the single sunflower

A single sunflower popped up in the plot of dirt where the bird feeders are. I didn't plant sunflower seeds so my deduction is that while the birds were eating the feed a sunflower seed fell into the dirt and took root. The flower looks a little tattered; it's probably food for the birds, too.

“look at its shape, with vibrant yellows and oranges, a sunflower can brighten your day...it's as if it is smiling like a happy face painted on the sun...so if you do only one thing all day, let it be to smile, so you can brighten the day of others around you, just like the sunflower”  ~ Bodhi Smith  🌻

monday's mulling: the buck full moon

July's full moon rose on the night of the 10th and shined brightly over Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

Cedar Rapids, Iowa? Yes, my brothers, sister, and I were there for some family business. The moon was a beautiful sight...a clear sky with the bright moon shining over the Quaker Oats plant and other city lights. And to think, weather permitting, people all over the United States and the rest of the world saw this same moon. I wish I would have had my Nikon Cool Pix with me to get a photo of this moment. It has a zoom feature and every once in a while, I can get a decent shot of the moon. But since that opportunity was missed, enjoy a couple lunar moments from past full moons.

“As the sun illuminates the moon and the stars, so let us illumine one another.”

~ Anonymous

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...

 

gratitude

To express gratitude, you can verbally thank someone, write a heartfelt note, give a small gift, perform an act of kindness, or display your appreciation on a license plate. What's important is to take a moment to appreciate the good things in your life.

 

the friday feed: his and her cherries and july 4

It's cherry season! The farm's watermelon and cantaloupe supplier brought Bing and Ranier cherries from Washington state with his last delivery and customers are enthusiastically buying these sweet gems. 

I texted Todd - "Do you want any cherries?" 

He responded that he did and were they from Michigan. "Nope. Michigan cherries will be here in a couple weeks." He said he wanted red cherries, I like Rainier, so guess what? One of each!

Oh, they are sooooo good.

Soft gold blush appears,

Bites of sweetness, summer's gift,

From Washington state. 

Ruby red jewels gleam,

Juicy sweetness on the tongue,

Packed with vitamins!

🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 

HAPPY 249TH BIRTHDAY TO THE USA!

Our neighbor's house is a beacon of red, white, and blue.

"Oh, sweet freedom, may you stay in our land and lives always." —Dolly Parton

bubble, bubble toil and trouble (sorry, shakespeare)

The other day I was making some pasta and noticed the water coming to a boil. Little bubbles slowly getting bigger and bigger, ready to pop to the surface. It made me think about my boiling point. People have told me that I am one of the calmest people they know. Through the years I've learned to step back, count to ten, take deep breaths, turn and walk away...whatever it takes not to blow a gasket at the first reaction. 

This quote highlights how emotional turmoil, like anger, can cloud judgment and prevent clear thinking, much like boiling water distorts reflection. Only when the "waters calm" (emotions subside) can one gain clarity and see things as they truly are. 

We face times when things don’t go as planned. We will continually face hurdles and obstacles that we have to overcome.  At times, these challenges are frustrating and may make us angry.  It’s important during these moments that we let the waters calm before making any decisions.  Making a quick, reactive decision during these moments often leads to actions that are less than optimal. It’s far better to wait until you have calmed down and are thinking rationally before making a decision.

So remember, when you let the waters calm, clarity comes. Don’t react when the water is boiling; take some time, let the waters calm, and move forward with a rational calm that allows you to make the best decisions for you.

in the blink of an eye...

Today we reach the official halfway point of the year. It wasn't so long ago that we were preparing for the turn of the century -Y2K - and worrying about all the potential disasters that could happen when we moved from the 20th century to the 21st century. Feeling old yet? Oh, and 23 weeks and four days until  Christmas! 

for the children

A couple of stories going on here:

Story 1

The zinnias at the farm are starting to bloom. They are not for looks (although they are beautiful) and they are not for sale. The zinnias are planted for the children who come to the farm. Grocery store have kids' cookies; Treadway Gardens lets the young customers choose whichever flower they'd like. Finding the perfect color is at times a very big decision. A lot of parents who bring their children to the farm came when they were children and they remember getting their zinnias. Zinnias symbolize friendship, endurance, daily remembrance, and goodness. The language of flowers speaks through generations.

Story 2

When I got to work on Sunday, a lot of cars and people and lumber filled the parking lot at the church next door. They were building frames of some sort and come to find out this was a bed building event to construct bed frames for children 3 to 17 years old. Their motto is "No kid sleeps on the floor in our town." A mattress and bedding is provided with the wooden bed frames, and each bed is hand delivered. They're giving children a chance to survive and thrive. Wouldn't it be cool to load those beds on a truck, knowing where they were going, and what a good feeling you'd have knowing you made a difference in a child's life?

paint-by-numbers

I remember my dad painting these ballerina pictures at the dining room table when we lived in Wooster, Ohio. They were the most beautiful pieces of art this first grade girl had ever seen and they hung on my bedroom wall. Me as a first grade girl was 63 years ago.

Paint-by-number kits were hugely popular in the 1950s and 1960s. This was an  approachable form of art and the pictures were designed for the masses so that anyone could paint them. Each color was assigned a spot to create the composition. No real skill was required although it did call for a steady hand to keep the lines neat. My dad got his paints out after all of us kids had gone to bed. We were 6, 4, 2, and 1...too much commotion to keep a steady hand...and this was his way of unwinding after a day of work and dad duties.

Fast forward to 2015. My mom had been in assisted care for a year (Dad died in 2002). It was time to sell Mom's house. We came across the paint-by-numbers. My sister took the Arc de Triomphe, one of my brothers took a clown picture, and I didn't have the heart to send the ballerina trio to a thrift shop. I've kept these pictures for 10 years now. Ten years and they've just been sitting in storage rooms. I've asked my daughter-in-law if she would be interested in them for her little daughter's room. I don't know - she has very specific ideas on the look she wants for Hallie's room. If she doesn't want them, I will keep them just for a little while longer to see if my daughter and son-in-law will have another baby and if they have a daughter, maybe these pictures will find a place in their home. 

There are just some ties to the past that are hard to let go. 

positive reinforcement

We all need that one person who offers that little bit of encouragement that keeps us going! 

 

the friday feed: heirloom tomatoes

Heirloom tomatoes (heritage tomatoes in the UK) come in a rainbow of colors - red, yellow, orange, green, purple, striped - and are celebrated for their diverse flavors, textures, and appearance. Heirloom tomatoes are the original tomatoes. They are open-pollinated, meaning their seeds can be saved and replanted, while hybrid tomatoes are created through controlled cross-pollination. Hybrids are more neutral in taste, more uniform in shape and size, and are bred for disease resistance. 

We sell a lot of tomatoes at the farm and our older customers typically prefer the heirlooms. "This is what a real tomato tastes like."

The most popular spot at the farm is the Treasure Corner where the less than perfect vegetables are 50% off. These are the veggies that need to be used in the next day or two. Every day we go through the vegetables, check them for soft spots, bruises, getting too ripe, and other imperfections, and put those in the Treasure Corner. The half off tomatoes are always the first to go.

🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅  🍅 

Heirloom tomatoes

taste better bruised, over-ripe, 

50% off.

be still my heart

As we were getting ready to leave Cleveland last weekend, standing in the garage saying our good-byes and giving hugs, my son said, "Don't leave yet. We have a belated Mother's Day gift for you." He handed this cement garden stone to me and as much as I was trying not to cry as we left, this brought the tears. Little handprints frozen in time - Owen is 3 years and Hallie is 3 months.

wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

Hello and happy Wednesday! For the many, many, many times I've written "Wednesday," that little voice still goes off in my head. Not every time, but plenty of times.

My little grandson turned three last week. On the morning of his birthday, his parents made sure that all of his "friends" greeted him wearing party hats. What a fun way to start your third birthday! My daughter-in-law sent a video with Owen saying, "Hey! Where did they get those hats?" My son replied, "I think Buzz Lightyear went to the birthday party store and got them." It worked.

My friend's 50th high school reunion was this past weekend. Class of 1975 when bell bottom jeans were popular. She bought a pair of bell bottoms and asked me to sew a pocket on them to hold her phone and lipstick. She chose a fabric with peace signs on it, again a symbol of the era. The pocket had a top flap and she wanted a chunky button on it. She brought out her button box, a really cool button box that had belonged to her mom. 

This vintage cigarette tin is from a company called G. Zuban, a "Royal Bavarian Court-Factory of Cigarettes" located in Munich, Germany. My friend's mom was a German Jew whose family fled from Munich to Palestine (now Israel) to escape persecution. This was one of the items she packed when she left Germany. A treasure in so many ways.

I've been working at the farm for a couple weeks now. It's so nice to see returning customers, some who have been buying produce for years. One sweet little lady bought a cantaloupe and a few other items and asked me if I would mind carrying them to her car. "Would you please put them in the trunk?" I couldn't help but notice her license plate. HEY MON. I asked her if she traveled in the Caribbean. "I used to but not anymore. I just stay around here now." She told me some stories and it just hit home that you have to take that trip or do the things that you want because we just don't know when our last vacation or adventure will be.

Right now my husband is on a five-day schedule for cutting grass. With all this hot weather, it will quickly change to once a week. Yesterday he golfed with friends, it was the 5th day, I knew he wouldn't want to cut the grass after a game of golf, and I don't mind doing it. My neighbors get a laugh because when I cut the grass I put my step counter around my ankle and it looks like I'm wearing an ankle bracelet that a criminal would have. But hey, this is hard work in this heat and I want to get every single step counted. FYI, 7900 steps.

You all have a wonderful Wed-Nes-Day!

 

they're baaaack!

Yesterday morning's "excitement" was waking up to the sound of big trucks coming down the road and parking along our street. Around this time one year ago our neighborhood had new streets and curbs put in. That project took a few weeks to complete. 

So why are they back?

Well, it looks like they found something. A total of five big vehicles and machines along with a bunch of workers were figuring out what to do with a curb and a miniscule section of the road. Lots of big equipment for a small project.

I had a little fun taking a few pics looking through the beveled glass on my front door. The last one is a little abstract. How would you title it?

 

monday's mulling: peace

One month ago, Downtown Dayton turned into a NATO Village to accommodate the member nations participating in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The Downtown Dayton Partnership commissioned this mural, "On Peace Work," to be placed in Courthouse Square for the opening of the Assembly.

Back in February 2025, Sierra Leone was chosen as the first Poet Laureate for the City of Dayton. During her recognition ceremony, Mayor Jeffrey Mims said, “Today, we make history in Dayton as we proudly announce our city’s first-ever Poet Laureate. This moment is a testament to the power of words, storytelling, and the vibrant artistic spirit that runs through our community. Poetry has the unique ability to connect us, inspire us, and reflect the heart of our city. We look forward to the ways our Poet Laureate will amplify Dayton’s voices and celebrate our shared stories. Congratulations to Sierra Leone, and may your words continue to uplift and unite us all.” The newly appointed Poet Laureate served as compiler on the mural project.

The mural highlights the epigraph of the titular poem containing seven stanzas from various Dayton voices. (A titular poem refers to a poem that either shares its title with a larger work (like a collection of poems) or has a title that reflects the main subject of the poem). Written by Alice Young-Basora, executive director of the International Peace Museum, the epigraph states, “Peace is a verb. First to be sought within, then to be actively shared with others.”

My grandson's birthday party was this past weekend. He's three years old and to see him playing with his little friends without a care in the world was so sweet. I want the world to be just like this backyard day as he grows up. Carefree happiness, love, peace is my wish for him.

ON PEACE WORK

Peace is a verb. First to be sought within, then to be actively shared with others.

We are tapestry of peace

clothed in cardinal directions -

We brave cloaked conflict, ceaselessly

unraveling shadows of silenced stories.

Our hearts syncopate

when possibility is our handiwork.

Our fingers see, our ears taste,

We drum a free jazz symphony.

Let us all find some peace - a steady state - 

beyond the greedy grasp of fearful hate.

Let us work together to break vile bonds

Time will wait and fairness and truth respond.

How can we, with bruises blooming on our spirit

speak against injustice? Only with the promise that

when even our memories are mere myth, we will not be gone.

There are no casualties of peace.

We cast dandelion hopes and bumblebee dreaming,

Caught within the winds of the future’s verisimilitude.

Tomorrow we will harvest honey yellowed meanings

And cherish our wish-sprouts manifest, bedewed.

Dig deep into earth’s pockets for a future where more women lead

in every vowel and syllable; vow to plant our peace seeds - 

less waste, less apathy, less greed

more gardens, more community, more trees.

Come when the year’s first blossoms blows

Come when the summer gleams and glows

Come with the winter’s drifting snows

And you are welcome, welcome.

In order of contribution, “On Peace Work” features: Young-Basora (Epigraph); Leone (Stanza 1); Furaha Henry-Jones, professor of English and African American Literature (Stanza 2); Matt Birdsall, poet and educational professional (Stanza 3); Aimee Noel, poet and educator (Stanza 4); Gentry Heflin, poet and Stivers School for the Arts student (Stanza 5); Amanda Hayden, poet laureate of Sinclair Community College (Stanza 6); and Dunbar as contributed by Martin, emeritus professor and poet laureate at the University of Dayton (Stanza 7).