How does your garden grow?

I always like to have a garden.  There is nothing like picking fresh vegetables from your own laboring.  Fresh garden vegetables taste so good.  There's nothing like them.  My husband created the ultimate garden spot this year.  Encased in cement it was an old defunct large animal scale.  He pulled everything out of it, filled it with awesome dirt, chicken manure and steer poop and fenced it.  Number one son and awesome daughter-in-law and I planted and put in the water system over Mother's Day weekend.  With our unexpected June heat, it is busting at the seams.

Summer evenings are made for hanging out in the garden.  Except for our little garden doesn't have many weeds and the watering takes care of itself.  So hanging out in the garden is a brief event. 

Tonight my husband wanted to go for a "little drive up the creek".  Maybe it's a redneck activity, not sure.  I was doing one more project and then headed for the pickup.  Hubby was calling the dogs to the back of the truck.  The bed of the pickup is filled with soil conditioner, black hose from his dad, a shovel and rake I never put away, and a bucket.  As the young dog jumps in the back of the pickup, Hubby bends over to lift the old blue heeler and as he does he says "don't tell me we don't look like we are pot growers".

Okay, so we do look a bit suspicious but we're definitely not.  But we did get a good belly laugh out of it.

Significant?

 

I like roses.  Pink, red, yellow, varigated, it doesn't matter.  They smell good and their peddles are soft.  In the back yard of the school where I work, the large steel fence is lined with beautiful roses.  When the weather is warm early in the year, they are abundant. 

 

Sometime last week I sent the following e-mail to some friends of mine.  It went like this:

 

"So, I was going to text but it got really long.

Since my kindle is on the fritz, I have a "stand by" devotional that Suzie B. gave me. It is 1,000 reasons to be thankful by Ann Voskamp. It is a bit abstract but if I stick with it and read it through it is amazing.

Today she talked about how as vessels we need to be filled up.  Someone found four crocks at a second hand store and gave them to her (might have been her husband?). Then she talked about putting them around her house and needing to fill them with flowers.  There was one part where her husband was on his way home from a long day in the fields. He stopped his tractor in the road and picked, with his greasy hands, wild lilies under the bridge so he could bring them home to his wife. Another was her son saying that he wanted to be the one to pick the flowers that week to fill the "vessels".

So here I sit with a small vessel (in the form of a vase) on my desk with a flower from God given to me through the heart of a young boy and I know that God fills me up every day, if I let him. I just pray that this young man hears the knock on his heart's door so some day he will know how he was used by God."

 

Today one of the girls brought me this beautiful rose.  It looked like two but had one stem.  Significant?  Maybe.

 

In my high school yearbook, seniors put a quote by their picture.  Mine was "God gave us a memory so we might have Roses in December".  Still significant?  Probably.

 

After losing my son, the first book given to me to help me sort through my pain and sorrow was "Roses in December.  Comfort for the Grieving Heart" by Marilyn Willett Heavilin.  Very significant?  I think so.

BCT

If you don't meet summer time head on, it will over take you and be gone in an instant.  So here it is Tuesday and Hubby and I did something we've never done before on a Tuesday, meet me after work, evening.  One of our most favorite trails is above Lover's Camp down the Scott River.  Box Camp Trail.  My dear one loaded the dogs, gassed up the pickup, scored a pizza and soda before meeting me at the Meamber School House.  I parked the car, got in with the adventurous Tuesday afternoon gang.  We headed "down river". 

The drive was beautiful with tall grass along side the road that was dotted with daisies.  The daisies were  bowing their heads downward to protect themselves from the rain that gently covered them throughout the day.

Lucy, our beloved terrier, is always excited to ride in the pickup.  Doesn't matter where she is going, she is whining in her unbridled excitement.  Forever winding for deer, Lucy always smells them before we see them.  Right on cue, Hubby saw a doe and a yearling.  Jessie, the little blue dog, also loves to go but in her aged condition she is most comfortable in the middle of the spare tire.

When we got to the end of the road, it was cold.  Windy cold that blows through your layers.  Strapping up my boots, I decided that more layers would be better than less.  Good decision. 

The trail is deceiving because it seems like it is going to be pretty much level but as most of the trails in the Marble Mountains, everything must go up to get to the high country.  We took it easy as we meandered up the recently rain soaked trail.  Lucy always puts on way more miles than we do because she must smell, see and explore everything within 70 yards of the trail.  It was fun to watch Lucy as she danced and leaped through the tall grass, wild flowers and skunk cabbage, unknowingly bathing herself as she listened to the music of the high mountains.

At one point Hubby asked if I wanted to go off the trail a bit to look down over the side of the world.  Sure.  Always game for a good view.  Lucy was a little ahead of us and up flew a mama Grouse and her three babies.  They went from unseen to flight in one fluid motion.  Lucy is always as surprised as everyone else. 

Maybe the one parent with her three little ones reminded Hubby of the fact that we were on the same point that him and the three boys were when they hunted one weekend.  They were "playing cat and mouse" with some bucks.  The bucks won.

Back on the trail, we kept going.  We broke out of the trees into the spot open where it pretty much levels out around for a while to meet the gap.  The rain started getting more intense, pelting our faces and you could no longer see the sweeping, brushed covered meadows or the tall majestic fir and cedar trees.  We turned around.  Just as we went back into a group of trees, Hubby said "there goes Lucy, she's after something".  At that moment, I saw Lucy headed back our way.  With a very large mama cinnamon bear on her tail.  About 70 yards from us, we froze for a moment to collect ourselves as Hubby went into protection mode.  Needless to say, we "broke camp" and scadattled.

The walk back to the pickup is always the one with a purpose.  At this point I could feel the weariness of the day creep in and I knew that this Tuesday adventure must come to an end.  On the drive out, I noticed that the daisies had turned their faces toward the sky as if to embrace the evening air.  The rain had subsided, the mountains were happy and we felt moments of contentment creep in.

Sometimes a momma just has

to make cookies.

A Boy and His Dog

When Sawyer was in Jr. High he had to do a project for English class.  He had to talk about himself.  Tell the class through inanimate objects a story about who he was.  He chose two things: a basketball pasted with words to describe his character through his eyes and a picture of him with his very own puppy.  The quote on the picture went something like this:

"There comes a time in every young boy's life when he is overcome with puppy love."

 

 

His puppy, Lucy, adored him.  No wonder.  Sawyer and Lucy loved to wrestle and play.  Lucy has always been a jumper and I didn't really like that she constantly wanted to jump up so I would always try to teach her to stay down.  Until I realized that Sawyer would turn right around and tap his upper chest until Lucy reached that spot.  At that point he would take Lucy in his arms and nestle his face into her and tell her what a good puppy she was. 

Today I was thinking about Sawyer and his puppy.  Last week she all but crawled in my lap.  I petted her and started talking about Sawyer.  She actually calmed down right after our little visit.  We talked about how much we miss him and we told each other how sorry we were.  I'm pretty sure that no puppy should ever loose her boy.  Doesn't seem right.  But I'm thankful he knew puppy love.  <3

Summer Days~

There's nothing like a hot steaming cup of coffee--garden-side.  This morning was beautiful.  It was pleasant, clear and had the makings for a warm summer day.  Hubby and I took our recently purchased Harris Ranch coffee cups to the garden to survey the growth.  We sat on the edge of the garden on the concrete entrance.  This garden is amazing.  Just like Superman who could leap tall buildings in a single bound....our garden can avoid multiple early morning freezings.  I hope you follow the correlation.

One of the rows of potatoes comes mid-thigh to a 49 year old woman (namely me).  Impressive.  Not me...the potatoes.  So we drank our coffee and talked about how fun it is to grow a garden that loves to grow.  And we decided to transplant a few of the very crowded cabbage and cauliflower plants.   So we did.  Hopefully they perk up because they didn't look very happy when I checked on them later in the afternoon.

Hubby had to work today.  I made a batch of apricot jam and an apricot pie for a family BBQ, transplanted a mother's day clematis and relocated an old ladder for it to climb on.  Quite a day.  Oh, I forgot.  I was leaving for that family BBQ and noticed that the renter's calves were out.  They were just barely outside their designated area...as if to say, "sure hope no one sees us outside our designated area".   Noticing they were out, I knew I couldn't leave.  So I attempted to return them to the field.  Our fox terrier instantly turned into a cow dog (which she's not) and tried to help me.  First pass.  Only one frisky critter returned to the field.  Brought the others around but they all scattered.  All four were out again.  Knowing full well that if they got on the main road I would be paniced, I closed both gates...all exits were sealed.   No one else was around so I knew that if they went in it would be with God's help.  So I prayed.  "Lord, how about some help here".  "Okay, put up that invisible gate Lord".  Sure enough three went in.  I headed off the fourth one and turned him back (that must be a cowboy term of some kind).  Lucy was still helping me and I know God was too.  Thanks! 

My memory returned to my childhood.  It seemed like the cows were always getting out.  Dad always wanted help getting them back in.  Boy oh boy, I didn't like moving, chasing or herding cows.  They were ornery suckers.  I recall being chased by a cow clear up the field.  I'm sure that it was the only time I ever ran faster than I really could.  So today when I successfully herded four spunky calves, I was feeling redeemed from those childhood experiences.  So glad I didn't grow up in L.A.

Flip or Flop?

This morning I noticed that the mate to my flip flop on the floor of my car was missing.  Late for work, I didn't have time to investigate.  Later in the morning I had to go to the high school to drop off some unwanted files (unwanted by my co-worker because she was two hours from beginning her vacation and she didn't want them on her desk).  So I drive up to the parking area and I see this black thing on the side of the fence.  Lo and behold, it appeared to be my missing flip flop.  Yep, it was!  Chuckling, I threw it on the floor of my back seat and proceeded inside.  My co-worker was happy to see me, unhappy to see the files as I suspected she would be.  I relayed the above mentioned story to her about my sad little shoe. 

Yesterday I drove my car to the bottom of Pioneer Street where I meet my walking partners every day to begin our hillside trek.  I drove to meet them because we had planned to walk "the hill" and then grab some lunch somewhere.  At the conclusion of our walk we went to a nearby fast food restaurant for a drive through lunch and headed back to work.  I dropped them off at their school and I am supposing what happened was my friend (yes, co-worker) got tangled up in my flip flop and kicked it out of the car.  I asked her how in the world she could get tangled up in a flip flop.   She thought she must have been distracted with her lunch. We had a hearty laugh. 

Summer time is a nice time of the year for a couple of reasons, one being time off work to rejuvenate and get filled back up.  The bad thing is not seeing my walking partners for some of June and most of July. 

What a blessing these two ladies have been in my life.  We have been walking for 5 years during our lunch time.  One o'clock in the afternoon is a great time of day in Yreka, California, to walk.  There have only been a handful of times that we have been unable to meet and walk due to inclement weather.  Of course, the youngest of us is a task master.  If us older ones get lazy, our younger counter part shames us into it.  No rest for the weary.

We have shared a lot... job layoffs, Bible studies, laughs, cries, gripes, and loss.  The morning after our big loss I was sitting on the couch in a fog.  A car came zipping in the driveway and pulled up on the garage slab.  There were people in the living room with me and some started guessing who it was.  I knew.  It was my friends.  They had come to cry with me and extend comfort through prayer.

I look forward to our daily walks.  God has blessed me in so many ways and this is just another way he takes care of me. 

Rapid Pace.....

The last two weeks have been busy and eventful.  On June 5th my husband and I went to Bend, Oregon to the Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch for a similar ministries conference.   Three days in the unusual Bend heat was taxing but we learned a lot and met a lot of really nice people.  Not to mention that we got to stay with our son Tanner and Michelle.  They are always so fun to hang out with. 

We had to jet back home a little early because hubby had to go to work on Saturday.  After a few days of being home, we hopped a plane to Orange County to take in my nephew's graduation festivities.  We all decided that we would go the weekend before and go to the Baccalaureate and my sister had the party on Saturday evening so we could all go.  There were 13 people in my sister's house for a couple nights.  It was fun and I'm sure her house will never be the same.

Going home we rode with my baby sister (did I say baby?....ha ha sorry Von), her three boys and my oldest sister.  We headed home on Sunday morning.  12 1/2 hours later we arrived close to our destination but still 1 1/2 hours short of Lavonne's. 

Why am I telling you all of this?  I was just wondering that myself.  So, let me see if I can write what I am thinking.

This morning I called Lavonne on my way to work as I oft times do.  She asked me how I was doing.  My reply kind of stunned me.  I said "I am lonely".  Lonely, lonely for that morning grumble from my youngest son because I got him up too early.  Lonely to feel his arm slung around my shoulder in a careless, simple way.  Lonely for that summer time feel when the schedule changes and life becomes more relaxed.  Just lonely for my boy.

Being with family is such a strong reminder that he is no longer with us.  This lonely feeling doesn't come too often and when it does I can be rest assured that Jesus will take that feeling and replace it with his grace and mercy and the wonderful people he has put in my life. 

So. Cal.

Graduation time.  My nephew in Orange County is graduating from high school.  So proud of him.  What a great guy.  We love him lots.  We left Medford yesterday for a 1 1/2 hour flight to LAX.  My sister picked us up.  It took us longer to drive to her house in Orange County then the flight.  Of course, it was the 5 o'clock traffic.  Once we hit the Orange County line things loosened up and we were flowing easier.  Quite a contrast of the drive from Yreka to Medford.

So here we are in sunny Southern California.  The weather is amazing.  Even at 64 degrees it feels warm.  My sister has a lemon tree and an orange tree in her back yard.  We love picking from these trees.  She just laughs at us. 

This morning we left the house to run errands and get pedicures.  We went to a bagel shop for breakfast.  There were so many people in this one little building.  We don't see that many people at the Siskiyou Golden Fair.  The salon is one we have gone to during past visits.  I had waited to get a pedicure and a facial wax.  Good thing.  She did a great job getting rid of my unsitely facial hair.  In fact, she thought I was pretty wooly.  I think her plan was to wax me from my hair line at the top of my forehead to my navel.  Woooo chickie.  Let's just work on my chin.  lol.  Then she told my sister and husband that I need my hair cut.  Keep in  mind that I just had my hair cut and colored two days ago.  I think I need to come to So. Cal. more often.

We went to an Asian market in Irvine.  Check.  Bucket list item #89 complete.  Glad that one is over because it's a little intimidating to go into a place where all of the people (yes, all Asians) give you the look of "whatever made you think you could come in here?"  or "you really think you can cook our food successfully?"  But we made it out with all our body parts.  The parking lot is another adventure in itself.  DWA.  If you want to know what that means, call Tanner.

Some of the rest of the family is driving down today.  Appears that they may be a while due to heavy traffic.  Really?  But it's only 2:45. 

Epicness

Our family loves epic meals~ 

One comes to mind.  My husband is a meat cutter.  One Friday night he brought home some pizza fixins.  Fresh mozzarella cheese and his bulk sausage.  The cheese was the freshest, heaviest, yummiest cheese we ever had on a pizza.  This pizza masterpiece was a good 8 pounds if it was one.  A Friday night favorite.  The three of us enjoyed it with a coke and a movie.  I think of that night lovingly, cherishing the memory of sharing a meal together as we so often did.

There are a couple of things that we never have gone without.  A summer fruit salad...a must.  Fresh.  Did I say fresh?  Watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, strawberries.  You know the routine.  Fresh.  Lewis tradition.

Potato salad made with dill pickles.  Must be dill.  Plenty of mayo. Totally yummy.   Eastlick tradition.

Fried chicken.  Yep.  Fried in grease, wanna piece?  Probably my husband's favorite.

Food was always a center, a reason to come together each and every night at our dinner table.  To share our day, to break bread, to love on our family.  The importance of the family dinner table was a generational event for both my husband and I.  Both of us grew up around, across from and by our family during these epic events.  Only, I'm not sure we realized how epic they were.

One memory I have of the dinner table while growing up in a house of 6 girls, is this little game my sister and I had with each other.  "Since you're up, could you get me a glass of water too, please."  Always obligatory of each other, but not always kind.  A lot of times that glass would be filled with hot water when it returned to the table. The funny part is it always went both ways and always brought a laugh.  So you ended up getting up for water anyway but this was way more fun.

This same sister and I have our favorite things to create.  Two of our favorite creations were rootbeer and crepes.  One particular day one of our older sisters came home during one of our creative kitchen times. We were home alone and we were just totally silly.  We saw her come down the long, dusty driveway.  We were prepared.  Right before she came in the front door, we went out the back door.  I don't really know what we were trying to prove but we ran around the house, waited a few minutes to see her wonderment of an empty house with a destroyed kitchen.  Tired of our silly game, we burst in the front door in laughter that could fill a room.  She failed to see our humor.  That, of course, made us laugh all the more. 

One night at dinner, I had invited my boyfriend to eat with us.  This memory is actually funnier if he tells this story; he's my husband.  Hard to believe that the Lewis dinner time didn't scare him off.  He likes to tell this story of my dad, starved after a long day of work, anticipating the big glass of ice cold milk.  My dad took a long, satisfying gulp.  He put the glass down, looked around and the look on his face was priceless.  "AAARRRGGG"....he growled.  "Sour" was his next word.  The glass of milk he had just drank half of was curdled.  We all busted up.  I'm pretty sure my dad always smelled his milk from that day on.

Epic memories. 

Mom the Amazing

Went berry picking with mom this morning.  I have a lot of childhood memories of mom, in her berry picking outfit (her bucket and bare hands), gathering up all the viable containers we had around the house, putting us all in the ol' jalopy to head "down river".  It was always a full day because once mom got started, we might not see her for hours because she found a good patch.  The berries we picked were blackberries and they covered the sides of a slow flowing creek.  The creek bottom was always cool in the hot summer heat and you would wade through the water to get to the best of the best.  Mom was always very thorough and wanted us to do the same but she never kept much of an eye on us because she was in her glory and probably just picked, thought, prayed and moved on.  I think it was a form of therapy for my mom and a break from the summer garden she spent so many hours tending.

Today it was a new kind of picking.  Picking strawberries from a u-pick patch on the Eastside of the valley.  My mom's a bit older now and the spring heat got to her quickly.  I told her to head to the shade and I would fill the last little bit of her bucket.  As I picked, thought, prayed and moved on, I shook my head at my sharpness toward my mom when she lovingly pointed out that I had missed strawberries.  Of course she was concerned about the berries that were left behind, that's not how she did it all those years ago. 

Today's strawberry patch was planted in many hill rows.  There were strawberries in the center of the plant and to the sides.  The ones on the sides cascaded down the hill and hung mostly in full sight.  As my thoughts wandered, I thought of the last few days.   My husband and I spent a couple of days at Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch in Bend, Oregon.  So many opportunities but which ones do you want us to pursue Lord?  The strawberries began to represent life.  The opportunity of life are at so many different stages.  Some are green, just starting to grow.  Some never get very big but are ripe.  Some are perfect, ripe for the picking.  Some you think look great but when you go to pick it, it mashes in your fingers; representing opportunities gone by.

A dear friend and relative posted the other day that it was the marking of two years since her dear mother passed.  She went on to say how much she missed her.  I'd say that today was just another opportunity to spend with my sweet mother and so reminiscent of days gone by.  This berry was just ripe for the picking.  Thanks Mom~  <3

Lawn Cowboy

My husband and I planted some trees in our new yard.  They are the trees we always intended to plant.  But the years slipped by and we never started that orchard we always wanted.  So now we have 4 apple trees, 1 cherry tree and a shade tree.  These trees are doing pretty well except for the resident deer who think their tender little leaves and tasty branches are irrestible.  So up go the cages to protect them.  My husband doesn't like cages around trees.  I think what he really wants is a full grown, skip the puppy stage, tree.

In addition to the trees, hubbie dear wants a large, green, full-time, night-time lawn.  Really?  I'm not so sure about the upkeep.  I really think it will take as long to mow the lawn as it does to clean our small little cottage.  Well, maybe not.  Picture this, the calf is in the chute.  The cowboy is atop his horse, reins in hand, nervous energy needing to be released as the calf is set free of the small confines.  The horse instantly knowing what to do, races at the calf in an effort to be situated so her cowboy can successfully one stroke the neck with his rope.  The horse puts the binders on, holding steadily.  The cowboy jumps off his horse and in a couple of fluid steps is on his knees, tying the legs of the calf together.  Signifying a successful competion, the cowboy flings his arms into the air with a dirt covered smile.

 

Now picture this....my husband decides the lawn needs to be mowed.  He goes to the shed to round up the lawn mower.  As he brings it around the corner, the family scurries for the house.  He really does need a shield for that thing.  Quickly he sets out to conquer the many blades that form our lawn.  Quickly, he covers the green area with his jaw set, determined.  Quickly.  For years our family has carefully teased dad about the vigor in which he mows.  We likened him to a calf roper.  So determined to be successful that we are sure he mentally flings his arms into the air signifying a job well done.

Ya know.  We really always enjoyed watching his determination! 

Sawyer's Place

To loose a child.  Unthinkable.  I suppose most people wonder how they would face tragedy.  It's a question you never want to be able to answer.  The year of firsts.  The first birthday you miss with your child.  The first Christmas.  The first day of school.  The first day of summer.  All of these firsts and then it's the first anniversary of the first day you missed him with deep, hollow sorrow.

So we did what we could and turned it in a day filled with family and friends.  Being active, planting life in the form of trees and sharing it with others.  "Sawyer's Place" was born.  We laid flagstone and erected a wall of those rugged stones.  The bench was lovingly handcrafted by a gentleman in the Yreka area.  The expenses were funded through donations from the staff at Yreka High School and the Educational Options program.  This is the district I work for.  So generous, so caring.

Today I spent the afternoon with two friends from work.  They so graciously gave their Saturday afternoon to go one step further with this precious place.  Mark stained the bench while Sue and I dug up the hardened earth and planted the plants we had brought.  We installed a water system, complete with a drip to each tree and mulched the area.  Whew....  I don't know about them but I was beat.  It felt good to work hard and get sweaty.  And yes, the shower I took later was rewarding.

As I stood and pondered the amazing view from the bench, I told Sawyer-isms.  Stories of a hope for a bright future.  Stories of many memories.  As I pondered this tonight, I remembered something from my devotional from a few days ago.  ""To Know Christ" (Phil. 3:10) is life's greatest achievement."  And I know this to be true with Sawyer.

 

"Sawyer's Place" is located at Cedar Lodge at KCOC.  If you are ever up that way, stop in and enjoy the view and say a prayer for all the kids who are fortunate to go to camp there.