The Glory of the Garden

Dear Friends,

We may not be in England here, but we love this poem, nonetheless. Enjoy Tasha's photography!

Love,

Marqueta

THE GLORY OF THE GARDEN

Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.

For where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall,
You will find the tool- and potting-sheds which are the heart of all;
The cold-frames and the hot-houses, the dungpits and the tanks:
The rollers, carts and drain-pipes, with the barrows and the planks.

And there you'll see the gardeners, the men and 'prentice boys
Told off to do as they are bid and do it without noise;
For, except when seeds are planted and we shout to scare the birds,
The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.

And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows;
But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,
For the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.

Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:--"Oh, how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives.

There's not a pair of legs so thin, there's not a head so thick,
There's not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sick.
But it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.

Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders,
If it's only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.

Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden, that it may not pass away!
And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away!

Rudyard Kipling

Let's Go for a Visit!

Dear Friends,

Today we're taking my mum to visit my brother, who lives about an hour from us. Won't you come along for the ride (Don't mind the open windows, just hang on to your hat!)?

See the dress I'm wearing on the left? Polyester with a nylon slip~BAD idea!
We had to stop at a store and get something cotton~Aaaah! Much better!

One of the star attractions at Uncle Kirby's~a sweet lady turkey

Mmm, quack grass!

My brother's family has been working very hard to create a wildflower oasis on his property, complete with man-made stream. The pictures don't do it justice!

Everyone loves to go see the nearby creek~

And look for tracks along the way.

Can you tell which ones are my girls and which is my niece?

And here we are, at the cool, peaceful creek.

Note the much-cooler dress, and for four dollars, to boot! Lucky we know of a thrift store that sanitizes their clothes ;) ~

A "made-it to the creek" celebratory kiss!

Whew, that was a long drive, and a long hike to the creek! Now to get back home and water the garden (Darn, just when we put away those hoses, too!) It's always fun to get to see our family and friends, though, and to visit Mother Nature's different neighborhoods.

Hope you enjoyed your visit, too, dear friends, and may you be blessed today.

Love,

Marqueta

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Flower in the Crannied Wall

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies;
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower-but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.

Little Notebooks

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for popping by today! We hope you had a restful weekend and are feeling ready for what this week brings you.

It's hard to believe that the Fourth of July is already coming up this weekend, but the family dolls are getting their costumes and decorations ready for the annual Doll Parade, which we will have to share with you. It promises to be fun!

Where do you jot down notes to yourself at your house? Here we have quite a collection of little notebooks, many without covers, which we have used over the years for to-do lists, grocery lists, ideas for songs, stories, etc. We have tried day planners and binders, but somehow keep going back to the little notebooks, which are found in convenient locations throughout the house. Sometimes our little notebooks disappear in the strangest ways, only to turn up under the bed or behind the couch, months later! It's always like a reunion with a friend we have not seen in a while, as we go through and read all the things that we thought were important enough to write down. I still have my little notebooks from college French class and from my mission (which was served in Pennsylvania).


We don't know why we didn't think about it before, but we finally came up with the sensible idea of housing our little filled-up notebooks together, instead of being scattered in various boxes and drawers throughout the house. Eventually, we'd like to find a nice wooden chest to keep them all in, but this hat box will do for now!

Oh yes, we wanted to share with you the yummy salsa recipe we made up this weekend (Here's a picture of Frankie and me feasting on it with chips outside)~we filled the food processor with 3 big tomatoes, 1 avocado, two home-grown onions (greens and all), and lots of arugula and viola flowers and stems (quite peppery). Oh yes, and a dash of salt and vinegar. Then we processed it till smooth, filled a bowl, and "ate ourselves full"! We should have taken pictures, but it didn't last long enough to get the camera out! Yesterday we made a concoction of pitted Kalamata olives, violas (whole plant again), onions, salt, and half each of tomato and avocado. We wrapped it in lettuce leaves and served some on cucumber slices. Mmm! (Just don't make a smoothie with violas, as they become a little TOO peppery!) It's fun to experiment with foods, mixing up flavors that you'd never find in the grocery store.

Peace be with you today,

Love,

Marqueta

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"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou art at length free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!"

~Oliver Wendell Holmes, "The Chambered Nautilus"

A Hobbit Sighting and Disappearing Dog

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep
But I have miles to go before I sleep"

Dear Friends,

Yesterday we went down by the river (which has been flooding lately, due to the great amount of rain) to collect rose petals and leaves to make an elixir (see here), when incredibly, we spied what looked like a hobbit, headed to Cattail Pond. Although we noticed that he was not barefoot, we do know that hobbits DO sometimes wear shoes. What do you think? Was it a hobbit, or perhaps a little strawberry blonde boy that we've seen before?


As we were getting ready to come home, having filled our baskets with roses and catnip, our naughty dog Buddy decided to disappear into the woods. We could not stay very long, it being nap time, so we drove around calling him for a while, but finally had to leave, wondering if he had fallen in the river and been taken. When we came home we called my mum and told her what happened, and she volunteered to go back and look for him. No sooner had she gone to the spot where we had last seen him, than he came walking up to her car, exhausted but none the worse for wear. As happy as we were to see him alive, we wanted to punch him in the nose at the same time!

This is the road that we normally like to walk along; too bad we didn't bring a canoe this time!

The little hobbit boy decided to come home with us at last.

And four-year old Evangeline caught this baby garter snake, all by herself!

It was a beautiful, magical thing, being in the woods on a sunny day, with cottonwood fluff drifting down like fairy dust. We took a little video of it, which of course is not quite as magical, unless you have a good imagination! We wish you could have come with us; we could have had a picnic lunch in the shade (Provided, of course, you don't mind a little cottonwood fluff in your sandwiches.).



May you find little adventures in each day as it passes.

Love,

Marqueta

A New Blog Begins~

"A Nettle a day keeps the doctor away"

Good morning, dear friends,

Wow, if you'd have told me two years ago that I would have three blogs, I probably would not have believed you! But, I started up another one yesterday, to stick my creative works to share with the world. I've posted my hobbit story, The Tale of Pippin and Katie, if you'd like to go see it.

We're enjoying beautiful, sunny weather, and trying still to catch up on all our behind-on laundry, but loving the sunshine. We forgot how warm 78 degrees feels when you're out in the sun! It seems like it should be May, not almost July.

We subscribe to Dr. Christopher's weekly email newsletter, and this week's was about avoiding the "swine flu" panic by using garlic as a preventative. Here is a link, I think you'd benefit from reading it. It gives peace of mind.

We hope that you are all enjoying your summer days, too, and that it's not too hot for all you who live in the South! Whew! Our little trailer house would be melted by now, if it were that hot here!

Love,

Marqueta

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"According to Holy Writ, man's first calling was agriculture, or, perhaps, horticulture would better express it. Adam was placed in the Garden to till and care for it; and even after he was driven from that blissful abode and compelled to live by the sweat of his brow, he had to go back to the earth from which his body was made to sustain the life breathed into it by Jehovah."

~Major A. R. Calhoun, 1895 "How to Get on in the World"