Happy All Hallow's Eve

So happy that we still get to carve pumpkins with our girlies!

Hope you get lots of Treats and no Tricks at all!!!


xoxo         Elizabeth

Progress...

Step by step, slowly but surely, the garden has grown!

We have been enjoying cooking up our own green beans...

watching the flowers grow....

and bringing them into the house to enjoy.

Since we have been enjoying the Summer garden so much...we decided to plant a Fall garden!  This is my first experience planting at this time of year....

and things seem to be going very well.  We put in broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, swiss chard, brussel sprouts, celery and onions.  The celery and onions are on their way out - I planted them right where the dog loves to cut across the garden....I don't think they are going to make it.

Our watering system is a gift from my neighbor Jessie.  When she was alive she taught me how to shape the beds so that you just lay the hose down in one spot and the entire vegetable bed fills up!  When the plants are small they also need to be watered from the top, but once they establish their roots they get all they need from filling the little canals.  Jessie used to come over and tell me that it was time to work in the yard!  I would take little Madison and Lane and out we would go to the vegetable garden (or where ever in the yard Jessie thought we should work!)  Lane would hold onto my skirt, Madison would grab a kid sized garden tool and we would dig and weed and water.  Jessie in her eighties could work circles around me!  What wonderful memories this new garden is bringing back to me!

The garden has grown even more since I took these pics...the broccoli is past my knees!  The tomatoes have taken over their portion of the garden....and yesterday I actually saw a red tomato!

Once you start planting all of these wonderful things the space seems very small...next year I may have to take over more of the yard!  Our plans to get the whole backyard under control are progressing and I look forward to sharing our new outdoor space with you sometime in the Spring!

There is still time...go plant something!


xoxo      Elizabeth

Becoming Real...

Turning 18...voting...becoming ‘real’ as someone close to us has coined it....

What a crazy time to be doing all of this.

It is such a privilege to vote...and such a burden as well.  In this technological world with fast information it is so hard to filter, what is real, what is not...what are the facts...and ultimately - what do I believe?

Personally, I am disappointed in politics....the mud slinging, the spinning, the division - so I would like to say to my daughter, a wonderful young woman, who will be turning 18;  and to all of you wonderful young people out there turning 18, as well, who are getting this privilege of voting...let it all be about something else.

Let it be about the fact that as a nation we are a hardworking people, not afraid to go after a dream.  Let it be about the fact that as a nation we are a sincere people wanting to do good in this world.  Let it be about the fact that as a nation we are an accepting people, interested in the exciting differences we all bring to the table.  Let it be about the fact that as a nation we are a strong people willing to stand up for what we believe and the right to believe it.

Only as a nation are we as strong as we can be.  Only as a nation can we preserve this amazing ideal that we live.  Only as a nation can we learn, move forward and make a great future for you, your children and your children’s children.

So, as you reach this great milestone, this privilege, this burden - let it be about you...and the person to your left...and the person to your right...about the person to their left and to their right.  Let it be about hard work, let it be about sincerity, strength, acceptance...and most of all let it be about belief, belief in ourselves and in this nation of ours.

Go out and use your one vote to the best of your ability....cast it in the belief that this nation is an amazing one that it is our privilege to live in.

With all my love and high hopes for an amazing future to my voting girlie...


xoxo        Mom (Elizabeth)

The Quarry....

This last weekend we headed to the coast to see my sis and her hubby (and it worked out nicely cause I am sick of this heat!)...Saturday we had quite a treat!  We got to picnic at the quarry where my sister's hubby, Dennis, works.  They have been picnicking and camping there for years and now I can see why. (To be perfectly honest I have been there before...once maybe twenty or so years ago!)

First of all you are up in the redwoods...amazing right there...

then snuggled in amongst the redwoods are all of these other gorgeous trees...

 making the most beautiful canopy to spend your day under!

Add some bits of blue here and there  - spectacular!

But that isn't all...

the pickup was backed right up to...the river!

I am a huge fan of rivers...and right now - especially shady ones!

Can you see the silly face on that rock almost in the middle!?

Smooth rocks, running water...and....

crawdads!!!!!!  That brought Jenny and I right back to our youth when we used to go to the far ends of Lake Anderson and catch crawdads for dinner!  With a hot dog on a string!

We stacked rocks...

See the sun patterns on the rocks?

We I looked at rocks...

We I was mesmerized by the leaves floating on the river...

and we I found the most special little leaf....I really feel this leaf needs a children's story written about it...but that's another post!

Moss, needles, spider webs...it's all good.

The girlie that always has the camera sat down for a bit and I was able to get some pics of her for a change...

cause mostly she was dragging Lane around to snap her pic!

After lunching and lounging we hopped back in the pickup and went on a little excursion...

I was feeling adventurous and climbed in the back with my sis!

See all the bees hovering!

We found some bee hives!  I have always loved these wonderful bee housing boxes... and the honey that comes from them... and the people who go after that honey!!!  I have tasted the honey from these bee boxes and it is scrumptious - a big thank you to the bee keeper!

Now came the real treat of the day - the quarry is really quite an amazing place...

and it has one thing that most work places don't have ....

a swimming hole!!!!!!!!

 Just look at the colour of that water...fresh spring water...

The water is trickling in here- Fun fact it took about a week to fill the swimming hole.

......just incredible.

We didn't have suits...but couldn't resist putting our feet in that water...

Ok...the feet just weren't enough!!!!!!!!!!  What a fabulous feeling dipping into that colourful, cool water out in the midst of all that gorgeous nature!  Heavenly!

Sorry for the dog butts...but I think this is so funny...what are they looking at!?

It was a lovely carefree day and I enjoyed every minute of it!  Thanks Jen and Den...
Love you Bunches!



xoxo         Elizabeth