Biltmore Visit

Now that summer is winding down, I'm going to try and catch you up on some of our activities and goings-on.  First on the list, my last visit to Biltmore.  The last Friday in July was the day of the latest trek over to Asheville and all things Biltmore.  One of the members of our Starting Point group, a lovely young lady by the name of Mary, made the the trip with me.....and we made a day of it, in spite of the sweltering temperatures.

Always abundant photo ops!

Love this girl!   What a heart for the Lord!

Did you know I used to play the flute?  Not as well as Pan, tho'!

Yum, yum!!

Ta-ta til next time!

Have a blessed Lord's Day tomorrow....and check back soon for more "catching up" posts.

Lull....what lull?

Thank goodness there was a short lull the first part of July, because since then...well, let's just say, "lull" is not a word that has been part of my vocabulary recently!!

But first, a little catching up....we had a blast with Zach when he came to visit us for a week....and we enjoyed the quick trip to Nashville/Franklin to pick him up, spend a little time with Jon, and take my mom and dad out for a birthday celebration lunch.  Oh, BTW, my mom's 91st birthday was the reason for the celebration!

Zach with his greatgrandparents, Dot and Euel Fox

Zach was thrilled to have a little one-on-one time with his much-loved Uncle Jon....of course, the thrill of playing a "cool" video game wasn't too bad, either!

While Zach was with us we enjoyed lots of time outdoors, but I think one of the highlights for him was chasing and catching lightening bugs...he had never seen them before! 

Skipping rocks, catching "baby" frogs, looking for bugs, throwing frisbees, roasting marshmallows for s'mores, roasting hotdogs, going fishing with Pops (as Zach decided to call him during his visit), along with lots of other fun activities....grandkids are such fun!!! 

(For more photos of Zach's Tennessee fun, click here)

We've also been busy with gardening chores....watering (90+ weather...yuck), harvesting and replanting...and checking on the bees.  Let me just say, they're not too happy with all this heat and humidity, either....trying hard to keep the hive cool by fanning those little wings.  Whew....they make me tired just watching them!  I'll try to get some photos of the bees and garden progress up later, but for now....just take my word for it....the bees are working and so are we!

There is so much to catch up on....from volunteer work at Doe River, to participation in ECHO Sunday through our church (can't wait to share that one), to a visit to Biltmore with a sweet friend,  and even some work on some projects around the house.  Goodness....maybe I should just stay up all night and blog!  On second thought, that lemon cake I'm baking is sending out enticing aromas and I need to make sure I don't burn it....we're having friends over for dinner Thursday night!  And then there are thoughts of my wonderful bed...and sleep.  Yeah, I've decided I can't do without it,(sleep, that is) so no all-night blogging for me, but I WILL try to catch up in the next few days.

In the meantime, here is a verse that was brought home to me today when I called someone on something they had said....and God spoke to my soul, reminding me of this verse from a devotional I read recently...Proverbs 16:24.

"Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones." 

Lord, help me to remember to speak with your love filling me...for only then will I speak "words....like a honeycomb."  Let us all speak words of kindness to those around us so that they can see the love of Christ shining through us.

Summer... and the livin' is fine!

It is definitely summer around here....long warm (translate...hot) days, eating out on the deck, gardening, yard projects, visits with family, afternoon thunderstorms, BLTs made from home-grown lettuce and tomatoes.  Yup...it is summer, the livin' is fine, and we are lovin' it!

This week there is a little lull in activity, tho' you can't tell it by looking at the calendar and our to-do list.  But let's look back just a little - in the past few weeks we have enjoyed visits with both family and friends, and more are on the way!

First we had a nice relaxing but fun visit with our friends, Dot and Arky, from Mississippi.  We met them when we were in Gulfport for several months after Katrina.  We did a lot of talking, catching up, playing games, eating, relaxing, exploring, and even more laughing.

(For more photos from their visit click here.)

Then we made a trip to the Tidewater area of Virginia for a graduation.  Can you believe it....we're old enough to have a grandson graduating from high school?  (Oops...we've already had two grandchildren reach that milestone before this particular event.)   Nah, we can't be THAT old, but we decided to go anyway.  Whatever....we ARE that old!  (Insert smiley face here.)
It was a busy weekend, and we were there as proud grandparents to watch Cody receive his diploma,

to wish Happy Birthday to both Ted (6/17) and Amber (6/19), and to celebrate with a pool party (at Cody's request).  It was a special time to be with family and Willie enjoyed being able to see all four of his kids at once! (More photos available here)

When we made the trip home, we had an extra body in the car....our almost-twelve-years-old grandson Nicholas rode back with us to spend a week at "Our Green Acre".  Nicholas was thrilled that we decided to purchase the Wii while he was there, and I do believe he initiated it in royal fashion.  I think his favorite word that week was "Wii"!  We did entice (or coerce, or....) him to participate in other activities....like an 81/2 mile hike on the AT with his grandpa, a couple of campfires in the fire pit (complete with s'mores, no less), a 17 mile bike ride on the Creeper Trail, bird-house building, fishing (yes, he caught his first fish, and second, and third, AND fourth), lessons on fire-starting and beekeeping!  And he really felt like he'd "arrived", when Daisy started climbing up in his lap (she's a very skittish and picky little Yorkie).

For more pics from Nicholas' visit, click here.

It had been a couple of momths since we had made the trek over to Biltmore, so one day last week we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed over the mountain to Asheville....always a beautiful drive.  Once again, Biltmore did not disappoint, tho' we were dismayed to see that the Conservatory had sustained hail damage, and most of it was closed.  But we did take in a little extra....the Architect's Tour, which allowed us to see parts of the house that are not open to the general public.  And the views from the upper balconies and roof top....oh, my!

 More photos of our Biltmore visits can be found here.

In the midst of it all, the everyday things go on.....the garden - carrots, tomatoes, onions, banana peppers are producing, the beans and green peppers are getting nearer to that point...the swiss chard, romaine, beets and scallions are growing (photos here.....more to follow)....
the bees are doing well, and are (excuse the cliche) busy as bees (click here, more this weekend)...and then there are the ever-present projects - cleaning and staining/resealing the deck, repairing the shed, not to mention the on-going yard/lawn maintenance!

We are so grateful that God has blessed us with all of these wonders....and we are so in awe.  Our church is gearing up for Echo...where on the last Sunday of this month the church members will be servings in various ministries/outreach opportunities during what would normally be "church time"!  I love a church that goes beyond the four walls of its building and really reaches the community.  Pray for us during these next few weeks as we search where God would have us serve in an on-going basis.
That alone will be an adventure, a blessing, and a challenge....He has much in store!

Our garden...progressively!

I shared about our recent addiction to the square foot gardening method....now to my favorite part....harvesting!  It started small...our first harvest was just enough buttercrunch and red sail lettuce for small salads...

But now I can see some luscious salads in my future!  And the swiss chard?   Yummo...apparently, the earwigs think so, too.  Bummer!

Loving this Red Sail lettuce....such broad tasty leaves and it is still producing during this hot June weather....pretty hardy stuff.

And then there's the peas.....just starting out here, but with the promise of lots of  yummy goodness.  I LOVE pea pods, but they are always so expensive.  Solution - we're growing our own with plans to freeze any excess for this winter.

We didn't have a very good radish crop, but did enjoy a few with some of our daily salads.  One thing I learned was that next year I will stagger my lettuce plantings a little further apart (had a glut of salad greens for almost two months).

Doesn't that look pretty? 

Broccoli, cabbage, peas, onions, spinach, chard, lettuce, onions, and carrots with some herbs (basil, chives, oregano, parsley, and cilantro) thrown in for good measure. Add the marigolds for a little pest control, and other flowers to brighten the whole effect....and now our garden is a beautiful part of our landscape!

 The radishes may be gone, but the broccoli and cabbage are sure looking good!  Homemade broccoli salad, anyone?

I'm really getting excited now.....PEAS!!

AND parsley...

onions....

Broccoli is looking about ready for harvest.

Well, it's been quite awhile since we first started on this process.  It all started with building the boxes in Feb/March.  Since then we've had quite a bit of fresh produce.....

• Lots and lots of lettuce
• Spinach and chard....used some fresh and froze some for later use
• Radishes - a few good ones
• Strawberries - not that great a harvest....going to leave them in for next year and see how they do.  If they don't produce well, they're outta there....I'm not wasting space on unproductive plants! 
• Cabbage - fresh cole slaw (oh, yummy) and froze quite a bit for soups this winter.
• Broccoli - the best broccoli salad ever and the rest put up in the freezer.
• Peas - did I mention I LOVE pea pods?  Well, some didn't even make it into my harvest bowl!  Somehow they made their way to my mouth before they could hit the bowl.  But we enjoyed them steamed...taste buds, awake!   And I have quite a bit in the freezer.  Can I just say that I am loving the look of that freezer now?  Maybe next year I will try canning.
• And the herbs - it is so nice to walk down the deck steps and cut some fresh basil for caprese salad.   Summer at its finest!

So now that the radishes, spinach, cabbage, broccoli and peas have completed their productive lives....well, they are being replaced.  The bush beans are coming up, the peppers are ready to be transplanted along the "trellis", the tomatoes are in bloom...already have 15 tomatoes of varying sizes, the zucchini is going in, and I'm ready to put in some beets and some more carrots and bush beans....staggering that harvest (see, I AM learning something in this process).

Next time I'll share some of our recent adventures...and that's my challenge - to get current with my blogging updates!  In the meantime, I think I'll just sit back, count my blessings and watch the garden grow!

A New Addiction

Yes, we are addicted....to the Square Foot Gardening method, that is.  And it all came about so innocently!  This winter we were at our local library, and Willie checked out a couple of books on gardening, one of them being, The Square Foot Gardener, by Mel Bartholomew.  The more he read, the more excited he became....it all made so much sense, especially, since this is our first foray into gardening in years (let's NOT count them, okay?), and the idea of a tilling up a large section of our yard to put in rows and rows of produce just wasn't all that appealing.  And theeen, we read that Mr. Bartholomew had a newer version of his book out which eliminated ALL tilling?  Hmmm....yup, you guessed it....we headed over to our closest bookstore and nabbed us a copy.  (Actually, we purchased it....that honesty thing, you know.)

First, the boxes had to be constructed...that was Mr. Man's job...

We started out with three, but decided we really wanted to be able to have a little more variety and even some fresh produce to freeze for soups and such later in the year so we ended up going with six.

Then it was on to deciding where we wanted the garden.....

Once all the boxes were in place, it was time to mix up "Mel's Mix", a combination of peat moss, vermiculite and several different kinds of compost.  THAT was a chore....at least it was until we decided to only do half of a "batch" at a time. 

And now the planting has commenced!  Strawberries were the first things to go in, quickly followed by lettuce, spinach and chard.  Oh, and those luscious spring peas!

One of the neat things about this type of gardening, is that you can customize it to suit your needs.  We decided that we didn't want to have to make cold weather frames for all our boxes, so we made sure that the additional two boxes had only frost-hardy plants in them.  Soooo cool!

And our more delicate plantings were nicely protected from that last frost!  Now it's on to more planting, and the best part.....HARVESTING!!

Check back for reports on our progress with both the garden and the bees....until then, face your challenges, embrace your adventures and cherish your blessings!