Vacations All I Ever Wanted

Vacation Got To Get Away......

Finally we have been away on vacation for a few days before the school year starts. It has been great relaxing and sleeping in. We spent the first day at Grandma's house in Macon, just catching up, looking at photos and hanging out. We spent the night there and headed leisurely down to Savannah to stay at our friend's house. We have had a wonderful time, doing almost absolutely nothing. We have to head back home tomorrow. We'll stop by Grandma's again and then get back into the swing of things. 

Mom says that the garden is growing fast! She and Dad picked a mess of okra and some corn this weekend. The tomatoes are turning and we have peppers and squash to spare. I can't wait to pick some okra. 

 

For now I am going to spend the last day of vacation relaxing. Maybe I'll go hit the pool, or read a book in bed. What have you done for vacation this summer?

Garden Photos!!

I know that you are jumping for joy because you have been waiting for photos from the garden. Well here they are! 

Here is one of our eggplant plants. Aren't they pretty?

Some green tomatoes. They are growing every day. It won't be long before we have ripe ones. I can't wait! I think that I might eat a tomato sandwich every day!

Some jalapenos. I made cornbread with jalapenos last night. It was so yummy!!

Ta-da! Watermelons!!! We have nine of these little babies growing right now. That isn't counting the little bitty guys. We planted yellow watermelon. It is the preferred variety by my dad. He refuses to eat red. Did you know that there is yellow watermelon? I am always surprised when people comment that they have never seen it before. I hope that these are good and worth the wait!

We planted a summer squash medley. Here are 3 kinds, held in my gardening apron. The striped one is an Italian largo, a yellow straight neck squash(we also have yellow zucchini), and a light green zucchini called magda. There is also a little cucumber in there.

Here she is! It is hard to get a good shot. But here you can see the upper and lower garden. Things have grown since this photo was taken! Things have really taken off. All that rain we got a week or so ago really made the plants happy.

Here is the patty pan squash, just starting to grow. Now these guys are giving us 3-4 babies every day. They grow so fast. A little guy like this will double overnight. They are really yummy and a little sweeter than plain yellow squash.

One of my favorites and a garden staple- the banana pepper. I like these a lot. You can eat them with almost anything. They are very mild and I think they taste green. Yummy!

Here is a little cantaloupe blossom. We finally have little cantaloupes! The mosquitoes were too bad yesterday for me to get a pic. I hope that they grow well. The vines are really pretty anyway.

And here is a little fig tree. Do you see the figs? I have a big one in my back yard, but the birds usually devour them before I can, or the mosquitoes keep me at bay. They are really yummy though and easy to grow. I love to eat them fresh from the tree.

Whew!!! I think that we are all caught up now. I never did take a picture of the beans. I will have to remember to do that. The okra is about to blossom and the corn is coming on. The tomatoes will turn soon and we will have some good eatin'. 

 I hope that all of your gardening is going well. Until the next post, keep praying for rain and visit a local farmer. There are lots of them out there selling their goods. I like to stop by and pick up some things that aren't ripe in our garden yet or that we aren't growing. It makes me feel connected to the community and lets them know that they are appreciated. Growing food is hard work!

Happy Belated Fourth of July!

We celebrated the Fourth at Mandy and Chris's house. We had a delicious dinner!

Followed by a yummy festive flag cake. Go Mandy! The boys had beer floats- Dave's creation last Fourth. I'll stick with the cake.

The boys decided that since people were shooting off fireworks, they could shoot Chris's gun. Here is Dave giving it a go.

The night ended, not with the fireworks we had anticipated, but instead the neighbors brought all of their fireworks to the empty lot behind Mandy and Chris's. We had our own personal fireworks show with front row seats. We had a great time. Thanks Mandy and Chris for having us over!

And here is my apple pie. I made it a week or so ago, but wanted to post a picture of it. It kind of goes. I mean what says American like apple pie? 

My 2 year project

Okay. Jen told me a long time ago to post these pics. This is a quilt that I have slowly been working on. We laid out the squares and I can't decide how to arrange them anyone have ideas, a favorite or a preference? Do share!!

Arrangement #1

Arrangement #2

Arrangement #3

Arrangement #4

And here they come!

So I finally got some photos up!

Here is our niece making the cutest face ever! She had just learned how to climb the stairs.

The new kitchen and dining room floor. What a relief! Isn't it pretty too?

The most delicious blueberries that we picked at a friend of my mother's.

We also picked blackberries.

And we picked plums.

All of the fruit was made into jelly. It took awhile, but I think that all of it is made now. And just a note, the fruit you see here is just a fraction of what we picked! We went a bit nuts, but we shouldn't have to buy jelly this year! Next to come pictures from the Fourth, then the garden!

Busy Bee

Man, seems like everyone is so busy at the end of the summer! I am no exception. Between my summer job, the garden, the fruit to process, a new kitchen floor and training for my regular job things have been nuts. I still haven't looked at my pictures from the past month. Be looking for some major picture posting soon. I know there are some great ones.  

Anyway, I just wanted to drop a line and say "Hey, I am still here. Just worn out and busy." i hope that everyone is enjoying their summer! Mine ends in 2 weeks, so I am off to enjoy it!

No Other Gods

This is the Bible study that I am doing this summer with a few girlfriends. Can I just say that it is really good?! I asked my friends yesterday to get on to me about taking the time to do the study. I had been pretty lazy about carving time out of my day for this. We have a spoken rule that you don't have to do your homework, but it is so much better if you do! I got home last night and did a whole week's worth of lessons. The more time I seem to spend on it, the more I want to do. I have read more scripture than I have in a year at least. I have been encouraged and challenged. I want to read more of the Bible, seek out more truth, spend more time with God. I am realizing how depraved I had been. How refreshing God's word is! 

Are you ready to confront our modern-day idols? Check this out. You will be blessed. 

Happy Fourth!

I have so many pictures to post and my camera cord that connects to the computer was left at my in-laws. Sigh. Oh well. Maybe this weekend we will pick it up and I can get you all caught up on our gardening, berry picking, and family times. 

Tonight we are off to a friends house to relax, eat and watch some fireworks. Yipee!! I slept 9 hours last night and finally feel human again. I think that I will go look for a new tea cup today. That sounds like just the ticket. I'll be posting soon!