goodness

there are a lot of things that have been making me smile lately.  among them are the zinnias, and the dinosaurs I found battling it out on the deck railing.  the raspberry jam being made and the garlic curing in the woodshed.  and there are other, bigger things.  like that my mom has been home since July 4th, and is doing well.  getting around with the help of a walker for balance, still using just a bit of supplemental oxygen, but overall she is kicking butt, really.  the strongest person I know, for sure.  and to think that earlier this year the world came close to losing her, that the doctors were talking about trying 'any heroic measures to save her life' and such.  that I almost cut off all her hair so I'd have a piece of her, and had midnight conversations with physicians about things like chest tubes and paralytics and defibrillation.  and here we are~ in this promising and vastly happier place where we speak of things to come and allow hope in for a good long visit, treating it like a dear friend instead of sending it packing whenever it comes around.

and thank goodness for the garden.  it's been here all along, providing me with free therapy when needed and giving me tasks to complete that would send my thoughts elsewhere and turn my focus onto this soil, these seeds, this little patch of land, right here and right now.  sure I garden for the food and all, but maybe mostly it's for the therapy that comes freely in so many different forms.

it's a shame these carrots tasted so terribly, because they sure looked good!

we wait for the tomatoes to ripen, harvest the first honey of the year...

I watch the volunteer squashes growing here and there and wonder about them- some of these are quite large... could they be those gourds people use to make birdhouses and whatnot?  I threw one of those in the compost last year after forgetting about it and it rotted before I could try my hand at drying it out and making something of it.

deciding I need more color in my grey/brown/black wardrobe, I brought a pile of bright and happy home from the thrift store yesterday.  among these things there is a bright pink mexican embroidered cotton dress.  uh huh.  we'll see.  if it was a 4T I'd put it on Claire in a heartbeat, and I'm always saying I wished some of her sweet clothes came in my size......

also, fort building.  Cory~ we love the quilt!

as far as the swap goes, I'm just waiting for one more person to sign up to get us back to an even number, and I'm calling it done.  are you that person?  or I suppose three people would work.....

cheers from NC~