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.