caterpillar

The other day, Todd was out watering my herb garden and he came into the house and said, "There's a caterpillar on one of your plants. Should I kill it?"

"NO!"

I ran outside to see what he was talking about and saw the caterpillar chomping away on a dill plant. When you see a caterpillar on dill in your garden—or other plants—you may be startled, grossed out, or annoyed that your plant is being systematically decimated. I was excited. Because I know it’s a black swallowtail caterpillar that’s going to turn into a beautiful butterfly. And that butterfly is going to become one of many valuable pollinators in my garden.

the friday feed: potatoes

A first time experience...I dug potatoes the other day. I used a rounded gardening fork to gently lift the spuds out of the earth, put them in baskets, then took them over to this container to wash the dirt off them. Digging potatoes is easy to do and it's fun, too.

And while I was out in the field, I thought about my little grandson AJ and a song that my daughter plays for and sings to him, "You're My Little Potato." It's a catchy little tune, one that would drive most people nuts, but I love it.

“Eye” dig you so much,

You’re my little potato,

Sweet grandson AJ.

just for fun

Gabrielle Schaffner is a ceramic artist whom I follow on Instagram. She produces a line of functional pottery in her Boston studio. Most of her work is illustrated with images drawn from nature, archeology, art history, and design. Gabrielle states,"I make my work for daily use; nothing makes me happier than knowing that the pots I make in my studio become part of your everyday life, in your kitchen and in your home."

Once a year she has an online sale of some of her work, the pieces go fast, and I thought, "I'm going to jump in the fray.". This past June 28 at 4:00 p.m. (16:00) her online sale opened up and I found a piece of art that I wanted. Someone beat me to it. I found another piece and took a shot at ordering it, got a pending notice, thinking that someone got their credit card information in faster than I did, but a couple minutes later got the confirmation that the small round plate: flying bird with spotted chest was mine. The anticipation during that couple minutes had me in a little tizzy and the excitement of "I got the plate!" had me doing a little happy dance!

This sweet little plate is about 5" in diameter (12 cm) and is "Perfect for some little cookies, aperitivo, a snack, or a place to rest your jewelry when you take it off." Her signature is a little piece of art in itself. I don't know what I'm going to do with this but it sure makes me smile every time I look at it.

wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

A lot of time spent at the farm this past week. Meet one of the farm dogs, Josephine. She is a full-bred poodle, a lovely lady, and just as gentle as can be, but don't let that sweet face fool you. She caught a squirrel. Not many dogs can do that.

On my breaks at work, I walk along the kids' zinnia row and of course take some photos. Whenever I leave this earth, I swear my kids will roll their eyes at the many, many, MANY flower photos that are in my files. This one is so pretty - the dark salmon colored petals tinged with the pinkish-purple leading to the maroon center surrounded by a crown of gold. Mother Nature sure puts together some gorgeous palettes.

Monday's weather was unpredictable. The sky was dark and foreboding and five minutes later just light gray clouds. Customers came in and said they were in pouring down rain and we barely got any.

Purslane was taking over my herb garden. One week a few sprigs pop up and then the next week it's turned into a mass of green. For most of us, purslane is a pesky garden weed, but a few years ago while working at the farm it brought about a fun multi-cultural exchange. 

An Iraqi woman came to pick eggplant. She came back with her basket full of eggplant and purslane. My boss asked what she was going to do with all those weeds and she said, "This is berbeen. I cook with it. It's very good for you." At the same time, a man was at the counter buying some vegetables and saw the purslane and jumped into the conversation. "My wife is from Turkey and she calls this semizotu. She won't let me pull it out of our garden because she uses for cooking, too."

Purslane...berbeen...semizotu. This little succulent brought three corners of the world together in one delightful conversation.

Now to life away from the farm. My husband went to the grocery store and found THE BEST DEAL. Buy two, get three free bags of Doritos. Yep, we have five bags of Doritos. Good job, honey.

My little granddaughter is now four months old. Her first day of her fourth month of life took her to her first day of day care. Mom and Dad were a little emotional and big brother wondered why she was coming to his "school." As you grow, Hallie, your world grows, too. Keep that beautiful smile, sweetheart.

 

on my list!

The Ten Commandments. The Bill of Rights. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” Some famous lists that hold their place in history.

Lists are useful because they document what we ordinarily forget. Memory strongly prefers internal structure, and without this structure, remembering is hard work. People naturally take things one at a time. What feels like parallel processing is often sequential, with several tasks performed one at a time quickly. The linear layout of a list is friendly to our processing. Lists convey a lot of information in relatively few words. Lists are concise and orderly. Lists are easy to write and efficient to read. There’s no need for complex sentences or paragraphs.

I love making lists. None of my lists will hold a place in history but day by day they sure do keep me organized and on the right track.

I hand write my lists. Having them on my phone just doesn’t work for me. I love seeing the list grow shorter as I physically cross off a completed item. Such a sense of accomplishment as the list is finished, crumpled up, and tossed in the trash can!

Depending on the need, my lists can be long or short. Recently there have been a lot of short ones and Post-It Notes stuck to my computer come in quite handy. These list sites around Ohio for an adventurous day trip, firework displays to celebrate the 4th of July, songs to put on a playlist, ideas for seeds to plant in next year's garden, to-dos, and Christmas ornament ideas for a few of my kids. Yes, these lists like they're all over the place but all are relevant to some point in time.

I also try to write a daily gratitude list which helps me consciously focus on what's good in my life. There is a lot of good around in big events and small moments. Writing down positive moments helps to keep a forward-looking focus in uncertainty and keeps an awareness of all the good things that are present in life.

monday's mulling: the blizzard

Today's post was supposed to be about list making but I was feeling under the weather with a scratchy throat and no energy and there was no inspiration to finish it. Todd went to Dairy Queen and brought home a small chocolate Blizzard with Heath Bar pieces for my dinner. A little chocolate, a little caramel crunch. It hit the spot.

Today is World Chocolate Day. I celebrated it a day early!

don't think too hard

Thought for today...