If Pictures are Worth 1,000 Words, Then Why Do I Still Have Words??

We ordered seeds for this plant three or four years ago. The flowers are so pretty and dainty. The plant is called Marshmallow. If you are interested in learning more about it, here ya go:
http://www.woodlandfairyacres.com/historyofmarshmallows.php It was too much for me to summarize this morning. Just click the link if you want to read about it.
I love the simpleness of the flowers...

And the bees love it. See the one flying off? I think he's shy...

Purple Cone Flower...

This cat followed me everywhere this morning. We had a love fest on the front porch. Funny thing is, this cat has never let me touch it very much at all and actually ended up in my lap trying to groom me. Thing is, I had told Adam to take this very cat (among others) to the pound because we just have too many and due to circumstances beyond our control have had a few more show up.

Scary grooming session, but he wasn't hurting me - just trying to get me to hold still... I don't know what lesson I'm supposed to be learning, but the cat still has to go. Now I just feel worse about it. Sorry cat...

We took a trip together to the yarrow. The pink variety bloomed yesterday. It is so pretty. By now, you probably think I have issues because I have three different kinds of yarrow. Well, I'd have more if I could find it. I have no idea why I think it is so pretty - I just do. It makes me happy to look at...

See? I bet you feel all happy now, too! How can you look at that and not smile, I ask you??

Then we went to the chicken coop. I forgot to get the eggs yesterday and my grumpy hens will start eating the eggs if I leave them for very long. So I go to get the eggs and the white chicken that always escapes escaped. The cat there watched me chase it around the yard for five minutes. She is very tricky, that hen. You have to heard her just right or you go in circles for days. Five minutes is about close to my best time with that chicken. I'd have taken a picture, but then it would've taken longer and it has become a personal issue with me. She doesn't do it to Adam... maybe it is because he closes the door to the coop when he gets the eggs... :)

We have eaten and gifted a full bed of potatoes so far. Don't worry. There are more. LOTS more...

We have a whole trellis of peas that we are going to let ripen for seeds for next year. We love sugar snaps and I have decided that next year I am going to plant peas like we planted potatoes this year. I will then be happy with the amount of sugar snap peas in my garden.

We like to plant turnips and kohl rabi in the pea beds. They fit perfectly and feed at different levels in the soil. We take up less room in other beds and also do not waste space in the beds we plant in. See the turnips at the bottom of the picture??

If I had to title this picture it would be, "Really Big Honkin' Turnip". Because that is what that is. Now I have nothing against turnips, but I don't eat them like I do potatoes or chocolate, ok? I'm not afraid to tell you this. Adam does love his turnips better than chocolate because he doesn't really like sweets at all. I could say, "Honey, we are having creamed turnips for dessert." and he would be giddy with excitement. I don't know what is wrong with him, but what is wrong with me is that we don't grow chocolate and I have know idea what I'm going to do with all of the turnips in my keeping. Adam just says, "Well, Baby, they store well..." Thanks, dear. Thanks a lot. :) Now I'll just invent a place to store them... They are pretty, though, aren't they?

The bees were going crazy this morning. They were covered in pollen and buzzing around everywhere. Please ignore my weeds. We are not ignoring them - it is just that there are a LOT of them and two of us!! We're workin' on it - promise!

Mr. Ladybug was covered in pollen. Do you see it on him? You know I can't resist a ladybug picture... Thanks for tolerating my eccentricities!

My first stargazer lily bloomed this morning. All is now well with my soul.

And I hope it is well with yours. If not, go look at some bugs and flowers. You're bound to feel better!

All my love,

Malinda

I Spent All Day Trying to Upload This...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXwdFit9HV0

Please click on the link above if you want to hear some music...

Happy day.

Squash and Flowers...

More yarrow. This is called Parker's Variety Yarrow. It gets taller and thicker than wild yarrow. And DOES NOT DIE. You can't kill this stuff. I'm ok with that as I have moved it to the back corner of my garden and it is happy there... I just can't get over the ditch lillies. They are so pretty and so different. I am glad that some of them are now yard lillies!!

The first summer stuff from the garden. The straightneck squash was ok. I prefer the crookneck. The zuccini was out of this world good. We had a free meal last night. A student gave us some steaks, we had potatoes and squash from the garden. The only storebought thing that went in our bellies was butter and a little milk. I was proud of myself.

Have a good day!!!!

Much Love,

Malinda

A Day in the Life

We have a cat named Fuzz Jr. He is fuzzy and his dad is NOT Fuzz Sr., but they were both fuzzy and my student, Jacey (like Lacey or Tracy), named them both. Anyway, Fuzz Jr. has become quite the tough kitty and likes to prove his overall "badness". Especially when unwanted cats come around. There are two feral males who show up from time to time. So long story short Fuzz Jr. chases his daddy up a tree acting all tough and ended up hanging from some limbs. I would just like to say kudos to Fuzzy J for hangin' on. He hung there for at least three minutes or so. The lighting wasn't good and I didn't have time to adjust, but he's the shadowy looking thing in about the middle... Enter my Lovin' Husband. What you don't see is that Fuzzy J is hanging directly above our fire pit full of dead limbs and what not. Not a good place to land...

Poor cat didn't know what to do and was just swinging in the breeze and Adam had an "aha" moment and went to get our long ladder.

It took a minute for Fuzz Jr. to realize that we (I DID help there at the end :) ) were trying to help him. In fact, I don't know if he ever did, but Adam kept nudging him with the ladder and he finally realized he had an escape route. In the blink of an eye he let go of the limb and flipped around and grabbed the ladder. Adam lowered it about five feet and that cat was gone before I could even think about snapping a picture.

That is just one of the many hero-like things my Adam has done lately. I'm glad we're hangin' on this earth together, me and him.

Have a good day. Don't forget to smile!!

Malinda

Before...

There are things that happen in all of our lives for better or worse that make us stop and KNOW we need to pray. There are times when we feel like the only thing we CAN do is pray. I took maybe twenty or so steps this morning before I literally dropped to my knees on my front porch and told God this: Help me help them, help me help me, be with us all, and I REALLY need to get rid of some kittens. Thing is, though, that God was already doing what I asked Him to do before I said a word. He was there waaaaaaaay before I stopped and talked to Him. He was already helping me and them, but I just felt like saying those words aloud to God - I figure even if He can't make the kittens miraculously disappear that He got a chuckle out of my plea...

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes, we do need to pray because our relationship with God is strengthened that way and He needs to hear from us what is on our hearts so that we learn to always trust Him, but I feel like His answer to me this morning was, "Quit worrying, Malinda. Life isn't easy and you're just learning that. I'll help you. Just lean on Me."

I forget to let go of my burdens and worries and let Jesus have them. Not all of the time, but the big ones are hard to let go of. I just have to keep remembering that even though I do ok, God does better. He is already there - before I pray and before I even know I'm gonna need to talk to Him - He is there...

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Malinda

Friday

Big honkin' cabbage plant... We (and I do mean WE :) ) weeded like fools yesterday. The garden is so big that it doesn't really matter how much you weed because there is always weeding to do. The cabbage and brussel sprout beds were pretty scary. I had started to refer to the crab grass as "living mulch". Really it is choking, take-over plant so we attacked those beds yesterday (among others) with fervor.

All of the "chicken food" in the wheel barrow did not come from one bed, by the way. ;)

Speaking of chickens... they know what he is getting ready to do and they are EXCITED...

I leave the clods of dirt at the rootball on a lot of the plants I pull up so that they can get the worms and bugs down in there... shhhh don't tell Adam I gave the chickens his precious dirt!!!

We put Bad Dog's tie out front. He was very happy...

We moved the little replacement chickens down to the pen. We have to get more netting and shade cloth, so we had to make a makeshift pen for them until we get more, but they still have waaaaay more room than they did.

Watch out!! Flying chicken...

We had let the run in this pen grow up so that when we put chickens in it they could eat it down. These are doing that one section at a time! They are so much happier in the sunshine...

Happy chicken....

Happy, sunny day, my friends!! I'm gonna go weed my garlic now...

Love,

Malinda

Ditch Lillies...

I showed you some lillies in a ditch a few days ago, remember?? Well, last year I dug some of those very lillies up and put them in my backyard. This morning they bloomed... so pretty...

Happy day!!!

the other side...

I would just like to say one thing...

Birds of a feather... how do they KNOW that?? :) We will be eating this very squash today. Mmmmm...

and this lovely zuccini, as well...

We will not be eating Mr. Ladybug.

This is my first bit of echinacea ( I have no clue if I spelled that right) this year. They're fun to watch bloom and I think the middle looks neat. If you stare at the red part long enough, you can see all sorts of designs.

Adam's Dad is a yard-sale-aholic and found this lovely potato (all of the sudden I can't remember the name of it) fork? spade? All I know is that it is supposed to be used to dig up potatoes and it does a dandy job!! (Adam was proud of his pose, here...)

This is where our new deluxe scrapwood chicken coop is going to be. We sunk the posts and are now moving on to the framing out of it. We'll be able to do away with the coop you see, keep the old one that you can't see as a shady place for the chickens in the summer, and integrate our three separate flocks into one once we are finished with the new coop. I'll be able to help feed and water them more then. It has become a really fun project for Adam and I and we're looking forward to it being finished. I can't decide what to paint on it. I will agonize over this for weeks and weeks before we come up with just the right thing!!

The grass...

is always greener....

on the other side....

Happy day, my friends. Hug somebody today and tell them you are happy that they are your friend...

Much love,

Malinda

Sunset...

I have discovered that I love to take pictures in the evening at sundown. I like the way you end up viewing what is in the shot. Here the Lovin' Husband seems so far away, but he isn't really. You can barely see the tomato plants and the brussel sprouts because of the angle and how bright the sun is, but you CAN see them if you know where to look. :) The corn and squash look neat. I'm glad that they turned out looking so cool because I did mean for them to be the subject. I think it all looks like it does because of when I took the picture. It wouldn't be as neat if I had snapped that at noon.... g'night and love
Malinda

Maddie P and Some Flowers

Church is definitely for this... Meet Madelyn Paige.... Maddie P for short.

We had a photo op before Worship Team practice and took advantage!! Look at those toes... I'm telling you Maddie is an awesome kid. She just turned three and is growing so fast! I enjoy hanging with her.

Maddie is the daughter of my good friends, Cheryl and Paul. She and I are pretty good friends, as well and now that I know that the little girl likes to play with the camera, we'll be spending a little more time together, methinks. I love how the crayons are all scattered around her in this picture. I think it gives some depth. Not that I really know what I'm talking about, but it seems that way to me!!

On the way to worship team practice I found these. They are on my road and I think they are beautiful. I like flowers in ditches. There is a beauty in that that cannot compare to the most meticulous of flower beds. Mixed in are wild roses...

I got back in my car, drove 15 feet, stopped again, and took a picture of this...

I see this every day and I'm telling you, it takes my breath away. It makes me think about people. Take a bunch of rosy Christians and put them all together and we are all shiny and vibrant together. There is nothing wrong with that, but when we become the hands and feet of Christ, we join God in the black and white places in the world and bloom where we are planted. By all rights, that climbing bush should be choked out by all of those weeds, but it is close enough to the tree to get the support to flourish. Sometimes we have to go away from where we think God is to find Him.

All my Love,

Malinda

Happy First Birthday, Little Dude!!

Adam's nephew Liam had his first birthday party on Saturday. I did not get to go due to back injury and am sorry I missed it judging from Adam's pictures. Yes. Adam took the camera so that I would be ok about it all, I think and then actually used it! I am so proud of him! I digress. Looks like Liam chowed down on his cake!! and this one.... my goodness...

I like this picture. Don't know why, but I do. That is Keith (Adam's brother) and Line' - proud mama and papa to the cutie pie himself.

The best thing about Stenberg parties is that you get to see family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, and for us country mice (hee hee) immediated family... This is Adam's dad, Jeff, and brother Keith. You can really tell that they're related, huh?

Now this one I like because obviously someone else was taking a picture and got Keith and Line' full on, but ol Liam was taken with Uncle Adam... those eyes!!

Here is the fam minus Line', Liam, and myself. Those girls are just as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside and their boys are sweet as they come.

So today we are thankful for families!!!!

Love,

Malinda