Hydrangeas and Where Have I Been?

I can't believe it has been over 2 weeks since I last updated!  Where is the time going???  As is our norm, when May arrives it seems my family kicks into over drive in the busyness department.  Between baseball, Spring football practices, end of the year school programs, The Taste of the Symphony (which I will share more about in another post!) and all the yard work that we find ourselves doing it seems to be our busiest time of the year...yes, even busier than November & December! 

So, for a quick post I wanted to show you my hydrangeas! 

They are putting on quite a show this year.

I am enjoying them in the yard and filling vases inside as well. 

Last week my Garden Club celebrated the end of our year with our Annual Garden Hat Luncheon.  As is tradition, we all create a hat or corsage using fresh flowers to wear.  This is a peek at mine (yes, it was quite difficult to take a photo of my hat, while wearing it by myself!!!)

I used peonies (my favorite!)

Don't be an OMG (Old Mean Girl)

Mean girls…are you one?  You know what I am talking about if you have ever traversed the rivers of the middle & high school season of life.  I like to believe that most mean girls mature out of that phase of life and develop sensitivity towards others and just stop being mean…but as I was reminded of recently it doesn’t always happen that way.  Unfortunately, some mean girls don’t stay in Middle or High School; sometimes they graduate and develop into UBER mean girls or as I like to call them Old Mean Girls (OMGs.)    I found myself super frustrated at some friends recently when I saw their OMGs  come roaring  to life, and I just didn't see it coming.   It wasn’t directed at me but it broke my heart to see otherwise lovely ladies stoop to this level.  Now I am rethinking a friendship or two.  I am sure I had my moments of being a mean girl at some point or another as a young person, and I have also been on the receiving end of my fair share of mean girlness, but somewhere along the line I walked away from that pettiness, meanness and just total waste of time (several decades ago as a matter of fact).  I don’t want to rear children who are like that and I know I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to tear others to shreds with my words or actions, just because I can.  Life is too precious, people too special, and friends too rare.  Why, do this? 

Don’t be an OMG!

You are now returned to your regularly scheduled program while I climb down off my soapbox!

Bloom where you are Planted...

This little fighter came up in our front walk and I don't have the heart to pull him up. His will to not just survive...but bloom gives me a lot of food for thought.  Don't we all get caught up in complaining and "I hate my life" mentality from time to time?  I have known people who seem to view their life through negative, unsatisfied, bitter lenses.  Wouldn't life be sweeter if we could just bloom where we are planted, accepting that sometimes life plants you in dry, barren ground.  Wouldn't life be sweeter and our hearts more joyful if we could be content with life as we know it and not stuck in the mire of always wanting something else, something bigger, someone else, something more?  It reminds me of this poem:

Master Gardener, help me be
Content with where You’ve planted me;
You carefully place each seed you sow,
And choose the soil to make it grow,
A shady nook or sunlit plot,
A wooded glen or garden spot;
And when you send the storm and shower,
You give me strength and inner power;
All things come that You might be
Glorified, my God, in me;
And so I’ll lift my flowers high,
To cheer and bless each passerby;
And may they see within my face
The beauty of Your love and grace;
So help me, Lord, to ever be
Blooming where You planted me.

—Wm. Claire Greiner

I hope you can take a fresh look around and learn to bloom just where you are planted.



Seizures, We Now Know Why...

The other day I was feeling quite chipper and had the music on in the kitchen and was doing a little dance when in walked my youngest DS.  He stood there observing my wondrous dance moves and then announced, "That is why I have seizures...your dancing," and turned around and walked out.  Yep... he tells me it is my dancing that causes his seizures. 

Well, at least we now know why.... :-/

An Ode to the South by Brian Wilder

Source: countryginghamdesigns.com via Bella on Pinterest

I read this today in my local news and thought y'all lovers of the South could appreciate it as much as I do.  It captures the essence of how different each of our Southern experiences are but how they meld into the beauty and complexity of this glorious region. 

"FLORENCE, S.C. --

Aug. 23, 2005: It was the first day of classes, and the beginning of my long and sordid journey through the public higher education system.

At one point, a shrewd but inquisitive student from Ohio—because, well, aren’t they all from Ohio—asked me something to the effect of “How can you live in the South and be OK with that?” ...

...please continue reading: A Column by Brian Wilder : An ode to the South

Also follow Mr. Wilder's path to GQ with his great series of cover letters to GQ Magazine on his blog:
To Whom This May Concern: A continuous series of cover letters to the offices of GQ until they hire me…or I go insane.

The Best of the Season, Straight from the Farm!

After school today, my boys and I stopped by a local strawberry farm to acquire some of the yummiest treats Spring has to offer. There is something magical and wonderful about getting fruits and vegetables where they are grown. The strawberry plants were just loaded with beautiful red fruits. We are blessed to live in an area where farming is still wide spread, with a long growing season and products are quite varied. I try to shop locally as much as possible. But even when we have lived in cities, I found that if we looked, we could find sources for local produce. If you can't grow your own, I hope you will find someone local who can sell you some of the bounty Spring has to offer! 

My youngest son declared himself the Yoda of Strawberry picking (Star Wars reference in case you are wondering). I think (but didn't ask...) that means he is intuitive about which ones are the best...maybe...

"Good are, strawberries I chose." or something like that...

{Semi} Wordless Wednesday: A stroll in the gardens at Georgia Southern

Last weekend while visiting out daughter we made a quick visit to the Georgia Southern Botanical Gardens - Georgia Southern University.   I love to visit gardens and see what grows there, but I have to admit my family only humors me...they truly could skip out on all my "look at that snap dragon" lines.  They have even managed to hide (for the most part) their rolling eyes. Here are some photos from our stroll in the gardens:

Linking up with Daphne @ Flip Flops & Pearls

for {Semi} Wordless Wednesday!