"Who Knows Where The Time Goes?"

"In summer, the song sings itself." ~ William Carlos Williams

So here we are almost at Midsummer's Day ! In the words of the Fairport Covention song oh so beautifully sung by Sandy Denny, "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?". It has been a showery summer solstice here but the forecast is promising a dry and warm week.

As the year goes on I am failing somewhat with my intention to maintain some sort of gardening diary both on this blog and elsewhere. I especially wanted to try to keep more accurate records of what I have done at the allotment. So once again I am unsure of when I planted my garlic, onions and carrots etc. and exactly when they should be ready to crop. I think that for another year that it will be a glorious guessing game. The 'Feltham First' peas are coming on but in trying to establish whether the peas are ready I am eating a fair few podsworth. However they are deliciously sweet and going down well. I wish all crops were like strawberries as it is so obvious when they are ready for eating. They are ripening thick and fast at the moment so each trip to the allotment usually sees me coming home with enough to feed the two of us. I have also been invited to top up with next doors as well, as they are on holiday so there is certainly no shortage of strawberries. I had a good session at the lottie yesterday where I weeded for England. I am trying to make sure that the plot is tidy as possible well in time for the July inspection. It was last July when I got the dreaded letter. I am trying to gets things as tidy as possible before then and also before holidays call.

I am also regularly picking bunches of sweet pea 'Matucana' from the plot which scent the hall. The flower bed there is filling out nicely now. The top photo shows penstemon 'Evelyn' and cerinthe major. In the same bed are cosmos 'Purity',nasturtiums, asters, teasels, a Japanese anenome and a stipa gigantea still very much in its infancy.

On the subject of tempus fugit, I have been very remiss in not thanking the lovely Joanne of Joanne's Cottage Garden for the 'Renee Award' which she kindly bestowed upon me - my very first blogging award! :



This award is the "Renee Award" which was created by Bella and Ces in the UK, in honour of their friend Renee.In Bella's own words "This is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed and watching it grow. I hope it finds it's way to those who are like Renee: the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns.”

I should pass this award on to five other bloggers but find it impossible to narrow it down to you. I am sure that I will still be in the spirit of the award if I pass it on to all you lovely people who visit this blog regularly, with thanks and appreciation for all your comments. My apologies for being rather remiss about replying to comments of late. Hopefully this should improve now that things are slowing down growing and planting wise - there's more time to draw breath.Thanks muchly for the award Joanne !

A King among men…

Happiest Fathers Day to the father of our four teens!

It has been an amazing ride!!

Breakfast in bed…handed over by a quite adorable 18 year old guy with severe bed head hair

click on pic for recipe...yum

A groggy 19 year old pulling himself up to wish you a happy day

Others still sleeping….and will…until 11:00. Teens!

You are loved.

And hey….I weeded the dog path for ya...my back still hurts!

although...I know you would rather see the car washed...

I can only exert so much energy, ya know...maybe next year...

A man's children and his garden both reflect the amount of weeding done during the growing season.

~Anonymous

And, maybe more appropriately, at this slice in our life…

When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
~ Mark Twain

Happy, Happy Day to all of the Daddies out there!

And my Dad?...He never did believe in Hookypook Hallmark holidays his exact words...

So a wink and a nod to him...because it's Sunday

He's fixing something way up there.

Happy Father's Day

My Dad with my oldest son in 2004

Today we'll be honoring my husband and my oldest son but I'll also be taking some quiet moments to remember my Dad who passed away in 2005. As an adult there are so many times during the course of a day that I stop and think about a certain hobby or habit and realize it's something my Dad did or it was an example of good living that he set for me. As far as parents go, my Dad was the nurturer, the heart if you will, rather than my mother. He was also the career Dad, a well-known leader in the community and the person who was known for random acts of kindness. He was an incredible gardener and he continued growing things up until he passed away. My Dad died of congestive heart failure but the month after he died we still harvested cabbage and broccoli from his last crop. His family, church and community all had great meaning to him. By example we learned to be led by faith, to love and do good for one another. He was wise in his advice, being quick to act when necessary but slow to respond when one needed to carefully consider the issues at hand.

My Dad used to sing a lot - mainly old gospel, hillbilly music, old cowboy songs. We had been talking about one song I remembered him singing as a child and the next day I came home from work to hear that he had called and sung the song to me on our voicemail. I want to share the lyrics with you. Happy Father's Day.

The house my Dad and his 11 siblings grew up in; built by my grandfather in the early 30's.

In a vine-covered shack in the mountains
Bravely fighting the battle of Time
There's a dear one who's weathered life's sorrow
It's that silver haired Daddy of mine

If I could recall all the heartaches
Dear old Daddy, I've caused you to bear
If I could erase those lines from your face
And bring back the gold to your hair

If God would but grant me the power
Just to turn back the pages of Time
I'd give all I own if I could but atone
To that silver haired Daddy of mine.

I know it's too late, dear old Daddy
To repay for the heartaches and care
But dear Mother is waiting in Heaven
Just to comfort and solace you there

If I could recall all the heartaches
Dear old Daddy, I've caused you to bear
If I could erase those lines from your face
And bring back the gold to your hair

If God would but grant me the power
Just to turn back the pages of Time
I'd give all I own if I could but atone
To that silver haired Daddy of mine

You’ll find me here…In my dreams…

Beautifully perched amongst the rocks that plunge down to the blue Aegean Sea

sits a beautiful simple home made of dry rock and warm cement.

It is stunning in it’s simplicity…

A HUGE earthenware oil jar claims it’s rightful spot…

Italian designer Paola Navone lives in this wonder of a place…

on one of the islands of Cyclades.

Ahhhhh. In through the nose…out through the mouth.

She furnishes it with many of her simple, modern designs.

Hand painted rugs outside…

and in.

The palate is the soft white and grey of a summer rain cloud

tranquil…the color of calm.

Nothing affected…everything used…needed.

The flavor of simplicity.

…an aura of ...

PEACE .

Don't wake me...just step over me.

Photos: Marie Clair

Check out Hooked on Fridays for more summer Hookies.

Hee.

Words of the day…

Lived in.

Like a comfy faded linen shirt

Yep.

photos: Richard Leo Johnson

I am a pot/head….

…Collector.

My Mother is a pot/head

collector

too.

It is a family problem.

We’re working on it.

These pictures are only a small sampling of pots…and assorted heads

sigh.

I told you…it’s a problem.

we’re working on it.

This green pot itself is over 3 feet high not including plants.

We have three of these suckers below they are close to 4 feet high each.

BIG pot/heads. yep.

One of the many heads on our property…

I have a feeling we are representing

practically every religion known to man....and probably offending them too. Sigh.

…This guy? Don’t even ask.

Join the delightful Artie with other gorgeous gardens in his

Share a Garden Sunday.

Pot/heads Unite!

I Love the Weekends

The past work week was my busiest week ever. Seriously. I am tired and I was never so happy to go home to enjoy the weekend - to retreat, if you will.

A few years ago when we built our house, during the construction, the house somehow began to feel like a beach house. From the outside it doesn't necessarily look like a beach house, but in the living room and sitting on the deck and porch it feels like a summer vacation house so while building I decided to redo our furniture.

Everything in our previous house was all about color and I loved all the color then.



But in our new house, I wanted a change. To lighten things up with a lot less color. We got all of our furniture recovered in various off-white fabrics. For accessories I decided to use beach colors, seashells and other natural items I'd collected from various trips as accents in the living areas.


Here are some of the collected natural items from various places in the world. A couple of years ago a feng shui expert came to offer some assistance with some issues in my house and I have to say she was amazed and happy seeing so much nature indoors. (I'll share the details of the feng shui experience in another post).

Salt from the Dead Sea.

A shell serving as a dish holding shells. One of the shells below I found in Florida but most of these were purchased at a shell shop.

A friend made these beautiful glass coasters with photos from some our favorite places. The glass is the color of sea glass so they're perfect for the room.

We even use a collection of shells and rocks to disguise the fireplace starter key.

And of course I keep my shell guide handy (on top of a basket of shells).

Our dining room is the only room in our entire house with a little color on the wall. The table mirrors the color of the wall with some seashell dishes that I bought from Kohls. The Nantucket basket is full of sand dollars and other shells we found on Tybee Island.

It has been a blessing to be at home, to rest in my vacation home. This weekend was a time for me to slow down, reconnect with nature and my family. My middle child turned 26 today so we went to a nearby hotel restaurant that sits on one of the airport runways. It was a relaxing celebration and nice way to end the week (of course I was dreaming of a trip to the coast - oh well). Hope your weekend is a relaxing one.

P.S. I am nearing my 200th post. It's time for a giveaway. More about that later next week.