A Fall Doxology

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow…

Praise Him, all creatures here below…

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host…

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

October Snow

More Sunken Garden Beauty

Does anyone know the name of this plant? Christina? Karma?

Sunken Garden Blooms

The Sunken Gardens really are phenomenal right now. (Or at least they were gorgeous two days ago when we visited. It’s since gotten pretty chilly in the mornings, but no frost yet.)

The flowers and bushes are at their peak of beauty, their enormous blooms almost hide garden paths from view. A few months ago I could see little heads pretty much anywhere in the park, but Monday I had a hard time keeping an eye on Livia while shooting various blossoms.

It’s no wonder Claude Monet painted water lilies. I was captured by these purple flowers in particular and wanted to preserve them just the way they were that afternoon, with the sun glowing brilliantly on the purple petals.

Life on a Tuesday

We saw Over the Rhine last night in Omaha. It was a last-minute kind of thing and I’m soooo very grateful we got to go. It was a fun ride up and back with the Koenigs, and of course the concert was great. Oh to sing like Karin Bergquist! That woman has amazing control of her voice, say nothing of her stage presence. (Jeremy asked me where she was from and I’m now reading on the OtR website of her “torchy, devil-may-care voice, brimming with Midwestern soul.” There ya have it, JT.) I foresee more Over the Rhine albums in my future.

Today feels nothing like a Tuesday. Sunday morning perhaps, but definitely not Tuesday. Tuesdays have responsibilities and schedules and chores and so far I’ve polished off a large quantity of Diet Mountain Dew, assisted in DVD playing for Liv, and watched a giant spider wrap up it’s prey in the flower garden. Tuesday, really? Tuesday-after-a-Monday-night-date? Yes, definitely.

Now if only I can squeeze a nap in between reading some Harry Potter and avoiding the dishes piled up in my sink.

Simple Beauty

Happy Friday everyone!

I finally printed this shot and placed it above my desk. In a nutshell, I want to celebrate lovely things as well as motivate myself as an artist. Most of my photos (99.9% I’d imagine) remain in digital format and never see life outside of my computer. This week I’ve worked to change that and now I’m enjoying the fruits of my labor, in many senses.

I’m off to oversee two little girls among a mass of Playdoh, train a small white dog not to jump on the little girls or eat the Playdoh, and perhaps, if I play my cards right, I’ll get to read the newspaper as well. Happy day to you!

Garden Peas

1) These peas taste delicious. I’m amazed I had anything to do with the production of them. Granted, I did very little in the whole scheme of things, but between the Tredway Three, we did plant, water, weed and pick the pea plants. So that’s something.

2) My husband and child like peas far more than I do. Each little pod I harvest goes straight from garden to mouth. I have five little plants set up, though, so eventually we might save up enough for a real meal.

3) I selected this shot for the peas but then found myself gazing at my hands. At first I thought they looked kind of old. Later I realized that I have my Grandma Iola’s hands—and even when Grandma was younger, she seemed old to me. Indeed, this is a photo of a pea pod in a young/old lady’s hand. Ha.

Garden Geekery

We’ve got a new thing going in our neighborhood: a community vegetable garden. With old houses on small lots, everyone on our block has minimal room for planting vegetables. Enter the old Zion (now Redeemer) lot that is empty—full of potential, but empty nonetheless. So with the blessing of our pastor Tobey, the neighbors came together and planned a large garden plot to divide among five of us.

And now we’re geeks, garden geeks. Hovering, nurturing, worrying garden mamas, if you will. We’ll meet each other in among the tomatoes and cucumbers, and converse aloud about what type of mulch to use, who last watered, and how often you have to do some weeding. (I’m using grass, I’m grateful for a neighbor whose sprinkler hits my patch and to God who watered for me last night, and my husband is my hoeing hero. If you were wondering.)

I decided this morning that the term “geek” applies because we all get so excited about the progress of our little plants. Today I’m astounded at the pumpkin seeds that were planted last in my space. None of the little gourd seeds grew, but I’ve got a few amazingly healthy blue pumpkins whose leaves are bigger than my hand. I fear they will dominate my patch and perhaps some of the closest neighbor’s, too, but for today I’m just excited at how healthy they are. The Roma plants are all doing well, including a recently transplanted seedling. The broccoli and cauliflower plants, courtesy of the Wittmanns, are strong and sturdy. The cucumbers demand a strong tower to climb, and numerous pea plants are already climbing… on the weeds and grasses nearby. How funny to see their small tendrils curling around a stalk of grass that crept onto garden turf. Clearly, I need to get some stakes in there pronto.

I love our gardens. I love the gorgeous perennials and annuals Jeremy has carefully encouraged into bloom—and that Liv has assisted in planting—and I love the growing vegetables in my garden patch. I may not read a book all summer (another post for another day), but I will be outside, rejoicing in the beauty of God’s growing things.

Liv & Her Cutie Pie

Peonies

I love peonies. Our light pink blossoms opened last weekend and I’m enjoying freshly cut flowers indoors right now. I’m slightly entranced by the layers and layers of petals; they remind of extravagant princess/ballerina costumes with a bit of sweetened scent thrown in for good measure.

In St. Louis, Jeremy and I were leaving a friend’s home when I stopped at the front stoop and exclaimed to her, “Are those your peonies I smell?!!” Jeremy, not knowing I was referring to flowers misinterpreted things a bit and thought I was inquiring about underwear. He about dropped dead in shock. I still laugh about it today.

Peonies, peonies, peonies. If they held their heads upright instead of dragging on the ground, I just might think of them as the perfect flower.