. Beyond that, we do have sweet corn, two varities of potatoes, peas (which did not all come up) :( tomatoes (Davids passion), peppers, broccoli, onions and cantaloupe. In another spot, we have pumpkins. I also have sunflowers in various spots coming up and doing very well and in the front flower beds I have seven varieties of herbs. Already harvested was our spring crop of lettuce and radishes. We will plant those again in the fall. Our gardening endeavors are not huge, but for us this is the biggest garden venture we've mutally shared. David already has plans for expanding the garden next year and he desires to get some grape vines, raspberry plants and strawberry plants. If he had his way, we'd have no yard left because everything would be taken up for planting! :)

It is pleasant to work in the garden with David and the boys. The boys have seen the plants grow from the very beginning and Judah helped me plant the peas when those went in. Malachi thinks he can hoe and rake in the garden so often does. Judah helps pull weeds (and sometimes plants) :P and little David runs about between the rows singing a little made-up song about it being his garden. From our different places in the garden David and I look at each other and smile, then go back to our work. A mutual striving towards a specific goal. Is not that what marriage and family is? Helping each other, working together, and together seeing the profit of our labors?

Over the weekend we went to a Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary just across the river. It is a beautiful little spot and the boys enjoyed the nature displays inside the building there and then hiking the trails in the hills beyond. My twenty-fourth birthday was last Thursday and so David asked me what I wanted to do for it. A pre-1840 rendezvous we had wanted to go to turned out to have been held the previous weekend so I asked if we could go to the Nature Center instead.
So many memories rushed upon me as we walked these dear, familiar trails! This spot was one my father often took my siblings and I to when we were younger. I would imagine that he still takes my younger siblings there as he did when I was still at home. I felt as though the Sarah's of the past were next to every tree, in the shadows of the hills and fallen logs. I could almost hear my brother Jacob's voice as we passed places so full of pleasant times past. How often we pretended we were Civil War-era sharpshooters on those hills! How we ran ahead of the others and hid ourselves in the brush, waiting for them to pass by. :) Those times were really not so long ago at all. This time, my own little ones were wide eyed and wondering. They saw a blue bird, squirrels, wild turkeys and many daddy long-legs. They begged to climb up the hills and go down them. The big boys walked on ahead and I tagged along behind with Malachi, who stopped every few feet to scratch in the gravel with a stick.
How sobering to think that this time of life will go by so fast. What happens today will be our memories for tomorrow. That thought makes me pause often and reflect on how I spend my time and what I say and do - I want my family to have pleasant memories, not sorrowful or painful or bitter ones. I am so thankful to my father for giving me the memories of past trips to this Wildlife Sanctuary. Times when he could have been getting something done at home, but he decided that his family was more important and chores and to-do lists could wait. Would, in future years, we really care if a menial household task was done on a speficic certain day? Would we remember? Or would we remember better times spent as a family enjoying the beauty of nature?
Well I'm off to fix breakfast. I was awake much of last night due to violent storms surging through the area and it always seems that if I am awake at night, I am absolutely starving the next morning. At least the storms have cooled off this area. Everything is wet, but the air is crisp and clean.

Love,

Sarah

14 comments:

  1. Aaaw! It looks like you had a wonderful time! And Happy Birthday!

    I think gardens are better small and manageable, and you still get enough produce for yourselves!

    God Bless!!
    Meggie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy 24th birthday! Nature-walking looks like a lovely way to spend it.

    Your garden looks lovely... and huge! My lettuce never did come up, but we think we figured out why -- it was planted right where a river forms every time it rains. The spinach 2in forward and the beans 2in further back are just fine... oh well. I love how you describe your family time in the garden -- I so look forward to that.

    God bless your week!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a lovely garden! It has been so wet and cold here I just planted the sunflowers a week ago and they haven't even sprouted. I'm tempted to get starts for the rest, I think the seeds might rot in the ground from the damp! I can't wait to see the sheers - I'm sure they will be gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy birthday!!! :)

    Your children are too cute. & I love the shelf in the first picture. :)

    Blessings,
    Luci

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy birthday from me, too!

    The times in the nature preserve you describe remind me of our own times in a nature preserve... near it is a camp where my church organizes family recreations and we've spent so many summers in there! I can totally relate; I'd like to take my children there when (and if) I have them...

    ReplyDelete
  6. We have had a ton of rain lately too. I don't have a garden this year, but my friends who garden have been complaining about it. Have a great Wednesday :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your garden looks great, well loved and well taken care of. Your plans for expanding it sound just right, do a little more each year and "grow" into it.

    Happy belated birthday, I'm glad you spent it in such an enjoyable and relaxing way! Your focus and priorities are so refreshing to read about, a little island of sanity in a storm tossed sea! :-)

    Mrs. G

    ReplyDelete
  8. So that's where Ireland's rain went?Ireland's very warm at the mo.

    Well happy birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh Sarah! Looks like you had a wonderful birthday! Nothing like being outdoors in nature!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sarah dear~your outing sounds delightful! A perfect way to celebrate one's birthday :-)

    Lots of love,
    Sommer

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy Birthday!

    Your garden looks happy and thriving. Mine, much smaller due to a heavily shaded yard, is doing well this year too. My tomatoes didn't ripen last year-they rotted and fell off while still green and orange. They are giving to me this year in the form of many volunteer plants. I have five tomatoes going, but I've had to pull some because there is just no space.

    The Wildlife Sanctuary trip looks so peaceful. I loved playing in the forest as a child. There is so much to see, and so much stimulation to one's imagination.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dear Sarah,
    I could almost smell the grassy fresh air in your last sentence. Happy birthday, and it is sure that the tots will be remembering those walks with you always.

    Ours turned three Monday and I have been reminiscing all week about baby days...and then one snuggles and my heart leaps happily. Their boy arms still give baby hugs!

    Very best,
    Natalie in KY

    ReplyDelete
  13. Happy Birthday, Dear! :) Looks like you had a wonderful day. I pray it is a very blessed year for you.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love your sweet little garden. Hopefully your boys will have memories of it as well as the lovely places you take them.
    I reflect on my family time often - am I spending quality time with them? Will they remember their childhood with joy? How will they remember me as a mother? What memories will they have of family time?
    Thanks for the beautiful post.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your lovely thoughts!