This is one of those days we've been waiting for!

"When you tickle the earth with a hoe she laughs with a harvest."

This morning I felt like laughing myself when we harvested our little pumpkin patch and our purple martin birdhouse gourds. What a joy to stand and relish the brilliant colors that the gourds, the zinnias and the pumpkins have delivered to our little corner of the world! We had hoped for at least 4 pumpkins so Tom, Phillip, MiMi and Peter could pick one out, but we even have enough for a pie or two.

This little harvest makes all the mosquito bites worth it. Next year when the purple martins come and make homes in our birdhouses, the mosquitoes will be the their entree, and we will have the satisfying experience of sitting in the evening and watching the martins swoop over our garden, dining on our sworn enemies.

"A thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest." William Blake

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant." Robert Lewis Stevenson

Six grandchildren later

Eleven years ago, when our first grandchild was born, I decided to paint his portrait when he turned three. Little did I know that I would paint five more little three year olds in hopes of freezing on canvas a tiny slice of their fleeting childhoods.

Sam, filling his bucket with sand, Joseph climbing rocks on the beach, Tom waging dinosaur battles, Phillip sailing the pirate seas, Peter setting up animal kingdoms, and MiMi snuggling with her "blankies"--these moments are captured and hanging on the walls of their homes.

I am grateful for the gift God has given me to paint. A sweet reward is that I had to study the tilt of their head, the special curve of their nose, the nape of their neck and the line of their little arms and legs, and because of that I will carry in my mind as well as my heart the way our precious grandchildren looked at three years old.

If anybody in our family decides to have another baby, let's hurry up, I'm not getting any younger!


Someone said, "A grandmother is a mother with a second chance." Ever grateful for that!

Sunday afternoon at home

I wrote a story once about our home, trying to express my feelings about the joy it gives me to be here, and the power of influence a home can have on anyone who walks in its doors. I sent this little story to a home magazine and got back a letter that said (in essence) that it was the "corniest" piece that they had ever received. From that I simply surmised that they had never been happy at home and didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

Goethe said "He is happiest, king or peasant, who finds happiness in his home." Today has been one of those "finding happiness" days for me. Phil and I watered and did a "10 minute tidy" in the garden. Butterflies swarmed the flowers as I lined up our first pumpkins on the picnic table, admiring them like grandchildren in a school pageant.

Someone said that fall is the best sniffing season, and today I sniffed to my heart's content that special smell that only fall can waft. After a shower and a great lunch of left-overs, we grabbed our books and snuggled down to read and "rest." We call it rest, but really it is drifting into a very deep and welcomed nap that can last for hours. We've pretty much got this rest thing down to a science. I awoke to the long-awaited sound of little splashes of rain in the old birdbath outside the window on my side of the bed. RAIN! we have prayed for it, and I nearly slept through it!

Home is where these very small everyday occurrences take on a much larger significance. These are the moments you need to squeeze all the joy from. I read today that home must not be just comfortable, but comforting. I take that statement to heart and challenge anyone who may happen upon this little "ode to home" to thrill at the possibilities of this truth.

I see that loving my home puts me in very good company:

"I had rather be on my farm at home than be the emperor of the world." George Washington

"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort." Jane Austen

"Love begins by taking care of the closest ones--the ones at home." Mother Teresa

old clothes, a tried and true friend

Thoreau said, "What I am must make you forget what I wear." When I first read that, I knew in a flash that we would have been good friends, sharing the same opinions on fashion, or the lack thereof. My first inclinations were confirmed when I found this quote, "Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes." What a soul mate! Couple that with a shared love of nature and we could have tramped unselfconsciously around Waldon Pond together- both with our out- of- date hairdos and wearing whatever we wanted, regardless of its age or condition.

Do clothes "make the man?" I truly don't think so. I must admit that if I were a size 10 or smaller, and could wear anything without taking into consideration all the criteria each garment must pass in order for me to feel presentable in it, you might think that I have adopted this passion for old and comfy stuff because the new and stylish stuff doesn't do a thing for me. I beg to differ. My too big blue and white pinstriped shirt, splattered in paint (I am an artist), washed to an incredible soft state, and perfectly suited to match any pair of old pants, does something for me. When I put it on, I feel empowered to deal with the task at hand, however messy, however genteel.
Whether I'm digging in dirt, or napping in my bed, that shirt fits the bill. I now wear it to the grocery, not caring, as in years past, what others may think. I feel productive in it, at least I look like I have accomplished a whale of a lot of stuff while I had it on.

I'm thrilled to have found that many others hold the same opinion as I. I have included some really wonderful quotes to substantiate my claims. Old clothes, a simple pleasure that I am ever grateful for.

A few great quotes

"Most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture; let us be more ashamed of shabby ides and shoddy philosophies. It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside." Albert Einstein

"People seldom notice old clothes when you wear a smile." Mildon

"If honor be your clothing, the suit will last a lifetime, but if clothing is your honor, it will soon be threadbare." Arnot

and remember: "Never wear anything that panics the cat." O'Rourk

Breaking out the old soup pot

soup quotes for soup lovers

Do you have a kinder, more adaptable friend in the food world than soup?...You don't see steak hanging around when you're poor and sick, do you?"

"A first rate soup is more creative than a second rate painting."

"Worries go down better with soup."

Fall is in the air, even though it is 90 degrees outside. The leaves are crunchy, the air is dry, the light has changed and the mornings are a promise of things to come--cool and motivating.

Walking into the grocery store yesterday with 15 dollars in my pocket, I had a definite culinary shift in my thinking....I grabbed the little basket (designed for the little spender) and headed for the produce aisle. One potato, one turnip, one onion, 2 carrots, and four or five things later, I zipped out of the store with vegetable soup on my mind, and a balance of one dollar and thirty six cents.

When we have that first "pot of something" at our house in the fall, there is no turning back to cold, lightweight fare that leaves you longing for something more....
"Soup is the song of the hearth..and home", said Louis De somebody. A hot bowl of it by the fireside (even I think it is a little too soon for a fire) a little music or an old movie and you have the makings of a mighty fine evening. It doesn't hurt to have a fellow soup-phile to share it with.
Ummmm. lets see...potato cheese, split pea with ham, 15 bean, corn chowder, chicken noodle, beef stew, gumbo, clam chowder, cream of tomato, chicken tortilla, broccoli cheese, cream of chicken..........


Beethoven said, "Only the pure in heart can make a good soup."
(I've checked my heart, and I think he needs to stick to his music)

quote of the day

"The grace of God frees us from having to pretend that we are better than we are"... Larry Crab

Oh, how grateful can one be for that truth? Having spent the bulk of my life trying to be better than I am, I am blown away with the idea of such a love that offers such freedom. He is righteous, He is beautiful, He is in control, He is faithful.....I just have to believe in Him...Sister Mary Corita said, "To believe in God is to have a Him to be in."
I am so grateful today that I have that Him to be in. She also said "to believe in God is to die and not be embarrassed." Wow, that'll make a girl smile.

ever grateful

our new flag

wonderful sunrise quotes

" There will never be a night or problem that could defeat sunrise or hope." Bern Williams

"Watching the clock is not the same as watching the sunrise." Sophia Pierce

"The Lord has turned all our sunsets into sunrises." Clement of Alexandria

"What is the good of your stars and trees, your sunrise and the wind, if they do not enter into your daily life?" E.M. Forster

"The sunrise never failed us yet." Celia Thaxter

early riser's reward

The greatest joys come from the most simple of pleasures....check out this sunrise(free for the pauper and millionaire alike). Our screened porch is a source of great joy to Phil (my beloved husband) and me. From well-worn chairs we jump to grab our bird book to identify a newcomer to our feeders. The latest thrill has been watching the sun catch the waving American flag Phil hung on the big maple down at our garden.

I thank God everyday that He made me the type who gets alarmingly high on the smallest of things...you know, like swarming butterflies hovering over our zinnias, a tomato sandwich for breakfast, a goldfinch munching a sunflower head, the tiny beginning of a pumpkin, watching the leaves way up at the top of the trees wiggle in the breeze when the rest of the tree is still, the thrill of hearing my grandchildren call me "Mimom", watching for a purple martin to swoop down for mosquitoes (hate mosquitoes) and the thrill of that first cup of coffee sitting down at the garden on my much loved picnic table. I could go on and on, and, never fear, I will. I am a very blessed woman, and I never want a day to go by that I don't say it out loud.