Daily Archives: August 7, 2018

August and Where did Summer Go?

When I was a girl, I lived for Summer.  School was a necessary evil.  I did well in school and made good friends, but I preferred to be outdoors and with my animals.    The last day of school was such a celebration for me. I feel sorry for children now who seem to be going to school all year around and don’t have the luxury of long, lazy Summer days to do just what they want to do. It seems children’s lives are so planned now. Even times to play with friends are called “Play Dates.”      Sports and other things fill children’s time.  When do they have the time to be bored?     Being bored is not a bad thing. It’s been made to be a bad thing in today’s fast paced, go, go, go society.  One must be entertained every moment of every day.

I was never bored as a child.   There was always so much to do on the farm.  I did have chores to do, but when they were done, my time was my own.   If I wanted to play a game of baseball, I joined my brothers in the barn lot where we would play all afternoon.  A game of croquet or badminton sometimes was the order of the day.  But mostly I played with the dogs and the cats and the calves and baby pigs and chickens and ducklings on our farm or swung on the swing and read a library book for hours.   Because we lived in the country, I didn’t have friends close by to play with so I had to entertain myself.  I learned to sew on Mother’s sewing machine, how to cut apart a chicken for Sunday dinner and how to saddle a horse.   I was in 4-H where I learned to embroider, bake cakes, tube paint, weave baskets and raise a sheep.

I still love Summers, but they seem so busy now.  Every year we plan a project and this year it is painting all the buildings on our property.  Most have not been painted for years so they are due.  I wanted to paint the outside of my shop, but first I had to remove everything that was on the front porch.

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This is not all of it. It looked like we were having a garage sale.

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And so I began to paint.

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Going from the color Chocolate which has been on our house and our buildings for years and years to Oxford Brown or as I like to call it Dark Chocolate. The paint looked just like chocolate syrup in the can.   Between David and myself we have the shop just about done. I love how it looks. We are hiring someone to paint the house because no more going up high ladders for David and my anymore.      We have wood fencing all around our property which we have been painting on for years and this year we hope to have most of it completed.  I love to paint, but I have been painting on something since January and am about done for a while.

Since it’s been our 50th anniversary month David and I have been doing some traveling and visiting places from our youth

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The church where we said our “I dos” 50 years ago.  It looks pretty much like it did fifty years ago.  Golly, but it seems like only yesterday.  I can still see the people at the door of the church throwing rice as David and I got in the car to drive around town.  David’s brother was driving. He came up from the Virgin Islands,   where he lived, to be David’s best man. They drive on the left side of the road there. When he left the church, he was driving on the left side of the street and we had to holler at him to get to the right!  It was one of the best days of my life.   It’s been a great 50 years.

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David’s Grandmother’s house.  She’s been gone many years, but we use to visit her often and she would cook us dinners.  She was a very good cook.

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We’d sit on this front porch and  watch the town go by. It was and still is a little town where everyone use to know everyone else. I don’t know if it’s like that now.   I miss it.  I miss Grandma Henley. She was so good to me.

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We’ve done a good bit of swimming with the grandboys.  We got this wild steer for them to ride in the pool.

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We are still getting rhubarb.  Made this freezer jam.

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Rhubarb sauce which David loves.  He even puts it on ice cream.

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And Rhubarb crunch. Yum.

And we have done some antiquing and other things.

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Found this clock for my shop which was perfect.

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This cute little tray.

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This tablecloth which matched the clock completely.

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A birdhouse I found.  A four holer.   Hope the birds can decide among themselves.

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We ate at a German restaurant which had very good food.

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Sitting out on the shop porch one evening, we watched a rainbow be born. I have never seen it happen before.  First it was very dim and got brighter and brighter and lasted for quite a while.  God’s promise.

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There have been quite a few rainbows lately.

And so Summer continues on for just a little while. I will hold it to me as long as I can.  I have so few Summers left on this great planet of ours.  As long as my garden is blooming, it’s Summer to me.

And my garden is blooming profusely right now.

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The view from my back door.  Everything is so lush.

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The best hydrangeas I have ever grown.  Right by our front step.

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I think these are called Tiger Lilies.  Their seeds look like ripe blackberries.

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I call this my kitchen garden.  Not much food grown here except a few tomatoes.

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Hibiscus grow all over the yard from one plant I got from my neighbor years ago.

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Lawn children play among the flowers.  A long time ago real children played in my garden.  Now they are all grown and live away.

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Just a couple of the day lilies I grow. They are one of my top five favorite flowers for beauty and ease of care.

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Belle roaming in her garden.  She loves to sniff the flowers.

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And, of course, Molly follows me everywhere I go.

So, Summer slowly leaves us now. I’ll be looking at these pictures in the midst of Winter snow, sleet and ice.   I know in some places fires are raging so we must send a prayer for all those in the areas, for the people and for the wildlife. Be safe. Bye.