It's hard to believe; a new post on my blog

     When I decided to start a blog, I wasn't really sold on the idea that I'd be good at it.  I knew I'd not be consistent, at first, but thought I could grow into that, eventually.  So much has happened since then, and yet, not really a whole lot has happened.  Life throws its curve-balls, and we swing at some and duck the rest.

     I still love to garden & still have many of the trees I'd been potting & re-potting...but we've moved to a place where I have been able to plant a few hundred of them, and have "only" less than one hundred to go.  If only life was as simple as that. I don't know any one whose life is that simple.  I think I'm learning that we humans tend to make things that ought to be simple, more complicated than necessary, and so we don't have the energy for things that are more complex, but we want them to be simple.

     I've attempted to write a book.  It would be my second, but I never even finished the plot for my first one.  I still intend to write the "second" one.  Maybe after I do that, I'll circle back around to the "first" one.  Don't hold your breath.  Just remember how long ago I'd last posted on my blog.

     And then laugh with me.  Let's laugh together at life & our follies & then help each other up from the floor and decide; "What are we going to DO about it?"

     And, maybe, I'll meet you here next week.

   

you're a tree hugger??

     It has been a year and a half since my last blog??...I guess I've been busy. the only reason I remembered I HAD a blog, is because a friend recently commented on my previous one...where would I be with out my friends? :) 
     So, literally, I am a tree hugger; I hug the trees to get them out of their old pot & into their new, roomier pots, with new soil to insulate the roots that have been growing all winter, so the heat of the summer doesn't cook them. Also, the trees really appreciate to leg room....you know....
     This year, though, my trees did not get their "new roomier accommodations" . Instead, Deryk found for me, through Craig's list, quite near a literal ton of nursery pots, for  free..."must take them all" sort of a deal...& with the help of three sturdy offspring, we loaded them up in about 3 days. It took another week or two to get them packed into large pallet boxes for storage...but we did it. Deryk, that husband of mine...stacked those pallets & "weather proofed" them against approximately one winter of rain & perhaps snow. He's a keeper...
     With the nursery pots came several flats of plants the owner of the nursery urged onto me..."look-look-look; see, these will spring right back once they get enough water"....etc...well, they did spring right back, & they are lovely. I am going to pot them up next Saturday at The Market, in my new spot, where I will be crafting my heart out, gardening on a small scale, selling my trees & plants, nearly every Saturday until I die or they drag me away kicking & screaming...(well, I hope not the latter)
     *sigh* I'd love to sit here & compose into the twilight hours...but I really should make sure the kids are finishing their homework, eating dinner, getting ready for bed...I really should.
    
     
   

to garden or to gripe...

     A Friend of mine asked if I was going to update my blog...I had no idea what to write in it this week until I started to explain that the sunny week we're experiencing isn't exactly WARM...which is what you'd expect if you were me; the nuances of "spring" sun & "summer" sun escapes me until I get out the door & all the way to the back of our yard,where the garden is...& being reluctant to go back for a sweat shirt, I dig in. Did you know that I garden with my bare hands as often as I can get away with it? ( Meaning when I need to pull blackberries or thistles the size of dinner plates...sprouts I grab with out gloves) Well, once your fingers become numb from the cold, they might not grab those weeds or hand fulls of soil as gracefully as you'd like...not recommended! But I'm stubborn...after I pot a few strawberries (I just know they'd die before I get them to their new bed....), dig up a few new birch seedlings(12 from last fall, & about 14 from this spring; they are about 1/4" across, & about 1/6" tall;) to pot for the nursery, & fill my newspaper pots with soil for the peas, UGH! I gotta go get my hands warmed up! when I told my friends that  I'd be gardening like a mad woman, I also did not know that this year's mad woman is less energetic & more out of shape than last year's model...if I'm gonna hug trees in May, I gotta get in shape in...TWO WEEKS?...I guess I need to look at the calendar more carefully when I need to make plans...
     Here's where I tell you that my "plans" would be your "ideas"....I get an idea & just think it will happen as fast as my hands will move...actual PLANNING is too tedious to me... I guess I need to modify that frame of mind...next winter, I'll work out so that spring won't catch me unprepared; for now, I guess I'll just tackle spring with a little less gusto at first, & hope the trees can stay in their pots from last year for an extra two weeks; I need four weeks to get back in shape...oh, I'm not looking forward to an even BUSIER schedule...aren't you glad you don't procrastinate like me?

              Next Week; "You're a TREE HUGGER??"

     "Welcome to my blog"...? If you are most comfortable "inside these four walls", then you may understand how strange those words are to me; In the past few years, I have been learning the difference between "going along for the ride" & living deliberately; making things happen is still somewhat new to me; so your patience is most appreciated. & I should give you a heads up; I go off on tangents...a lot. & I use metaphors...a lot. 
     I guess most bloggers  maybe write about...themselves, & what they think, right? Well, if you really want to know about me, I guess the first thing you should know is...I'm learning what it's like to fall in love with God. So if I sound "preach-itty", relax. & if I sound "un-Christian-y", guess what; I'm just being plain 'ol, just ordinary, myself, so get used to it.
     One of the first things I've learned (am still learning) is that God had been trying to get my attention...all my life! Finally, when I was 36, ?Wow, kinda old, huh? it was as if God was tapping me on the forehead & saying "I'm talking to YOU"...& I was finally listening...or learning to listen. Still learning. (Yes, I suppose "still learning " is probably one of my life themes)
     The things I'm most likely to blog about are gardening, & how I really DON'T know very much,after all...my jewelry, which is a current passion of mine, house keeping (again, how much I DON'T know,you know,like comedy!) & of course, the things you may have taken for granted since before you went to kindergarten, but I'm still only beginning to learn...under God's wing.
   AND since that all took a whole hour to edit, I think this is where I'll sign off until next week..............more later--Shannon