The Speed of Life

Hello, Friends.  I've missed connecting with you, but frankly I feel like the picture below!

Do you sometimes feel that life is just moving at a dizzying pace?  Summer is here and it is supposed to be a time to kick back...  A time of Rest and Relaxation....  Aahhh.....  But somehow it seems that the days got busier.  Honestly, I enjoy the busy-ness of tending the garden and taking the little ones to swim, but I tend to fail miserably and go downhill quickly if I let myself get too over-tired.  Know what I mean?  Life has really caught up with me this past week and I've teetered on the edge of being a stressed-out-caffiene-consuming-crazy-woman.  Ok, some  in the Hearth Room would argue the "teetering on the edge" part....  But the good news is I managed to recognize my downward spiral and do something about it.  After squeezing in the last few committments of the week and having a talk with myself about how the garden and kitchen floor demands CAN wait til the weekend, I feel much better. 

En route to my downward spiral was a wonderful little time away that served multiple purposes.  We attended a homeschool convention where Young Man was in his very first chess tournament and I got to surround myself with learning materials of every kind.  From there we headed to the shore for a bit of a camping adventure.  The very first thing I do is set up a 'kitchen' while the Guys put up the 'house'.  Part of setting up our 'kitchen' table requires decorations.  We particularyly liked this little heart shaped rock and oyster shell, since we were camping at the beach. 

Did you notice I said, "beach?"  Tent camping is a tricky combination of relaxing and working yourself silly, but beach camping is just more work than being home!  Sand.  Need I say more?  So the very few moments of calm were so special!  Sitting by the fire at night was great, roasting marshmallows with little ones.  But sitting by the fire in the morning was even better!  Calm, quiet, yarny goodness time by the fire!

With coffee!!!

All in all, it was a wonderful treat to visit some of the area where I grew up and I got to spend a little time with my mother and grandparents.  One of my favorite places is the little town of Lewes, Delaware.  It's a more quiet beauty as far as summer beach towns go if you know what I mean.  We also spent some time with the kids at Rehoboth Beach, but that consists of parking meters, crowded boardwalks and spending all the quarters that have collected in your house for the past year.  It's all good fun and we do love the candy shops and rides, but it can be a bit overwhelming.

It's always so nice to come back home after a few days away.  It was great fun to see the changes in the garden and to see that the weeds behaved while we were gone. 

And I was VERY happy to find that my concoction of homemade, natural pesticide worked like a champ and saved my poor cabbages.  There aren't poor any more!

The potato bags look great...  Well to me anyway, but I'm a fairly inexperienced Farm Girl!  Hope there are some taters growing in there!

And just a peek at one of my Moments of Whimsey:  My Unconventional Squash Patch.  Since we are still in the process of tearing out and rebuilding landscaping (and everything else at the Hearth Room), I decided to plant some squash seeds and nasturtiums along a portion of our patio out back. 

You can see here that we are still very much in the process of tearing out and fixing, but I am so in love with my little squash patch.  It's growing so nicely!  I have had to catch a few squash bugs lately and I'm not happy they have found me out so quickly, but so far things are looking good!

Here you can see there was a fairly unsightly, rock-walled, concrete-bottomed, very-dangerous-for-Sweet-Pea fish pond and waterfall here that has not been properly loved for years.  In the process of tearing it down we disturbed a very busy yellow jacket nest.  Yep, that halted production for a bit.  But we are back on track with our slow determination.  Just as soon as this 100 degree temperature business subsides. 

Keep cool and well where you are!  And don't get overworked or over tired and be a grump like me!

xoxo