Purple Coneflowers

I love coming across treasures like this echinacea on our family walks.  

Purple coneflowers are like faithful summer friends, cheerily waving 

and perkily swaying in the hazy golden breezes.

Since they were on a neighbor's roadside, I restrained Blossom3 and Blossom4 from making bouquets out of them.  Blossom1 and Blossom2 were intent on gathering some for drying as rabbit herbal remedies for the winter, except they restrained themselves.

Uh-oh

This might be a new habit. I keep stopping at thrift stores and picking up miscellaneous china plates.  

I love the aqua roses and light brown curlicues on this plate.  

And this one reminds me of the "Yellow Rose of Texas," although the girls keep saying the roses are orange.  I told them they are wrong.  

These are perfect serving trays for little tasty treats at tea time!  

So, why not?!!

Rest at Long Run

How do mamas rest?  Does anyone know?  

Sometimes I think I still don't know.  

Sleep isn't the only form of rest.  I understand that now more than I did in my twenties.  

Early on in my motherhood career, I would count how many hours of sleep I got, and tell the Rugged Mountain Man how few it was.  He wisely advised me to get up in the morning, forget about how little sleep I got and focus on the day ahead.  

It was good advice because I'd fallen into the habit of always wanting more sleep, 

instead of just giving this moment right now my best effort.  

My season of life is different than ten years ago, but the tiredness hasn't really gone anywhere.  

Did you know that Jesus got tired?  

He sat by a well and asked for a drink, because He was tired.  

(John 4:6-7)

The One Who was both fully God and fully man felt fatigue, just like I do... 

and He took a while to sit by a well.

He ended up having a deep conversation with the Samaritan woman there, but then He said, 

"My nourishment comes from doing the will of God..." 

(John 4:34, NLT)

I believe there's a solid and time-tested lesson in this for me.

I can be refreshed and revived while doing God's will.  

Dominique

Gardens and Inches

Evidently snapping beans and shelling peas is much more enjoyable when you sit on the counter.  

I love having help with farm and garden chores.  It lightens the load and they learn that food doesn't just miraculously appear on the table.  They don't always love these chores, but they're a work in progress, just as much as I am. 

Chores, work ethic, and attitudes truly must be worked on through steady plodding, but it so often seems to be done by inching along.  

So, today we inch... and inch again... and inch again.

Daisies

My flower beds and garden may be bone dry, 

but this ray of sunshine makes me smile every time I walk past.  

I picked up this plant on one of my many end of quarantine trips to the greenhouse.  

"Daisies are such friendly flowers."

~ Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly

in You've Got Mail