It’s Friday!

 

I’m grateful that I realized that my house will probably never be a "clean house". If you drop by unexpectedly, you’re likely to find dishes in the sink, toys all over the floor, and baskets of clothes all over the house. The floors probably need to be swept, and I’m betting the bathroom hasn’t been cleaned in a while. The yard has old plastic pots floating around here and there, there’s almost always evidence of a couple of unfinished projects, and it’s just not generally very "kept" looking. Not to mention paperwork everywhere, piles of miscellaneous crap on most surfaces, and all the dog hair… well. This is just the way it is. I just recently realized that we live here. We live here and sleep here and love here and are creative here. This is home. Why is this an extraordinary realization for me? Well, I guess I just realized that when it comes to that stuff- cleaning and keeping and whatnot, I often am more focused on what it is not rather than what it is. This is not to say that I don’t want to improve. I’d like this place to have order- I want everything to have a place, I don’t want to spend hours looking for things or feel stressed because it’s not comfortable to be in. But, I want to keep my mind on what matters, and just why it is that we have this home. What is it for? Do I want to spend lots of my time making sure it’s up to some unrealistic image I have in my head, or do I want to be happy and active here, and have a warm home that tells a story of life? 

 

 

 

Speaking of which, a half-cleaned fridge never felt so good. No, I didn’t finish the job, and no, I will not be posting a picture of the interior of the refrigerator. But it’s better. 

 

I’m grateful for our chickens who will happily eat almost anything, and who have helped us cut down on almost all the food waste that we once had. It all goes to them, and then comes back to us as eggs or good compost. 

 

Grateful for finished diapers- complete with new snaps (goodbye awful velcro!) and new elastic. Yes! 

 

Grateful for how wonderfully the volunteer day went. Good friends, perfect weather, lots got done. I am very encouraged, and I feel like this garden is going to be something we all can be really proud of at the end of the season. We lost Asa’s little hat somewhere in there, and so my friend lent him her scarf to cover that little head of his. So sweet. This is him with one of my oldest friends, Diane, sporting his little "do-rag". Love it.

 

I’m also grateful for finally being able to do some gardening of my own this week! Let’s see…

 

Planted three different kinds of raspberries. One that ripens in the early summer, one in the fall, and one in both summer and fall. Raspberries all the time! Then I planted a boysenberry, a blackberry, two currants, and a rhubarb.

 

There’s space on the other side of the rhubarb, and I’d like to fill it with two serviceberry plants. Soon this will all be covered with mulch, and I hope it will all fill in nicely.

I’m loving seeing things come back.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Started on the front yard project. First step was transplanting some hostas. I found a dead squirrel in the front yard, and it needed burying. So I took the opportunity to dig up the hostas above, and that was where I put him. Then I planted them in four sections around that pine (you can kind of see them poking up). I can tell people are wondering what the heck I’m doing with all that newspaper, but I’m just not going to dig up all that sod… so I’m smothering all the existing vegetation, and it’ll enrich the soil. As soon as we get a load of mulch, I think I’ll be able to finish it all up really quickly.

 

Vera’s having fun outside too.

 

 

She did smear those muddy hands on my cheeks… 

 

One of the sedges that I got to plant in the front yard is named after a famous botanist named Asa. I thought it might be the perfect place to finally bury Asa’s placenta.

 

What are you grateful for today?