Photo Friday: garden promises

July 22, 2011July 22, 201114 Comments

I apologize up front for using my flash on most of these photos. It had just stopped raining and it was very overcast and dark outside. I still don’t have a tripod, and I need one, to allow me a slower shutter speed and clarity.

But hey! The excitement of watching all my hard work showing signs of paying off was too much to resist…

Why two poultry fences? One to keep the geese in…

and one to keep them OUT! 😉

It’s small you say? It’s a zucchini just give it a day!

Color me RED!

Furry cantaloupe vines thriving in the heat and rain.

This is going to take a long time! Can you guess what it is?

My little fig tree was frozen to the ground and left for dead… Then it suddenly sprouted and grew up like a weed! It is now over five foot tall and full of (soon to be) luscious fruits! Hearty tree!

This one has a role to play in tonight’s stir fry!

A prolific and hearty seedless variety of cucumber will provide salad fare and pickles this winter.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of all the things growing here on the Farmlet. But before I leave you…

My handsome kitty Claus would like you to know that he has been on patrol day and night ridding the garden of voles and moles!

In [the garden] no one can hear you screem…

July 18, 20118 Comments

Jeez! Sometimes I really scare myself. This morning I was out cutting off the spent lavender spikes with my favorite trusty Corona pruning shears… and got my finger in just for good measure… Now I am not one to shout out with OMG lightly, but standing there looking at the damage I’m certain I uttered the popular outcry more than once, and I meant it too!

It was a 1 inch cut, not deep enough for stitches, so the Dr. used some surgical ‘Super Glue’ to put it back together again and now it is as good as new.

Well, sort of.

Weirdly, it never hurt, not once, and on the end of my finger it should have hurt like h… er, A LOT!

Well, at least something good came out of it. I’m off dish duty for the week!

On second thought, maybe I’ll pick up some dishwashing gloves at the market tomorrow…

Photo Credit: Click on the picture to take you to the origin of today’s borrowed photograph and human interest article from 2009. 🙂

The state of things.

July 14, 201110 Comments

Yesterday I took a few lovely books over to my neighbor for her to share with her grandson. Upon receiving them he began hugging me.

Grandma: “He’s a hugger.”

I just stood there like a post…

Grandson: “I was born real close to Valentines day and that’s why I love everyone so much.” (paraphrased because I honestly can’t remember exactly what he said.)

It took me an embarrassingly long time to respond to his loving and normal display of gratitude on receiving my gift.

So what was that all about?

Well you see, when I taught in California there were so many lawsuits going on involving teachers and inappropriate touch (more than one is too many!!!) that we were instructed NOT TO TOUCH OUR STUDENTS. Those who did only touched the top of their little head, or their hands for proper instruction and help with holding a pencil.

This is all wrong. Little kids need hugs and an appropriate show of affection from caregivers. (And whether you know it or not your child’s teacher is a caregiver/stand in mother, protector, parapsychologist, as well as educator for your little darling) 😉 We do try to do it all and more each day and all without touching them for fear of being accused of inappropriate behavior.

It saddens me to realize how programmed I had become, and that the programming has persisted even into my retirement.

It makes me wonder is it just me?

OR…

Do all teachers feel/react like this nowadays?

Do parents worry about this kind of thing?

Do the students?

How has it come to this?

It makes me sad for the children.

Photo Friday: once upon a time in the west

July 8, 2011July 8, 20114 Comments

I have always had a thing for clouds up in the sky. I used to love to lay in the grass and watch them morph and change, all the while imagining, bird, elephant, ice cream cone, ships.

When I taught young children in California ( ages 6 to 8 ) I tried to sneak in a bit of time for imagination, things to get their creative writing flowing…

They had never been taught about the secrets hidden in clouds, so I made it my job to teach them… even when the principal disapproved of the practice… Then we had to do it on the sly or at recess times. After a time, we went in to capture them on white paper.

“Teacher, this paper is white and so are the clouds! How can we make them on white paper?”

I got out the blue chalk, “Watch.” I said. And using the blue chalk I proceeded to outline a cloud on the white field. Then I lay the chalk on its side and carefully filled in the sky all around my cloud, during which I heard such things as…

“ooooh!”

“Oh cool!”

“WoW!”

“I WANNA TRY IT!”

“Draw the shapes you saw in the clouds today.” I said.

And when they were done I handed them lined paper.

“Now write about what you saw!” I encouraged. (At these times, I never heard a complaint from even one about having to write.)

I was such a rebel.

Today I want to share with you a time in your youth when you lay on your back with friends and imagined… the clouds are still there, beckoning to you. When was the last time you stopped a moment and just looked into the clouds?