Early morning walk

Out the door, turn left down the hill and here's the view...

past wildflowers at road's edge

into the village where old lilac bushes in full bloom scent the air and roosters crow...

through the intersection and on along the flat valley road past this stately old home...

and looking down, a robin's egg on the ground. What an exquisite blue!

I had a lovely walk.

Here she is...

...beautiful pregnant Erin picking out carpet for baby Clara's room.

We didn't think we'd be shopping for so long! Sadie sure was happy when we got back.
Not much room left on Erin's lap for her!

When we got home we painted some more. Second coat of lovely lavender on the walls, and trim almost finished. But lest you think it's all work around here, let me show you...

the beautiful view across the road...

the sweetest puppy ever...


a lovely spot to put your feet up...
after I took this picture, I headed in for a cup of tea and my book
but before I got back out to the hammock, the rain started again...


so I settled for a spot inside on the loveseat with Sadie while Erin made...

rhubarb apple pie!

Painting Clara's room

Paint spattered clothes on...tray full of ceiling paint...clean roller ready to go. That was this morning.

Lights...action!

Tonight the closet walls, ceiling and trim are painted, closet floor scrubbed, room ceiling and walls painted, windows scraped and taped and ready for trim paint. Tomorrow we go to buy carpet to replace the yucky old piece that's currently on the floor. We'll also get wood for the window, door and baseboard trim and carpet, paint said trim and maybe, just maybe put the carpet on the floor. Luke has to do the trim work and he'll be busy at work in the daytime and shoeing horses in the evening but we'll get as much done as we can.

We may even take a trip here to look for some fabric. We'll see. This is very fun.

After the hard work of the day, I made curry for dinner and Erin and I sat and watched a movie (i am sam - I love movies with happy endings), rubbed feet, and relaxed. Luke had made a fire in the wood stove before he went out to do his farrier work for tonight, so it was toasty warm and cozy on this cool, wet evening. I love, love, love being here with my sweet daughter, cooking and cleaning and doing jobs for her so she gets a little break. Sure do wish she lived closer!

Helping Erin get ready

I am up in lovely, rural Hoosick Falls, NY this week helping only daughter Erin get things ready around the house for grandbaby Clara's arrival in late August. The week has been full of painting, cleaning, and other house and garden chores.

It is very sweet to paint bedroom walls light lavender - a color called hosta flower - and imagine the baby girl who will look up at them from her crib every morning. I have imagined someday digging and planting hostas with this little girl and telling her about how much fun I had one cool rainy day making her bedroom pretty!

I promise preggie pictures of Erin before the week is out!

Garden before and after

Here they are - a few more "before and after" shots of the wall garden...

Before...

and after.

Before...

and after.

and after....

and after...

This is a funny little garden. Quite a mix of sun and shade so hence quite a mix of plants. Knock-out roses, Mexican heather, and shasta daisies, peppers and beans in the sunny middle; hostas, perpetual spinach, mizuma, sorrel, arugula, mesculin, and radishes on the shady sides. I am indebted to the strong arms and willing spirits of my boys, without whose help I couldn't have gotten this all done! Thanks, guys.

Sunday afternoon...

our church family celebrated two baptisms. As we walked down the steps we were greeted by the very first lily blossom of the season. Oh how God so clothes these lilies!
This one seemed to shout, "Glorious!!"

The rain passed and we gathered on the brick deck around the pool...

from the youngest among us...

to the oldest...

Erin shared her faith journey with us and then stepped into the water...

Coty always speaks these words..."buried with Christ..."

"raised with Him to newness of life."


Fong, a new believer from China, shared his story, too, and was baptised...

We sang,,,

and shared our joy...

and then because we are a church family that plays together, too, and because we have young men who like to horse around the pool, some others not being baptised went in the pool!
Many lingered to swim and visit.

It seemed fitting that Erin should take that glorious lily home to celebrate the day!

Not my garden...and my garden "before"

I hoped to post pictures from the back garden today but alas, the weather didn't cooperate. I'll try again tomorrow. Since you're here, enjoy a few pics from a couple of weeks ago in Memorial Garden on prom evening...


And because I promised, here are a couple of "before" pictures from the back. It looks very different now. Hopefully, the weather will be nice for pictures tomorrow.

Fun yarn giveaway

Do you sign up for giveaways? I do occasionally, but I've never, ever won anything. Still, it's fun to see all the beautiful items generously shared by folks out there. I especially like yarn giveaways. I found my way to this one via this one. If you're a knitter, check out the first link. You can enter until the end of the day on Monday.

A lovely spot to sit

I did it! I finished all the digging and moving of plants. I cleaned the birdbath, planted a few annuals for filler and color, and watered it all in well....that was yesterday.

This morning I sat and enjoyed it all. I love this little front garden now. Every year, I move things around a bit, try different placements of plants and new combinations. This year, I think I have finally hit on the mix of sun and shade plants, perennials, annuals, and shrubs that I'm happy with. Now it all just needs to grow a bit and fill in. Next year it will be a more mature garden with only a little puttering to do. No more major moves. I may plant another hydrangea and a few more hostas and foxgloves in the shade. But I'm mostly very happy with how it's all arranged, the variety of textures and colors, the mix of flowers, foliage, and little areas for seasonal annuals. There's a spot for bulbs to go in in the fall and a nice little border for winter pansies.

The old blue adirondack chairs at the back of the garden are a peaceful place to sit in early morning dappled sunlight. So that's what I did. I sat. And read. And drank a really good cup of coffee. There is no better way to start the day....

And on my way back inside, glancing down at the patch of daylilies, I saw the first blossom of the summer. Lovely.

And now to the back garden....

If you're a long time reader of this blog, you'll know that we built a large retaining wall last August. It gives me a wonderful spot for more plants and in the last couple of weeks, I've been working like a Trojan (with lots of help from the boys) to get it all dug, manured, shaped into beds, and planted.

This summer will be an experiment to see what works. I'm a little worried that I don't have as much sun as I had hoped. That's the story of my gardening adventures here - figuring out how to get more planting areas in the sun.

Tomorrow, I'll show you what we've done. It makes me very happy to have this mammoth task almost completed. Where there was once a gaping sinkhole, there is now a lovely garden. Just a little more mulch to spread on paths...which I will go do right now!

See you tomorrow with pictures!

The front garden

Sunshine...

and shade...

In the sun, pincushion flowers, lamb's ears, day lilies, phlox, balloon flowers and more...

In the shade, perennial foxgloves, lamium, hostas, rhodendron, Lenten roses, and a good old chair.

When I finish digging and moving, planting and pruning, I will sit down with a cup of tea and a good book.

Note to self

It is not a good idea to turn the stove on high under the oatmeal and then go read email. The scent of scorching oatmeal does not travel into the classroom where you are sitting, but when your husband comes home from early morning prayer, it is the first thing he will smell.

At club soccer tryouts tonight...

...I froze standing on the sideline watching Joel. My fingers are not typing very quickly at this moment because they are numb. It is mid May. It is not supposed to be this cold in North Carolina. Where did late spring go? Brrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Still, as always, it was a LOT of fun to watch Joel play. May I brag for a moment. Thanks. He got his player evaluation from the spring club season earlier today. This is part of what Joel's coach said about him:

Plays with great pride and passion. Never talks back to the ref. Always comes to play. Never backs down. I couldn’t say enough good things about your attitude. Pleasure to coach! Joel, I would take 10 players like you on the field in a heartbeat. Your intensity, passion, and pride on the field during practice and games are unmatched. Keep up the effort and continue to work on your individual ball skills on your own. You are going to be a brilliant outside back and soccer player!

Yep, I am one proud mama. Proud and thankful that this son who asked that I pray with him each time he got out of the car for practice or a game, showed his character on the field all season long. Hey buddy, I would stand out in the cold for you any day.

Joel playing with passion earlier in the season

Details...

take a lot of time. Today we are filling out visa forms, waiting on hold on the phone with airlines, taking passport style pictures for the China visa, going to the store to print pictures, going to the Post Office and UPS store to send documents, crossing our t's, dotting our i's. I say "we" because Coty has spent much of this day working on my flight arrangements. I hope to have an itinerary all figured out by the end of the day. It's nice to have my own personal travel agent. Thanks, sweetie.

China-India bound...

...with your help.

I had an email recently from Andrea, sweet potter friend who donated lovely items for the Bapatla Bazaar, asking for interesting tidbits. Well, Andrea, the auction was a wonderful success. It's funny because it started out so slowly and I was beginning to wonder. Looking at the circumstances instead of my faithful God, I started to feel discouraged. I expressed my discouragement to dear K and her words were full of encouragement and trust.

i just wanted to let you know that though i hung up from your phone call and was sad because you sounded so discouraged. my heart is incredibly encouraged about this summer and particularly about you coming, and i wanted to let you know that. i have no idea what God is up to here, or how this is all going to come together, but i have this sense of peace and deep joy about all of it...i just know that i've been continually blessed when it comes to wanting to go out into the world and find out what God's up to, and through people i've least expected. i'm sure i'm not saying anything here you don't already know, but i just wanted to re-iterate these truths!

Don't we all need reminders like this from time to time? Truths reiterated. Courage given. I know I do.

God is so gracious. In addition to K's words, I received a surprise phone call one evening from Michelle in China. She, too, shared stories of the Father's provision and words of encouragement. These two dear sisters in Christ and all the rest of you who have asked about this trip, participated in the auction, given a generous gift, and encouraged me to "go for it" have helped me to press on in something that feels very big, very exciting, very timely, and yes, a bit daunting. I am thankful to be surrounded by so many who have been for me the "cloud of witnesses" cheering me on to run this particular part of my race with faith, courage, trust, and hope.

Well, Andrea, after a few days, the emails and inquiries started flowing in - every one with words of encouragement and confirmation. And in the end, we raised almost $700 for this trip. I am humbled by such an outpouring. I have also been given some very generous gifts by family, friends, and even some folks I've never even met (yet!).

I have little to give back except thanks and the resolve that this trip be for the glory of God, the blessing and encouragement of dear ones serving in far-away places, and the joy of the orphans in Bapatla. The icing on the cake is that I get to spend time in these places with Jonathan, Kandyce, Jenn, Michelle and Matt and the kids and others.

Abundant grace.

This evening...

we watched the bluebirds fledge...

Coty heard the mama and papa bird making a racket and flying all around the nest box. Here they are perched on the net of the trampoline - sorry the picture's a little fuzzy.

With all the carrying on by mama and papa, we were worried that this brood of baby bluebirds might be suffering the same fate as the brood in the front nest box. They, sadly, were eaten by a rat snake. Fortunately, there was no snake in sight and what was really happening was that mama and papa were coaxing their nestlings out of the nest.

See the baby peeking out....do I really want to take the plunge?

We waited and watched and after a LOT of coaxing this little one fluttered out and landed rather ungracefully with a plop on the ground. He hopped around and then stopped to rest on the bricks.

I must say, they certainly get better looking with age! But aren't his feathers already a lovely shade of blue. This little fellow rested on the bricks for awhile til finally his mama and papa urged him to a safer resting place in the shelter of the nearby brush.

It was such a treat seeing these baby birds fledge. We watched wrens leave the safety of their nest before but never bluebirds.

We've seen some of our other wild neighbors lately. In the last three days we have had three different species of snakes in the pool! A little unsettling, I know. On Thursday while doing his pool workout, Coty noticed a snake in the corner of the deep end. Thomas and I came running and the three of us fished (snaked?) out a baby.....copperhead. Yikes! Yesterday, Matthew and I netted a baby northern red-bellied snake (not poisonous) from off the pool cover. And today, Coty went down to do his pool workout and found a three foot rat snake! (also not poisonous)

What is it with these snakes??!!! We've had as many snakes in the pool in the last three days as we've had in the last four years put together. What is going on? Why are all these snakes leaving the woods and coming for a swim? You can be sure we'll be checking the pool carefully now before we jump in!

Another snake that lives around here is the king snake. He burrows in the terrace garden and makes his appearance quite often. Thomas and I watched him weave in and out of the juniper and around the terrace stones when we were working in the garden on Friday. I don't mind him at all since he eats rodents and supposedly, copperheads. Guess he missed one.

I've been outside so much the last few days and have enjoyed seeing some of these creatures we share our yard with. While I'm not crazy about the snakes, I am glad to see such a variety, glad for the woods, and for a home in a place that has such a diversity of creatures to observe. I'm reminded of a this hymn...

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

God is great and his creatures a source of endless wonder. What will we see tomorrow!

A few garden pics

These pictures are from the terrace beds. Tomatoes go in the top bed today, so no pictures yet, but next step down is the basil bed. Yes, a whole bed of basil plants. I love pesto. I plan to eat and freeze a LOT of basil this summer. I may draft one of the boys to be the"Keeper of the Basil and Pesto Chief" while I am gone in July so that basil and pesto production will proceed apace. I'm that serious about basil - don't let me down, guys!

Next step down is the cucumber bed with it's climbing frame. Rhubarb went into a niche in the hillside next to the cuc bed. I know we won't eat that this summer, but I'm planning ahead. Gardening is an act of faith. It is especially so for me this year since I'll be gone when everything really starts to bear.

And the last step down holds this beauty, a very fragrant rose that was a Mother's Day gift a few years ago. It has never bloomed as bountifully as it is this year. It's fragrance wafts through the terrace garden and up to the deck. Mmmmm. In the beds alongside the rose are strawberries, like the rhubarb, new this year. Strawberry rhubarb sauce and pie next spring, anyone!

And this is just for fun, around the corner from the terraces, froggy cellist plays music to make divided hostas grow. These hostas were rescued from someone's backyard a couple of years ago. They've prospered and were divided this spring.

I'm back out to the garden on this cloudy day for more transplanting and especially attention to the retaining wall bed. It is dug (thanks, Thomas), needs manure spread, and then planting. I'm afraid it is not getting as much sun as I had hoped, so this year's plantings may be a bit of an experiment. But I'm always learning and adjusting in my garden. So, now I just have another spot for testing and learning....