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Showing posts from July, 2010

Summer Evening Walk

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We decided to deliver a basket of fresh peaches to our neighbors, the Hatkes, so the little girls got into the jogging stroller, and their older brother chivalrously volunteered to be their chauffer. We live on a relatively quiet gravel road near rarely-used railroad tracks, so it was a peaceful walk. Thank God for the beauty of a quiet evening.

Pruning the Peach Tree

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This past fall my husband pruned the vines encircling one ancient peach tree with only two branches left: and the effort reaped dividends as peaches came forth in abundance these past few weeks! We picked several baskets full.

After the Pigs...

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Earlier in the year, Anna and Ben raised pigs with us, and for about two weeks, they had the two young pigs fenced in a square of their lawn: as pigs do, they rooted and manured the ground, turning it up better than any rototiller for a garden. Here's that same square some six months later, bursting with fertility. Anna carefully planned out her garden in small raised beds with a path round a central bed of herbs. My friend is a good gardener indeed!

Joshua's Anniversary

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Joshua Michael July 26, 2001-July 8, 2006 Miss him so much.

Anna's Entranceway Garden

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I was charmed when I stopped by my neighbor Anna's house and saw how the flower garden next to her toolshed is flourishing. Since the toolshed is right next to the main entrance to her house, (it's ten feet from the kitchen door) she put some effort into making it welcoming and inviting, arranging rocks salvaged from other places in the yard and planting flowering herbs. An old screen now is entwined with a flowering vine, and in front of it she "planted" a log pillar with a small resin statue of Our Lady and Child. The effect is so endearing I had to share it with you all.

Summer Birthdays

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I couldn't resist posting this picture of a summer ritual in our family: celebrating the birthdays of our boys and their dad. My husband Andrew's birthday, which usually makes a happy conjuction or coincidence with both Father's Day and the Feast of the Sacred Heart, begins the summer for us. One indispensable hallmark of the celebration is strawberry-cheesecake (the BHG recipe), which my eldest daughter concocts with greater skill each year. This year, in absence of graham crackers, she ingeniously substituted a crust of walnuts and chocolate: delicious! I love the red-blue-white-green hues of this photo, and how our youngest is earnestly helping her father blow out the candles, watched by some Hatke child guests. Now that our picnic table has emerged from the garage, I hope for many casual summer evening suppers and celebrations in the twilight.

Healing Sunlight Revisited

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Some of you may remember the photo I took of my newborn daughter Polly lying on her quilt in the sunlight. Well, she is nearly two-and-a-half, but she still sleeps with her "blankie" which I made her. The other day, I caught her napping in a laundry basket in a beam of sunlight, and I thought I would share the image with you. How babies grow so fast!