karismar

How do I know when life has come at me in full force??? When I somehow only have 2 tomatot plants planted!!!!! I don’t think I have ever only planted 2 tomato plants. What the hell happened is what I want to know! That’s not enough to feed my obsession with them, let alone the family, friends and to can. The two that are planted are looking a little listless like they aren’t sure if they want to grow…not what I want to see the end of May with gorgeous blue skies and temps in the 80’s! This is one crazy busy time for us, again. We did this last year with our 1st child graduating and here we are again just a year later. So much to do for the current school year and oh my how much there is to do now for the fall….college,etc. We also have been working a lot at getting the house ready for guests…..about 60 of them!! The party for celebrating the graduate is just a few short weeks away and I still have food to plan and a photo slide show on the computer to put together. I did one last year for my son and it was really something to see…..from birth to graduation. We set the computer out in the front room and let it play continuously so everyone had a chance to see it. There was always someone hovering around to watch. I highly recommend it…..it’s a wonderful gift to present to your child someday. I’m hoping the Old Farmer’s Almanac is again correct with the weather….keeping fingers crossed as they say it should be dry and warm that weekend. I am desperate for a natural solution to getting rid of ants!! They are everywhere, inside and out and it’s so bad I’m ready to call an exterminator…if you know me at all you’ll know that is the last thing I would ever want to do but they are EVERYWHERE AND IN LARGE NUMBERS.

With the full moon coming I have some moon magick I want to work. It’s going to be gorgeous weather and just perfect for being out there. I’m sure this country will be rockin with moon magick!!

and to all of you who have sent such caring words…thank you xoxo 

Yesterday was the funeral for our "lost boy".  Always a dreaded event and this was no different. The one survivor, another boy, was there in his wheelchair with his head barely rising to eye level. Such dispair to be left alone with your thoughts, your guilt of surviving. It’s inevitable to not feel that way. Kids with empty eyes filled the auditorium, all there to show their respect and solidarity. Teachers from his early years watched as they remembered the boy who filled their classrooms with laughter. To my sweet and ever loving friend, mom to "lost boy"…..love you with every piece of me.

Once again I find myself somewhat surprised at how much joy the gardens bring me. It’s really taking off. Lettuce is filling out, onions are sprouting and even the grapes that my dog chewed down to the stump last year are back in full form. A new raised bed was put together Saturday and now I get to decide what to plant there. It was a surprise to me, such a sweet gesture from my partner.

We’ve had warm weather the past 4 days so I’ve taken advantage of it and started painting the exterior of the house. Primer is the first coat and I’ve done the backside, the garage and nearly finished with the west side. We’ll have to hire someone to get the peaks and dormer on the second story but I’m encouraged at how fast it’s gone.

A new moon today so more planting is close by. yay!

Here are a few views of the garden, my most favorite place to be….the bachelor button in the pic below was a volunteer off on the backside of the garden. I couldn’t resist taking a picture.

 

 

 

 

Mother’s Day started out wonderful. I am a mother to three amazing and loving teenagers and I can’t get enough of them.  Breakfast was made and gifts were given and we were hanging out enjoying the morning……..but then the phone call came. My son took the call and I could tell by the expression on his face that someone close to us was dead. My close childhood friend’s son was in a fatal car crash about half a mile down the road, 2 dead and one survivor. All teenagers, all friends of my son’s. We carried our sons together and raised them just blocks away from one another. Same schools, same teams, same same same. Yet my son is alive and hers is dead. Life makes no fucking sense.

This is what I did over the weekend. We were gifted with gorgeous weather that should continue through the week. The brick laying was one of the most difficult jobs we’ve ever done and neither of us are anxious to do it again. Finding a level  area to work with in a very old, exisiting space is extremely difficult so we had to fudge it in places. It’s fine, we didn’t want a perfect look and like the welcoming feel of non-perfection.  The wet spots in picture are simply areas where the sand has not dried yet.  Against the fence is a kiwi vine that is fast growing and will spread over the fence this summer. The area is a southern exposure and gets blistering hot in the summer so the vines will help keep it somewhat cooler.  Potatoes and onions were planted in the garden along with some climbing roses out front and today I’m going to enjoy some weeding, thinning of lettuce and just hanging outside. Mother nature always gives so much to me when I’m out there.

 

 

Soon I’ll be picking fresh lettuce and peas from the garden and feeling the sun on my face. Not today but soon. Yesterday I was encouraged when I saw the growth of my lettuce!  I could pick it right now and have a baby salad but I’ll wait for a larger crop. Lemon balm is everywhere and I don’t know why it grows like a weed in my yard but I’m thankful for it. 

The rain finally came but it gave us 2 days of unexpected warmth and dryness and I say yay!  Temperatures are dropping to give us a cold and wet day, a prime day for baking something comforting for afterschool snacks(chocolate chip cookies) and a roast in the oven for dinner.  

As I sat in the garden yesterday any noise around me seemed to fade into one single hum, neither bothering me nor intruding. I tend to like "white noise" anyway and have learned through yoga that tuning it all out and still finding my center is a gift to myself. I found magick in the garden yesterday, I always do. Faeiries coming out to look at the new growth and to give my newfoundland a little tease. She goes crazy and I always know when they’re flitting about as she will go leaping through the air trying to catch one. Nothing else is around, not a bird nor squirrel and I know at that moment what she’s seeing.

I think I’ll put on my hat and coat and hang outside after the baking is done, despite the rain as I can’t resist it.  

 

 Happy Bealtainn everyone.  A gorgeous morning as the sun came up. It was calm and peaceful and so inspiring.

Ants have attacked the house and yard so I’m heading outside with the spray bottle filled with vinegar on a mission. What a mess they’ve created, they’re everywhere.

My guy has been putting up a gothic picket fence out front and I’ve been applying primer in a race against the rains that are due today. Yesterday I thought I was going to see a wet white mess everywhere but fortunately the rains stayed away. The garden/yards are really coming alive and new tasks are presented daily. The climbing rose outside of the bay window is really growing and needs more to climb on, more work on the newly added raised beds and pots need cleaned out. More planning is needed for where it’s all going to grow. That dirt pile mentioned earlier is still a dirt pile when it really needs to be a patio, and soon! 

On a different note…my daughter received early admissions to one of the state universities here and had accepted. Well, she’s been feeling like a change and so she applied to a school back east last week and Saturday morning received not only acceptance but a $32,000 scholarship!!  What a surprise!  She did not apply for it or expect it. The letters came while she was at work so I called her and told her something had come for her. She asked me to read them and as I began reading I started to cry…..I was so moved by what they wrote and so proud of her. She has been an exceptional student, always taking the AP courses and doing as well as she could and always with such a kind heart. Then when I opened the second letter noting the scholarship, I could barely talk.  I was overcome with so much emotion. Well, now she is struggling with where to go….even with the acceptance and scholarship the price of tuition is astounding and she will be so far away…..3,000+ miles away

Growing up is not always easy or enjoyable, sometimes it’s full of choices to make and I think the key is to not look at them as right or wrong choices but simply "choices" for now in your life. One will lead you over here or there and so begins the journey……and after all, that’s what it’s all about, the journey.  These were my words I gave to her and I hope they’ll serve her well.