Extreme Gardener

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

2011-12-26T11:23:00.000-08:00

I hope your Christmas season has been blessed. We finally seem to be inching out of the drought here in Oklahoma, with inch by inch of rain over the last month or two. I have missed posting here, but seriously, everything burned up and died over the long drought, so my posts would have been highly repetitive. Just photos of dead stuff. Just read my last post and repeat. I didn't bother with a garden last summer. But... the ponds have actual water again, and the ground is spongy with moisture. So there is hope for growing beautiful and yummy things again. My pear trees did great this year, however.

The deer loved to eat the 10 or 12 that fell off the tree every day in the Okie wind. The ground around the trees would be littered with fallen pears at dusk, but by morning the ground was clean. The dogs thought they were tasty too, and brought a daily pear snack to the back porch to eat. But for human consumption, you have to be patient. The pears have to sit for 10 to 14 days or so, until they are soft and juicy. You can't eat them right off the tree, no matter how long you wait to pick them. They ripened sitting on my counter top in the kitchen. Or you can wrap them in newspaper and stash them somewhere dry, and dig them out a few at a time. Delicious.

Partridges, turkeys, and many deer wander by. But none actually IN the pear tree.

Since when is Oklahoma the Desert?

2011-08-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

I forgot a drought survivor in my last post. Bermuda grass. NOT my favorite, OK, my LEAST favorite grass. But it survives no matter the weather conditions in Oklahoma. Right now it's dormant, dry and thirsty, in most places, unless you're watering it on purpose. Or it happens to reside over your septic tank, where it is currently forming a nice green ring in the middle of my dead backyard.

The roadside grasses and trees looked almost autumnal as I was driving home from church today. Trees turning brown. Grasses are that pretty golden color they get in the fall. In the fall I enjoy the variations of gold, brown and amber grasses. But not in late July, coming on to August. Green is what I'm looking for.

I'm attempting to paint my office at the school a pretty gold color. So far it's only pretty in my imagination, since the three colors of gold I've painted in large swatches on the wall by the back door just don't quite match the warm, vibrant shade I have in my imagination. More like "Pumpkin on the Compost Pile", "Immature Banana", or "Broom Handle". Not shades I'd like to look at every day. I should not go into the color naming business. My hair color box would read "Wheat Field Stubble" instead of "Champaign Fizz," since I tend to associate color with nature. Probably not a big seller. I really do think the golden stubble in the wheat fields is one of my favorite colors, by the way.

On Saturday I spent about 90 minutes doing battle with a patch of bermuda grass that had overtaken a lovely flower bed around a gazeebo at the old Sellers event center. The property is now the home of WINGS, a special needs community. It will be an amazing place for their art workshop, gift shop and day program. I joined in with a clean up team trying to shape up the grounds. It was only 105 in the shade, so I didn't last long! Some of those folks had been out there all morning, doing some serious clean up around the pond, in the extensive landscaping, and even trimming trees.

This is Shauna in the nice hat, giving the bermuda patch a good watering to help loosen the roots. She loaned me her favorite bermuda digging tool; the claw end of an adz. Pretty effective.

Praying for Rain in the Heat Dome

2011-07-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

This about sums it up:
"Vast amounts of warmth and moisture have become trapped under a huge "heat dome," bringing record-breaking temperatures and thick, topical air to scores of cities from the Plains to the Ohio Valley. Now the system is moving east to spread the misery to some of the country's most densely populated areas through the weekend."

Sadly, such is life in my Oklahoma again this summer. Relentless. Hot. Sweaty. I put on my flipflops just long enough to crunch across the "grass" to water the plants that are hanging on, or make a run down the burning sidewalk to give the spigot a quick twist to start my drip hose dripping. Then it's back inside to the airconditioning. Come on Air Conditioner! Keep up the good work! I try to talk encouragingly to it daily, so that it feels needed; like it's creating miracles of coolness in the misery. Which it is.

Gene and I have totally abandoned our daily routine of opening the curtains to the morning sun, and putting the house to bed at night by drawing them closed. The windows stay covered all the time. We sit in the darkened rooms. I have to hurry down the hall to get where I'm going before Gene snaps off the light! Yes. We're pathetic.

I could show you the dying trees and the long-dead grass. Instead I'll show you the survivors.

Crepe Myrtle seems oblivious to the heat. I usually call them Creepy Myrtles, since they are EVERYWHERE in Oklahoma. But I appreciate their refreshing color right now.

The Double Knockout Rose blossoms are small, but it keeps blooming.

Sumac is just a survivor, no matter what Oklahoma decides to offer for nasty weather.

Well, here's a good, encouraging word for you.

Isaiah 58:11 The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

This Girl Knows How to Dress for Gardening

2011-06-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

Granddaughter Rylan sports a lovely lavendar matching set for her gardening work. If you're going to be seen on the corner of two "busy" country roads gardening in the front yard, you may as well look spiffy.

Personally, if I manage to wear all the usual undergarments society expects of women in the public eye, under my jammy pants and T-shirt I feel I've "dressed" for watering and weeding my flower beds.

Here's a link though, for those of you who desire comfort, style and functionality, even while gardening.

One of my favorites is the pair of gardening half pants. OK, before you scroll down to see the photo, how might you guess one would wear gardening half pants? Are they like shorts with removable legs? Keep the top half. Lose the bottom half? Choose the left or right half? Nope. They are made to cover your FRONT half.

Even better: half pants with bib

These lovelies include built in knee pads. A very thoughtful addition. (Too bad the model's face is obscured by the hat, and bush, and definite downward tilt of the head.)

This apron has a feature I've never seen in garden apparel.

It comes with "convenient inside back pouch (which) holds a Hot/Cold Gel Pack to help relieve backaches and muscle pain caused by continuous bending and stretching. Just pop the gel pack in the microwave for 30-60 seconds and enjoy the warm soothing heat. Alternatively, you can place the gel pack in the freezer and apply the cold pack whenever appropriate." How awesome is that?

My girl herd is grown and mostly out of the house. But I found myself wedged into a Dillards dressing room the other night with two of my sweeties, trying on dresses appropriate for attending a friend's wedding. It reminded me of some of the mantras they've taught me for selecting my own clothing. If any of the following apply, it's probably best not to wear it in public:
1. You would blend in on the set of Little House on the Prairie.
2. The floral pattern includes blossoms larger than the salad plate at the wedding.
3. Your Elven friends would love this dress.(I do own a forest green "elvish" jacket,complete with hood, and side pockets, which I refuse to stop wearing.) By the way, according to the "Elvish Name Generator" my elven name is Alasse Alcalime. And I think elves are beautiful, at least in the Lord of the Rings movies. I believe elven women are eternal, so 50 might not look so tired dressed up as an elf!
4. I saw this dress on the Frumpy Police "10 Most Wanted" list at the Salvation Army store. Not that I don't LOVE a good second hand clothing store, but my daughters seem to think there are limits on elastic waists and chunky jackets.

For now, I'll limit my gardening-specific ensemble to a nice big hat, or at least my favorite old baseball cap over a ponytail, and a good pair of gloves with whatever outerwear I woke up in, or managed to drag on in time to get some yard work done in the early hours before the Oklahoma heat hits 100 degrees again.

Leavenworth prison farm trains inmates, feeds needy

2011-06-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

I might have to commit fraud or some other non-violent crime to get sent to Leavenworth, to get some gardening time in.

Check out this link:
Leavenworth prison farm trains inmates, feeds needy - KansasCity.com#storylink=misearch

This story is a great example of a creative use of people and places to feed those who need fresh produce, but can't afford the grocery store prices.

Fishability

2011-05-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

One of my other passions besides growing things is working for our non-profit that we call Whistling Wind, Inc. Our mission is to promote accessible recreation and sport. The next outing takes us to the Kirkpatrick Family Farm in Yukon, OK on Saturday, May 14 from 10-2:00 where we'll be fishing. We invited folks from the area to bring their children who have various disabilities to come fishing in this beautiful setting.

Hubby Gene and I met Dixie and another Gene who leads a Boy Scout troop in Mustang out at the farm a while back. I took these sweet pictures of the fishing pond. What a truly glorious spring day it was.

I'm looking forward to spending time outdoors in such a beautiful setting. That is always healing and enriching for me. I hope it is healing and enriching for the families who join us there.

Room for the Senses in the Garden

2011-04-19T19:25:00.001-07:00

Located next to the botanical garden just west of OSU in Stillwater is the new sensory garden. The main meeting "room" at the Oklahoma State sensory garden, pictured above, opens into a winding "hall" that leads us through five sensory rooms. The rooms are designed to be enjoyed particularly by individuals with disabilities.

Do you put the water feature in the room celebrating sound or touch? This pretty water cascade was located in the "sound" room.

The room celebrating taste includes a collection of berries and herbs. Visitors can taste test a few while resting on the wide stone walls. Their strawberry tower (below) is a pleasing structure to look at too.

Daughter (and OSU sophomore) Alli picked me up at the Gardening with Disabilities workshop on the OSU campus in her li'l white pick up truck, and went with me out to the garden tour. The gardens are west of Western, following the signs along a gravel road, across a low water bridge and past the greenhouses.

We hoped it might rain on us as we strolled the garden, since the sky was cloudy and threatening. But no such luck. Still dry. Although those clouds produced some pretty serious weather east of us, and on into the Carolinas where a string of tornadoes let loose. We were "lucky" I guess that we were on the west side of the dry line.

I love a garden tour. It's kind of like herding kindergartners, when you let a bunch of gardeners loose on the garden. Forget the leader trying to narrate and explain much. We're all too excitedly pointing and exclaiming in admiration.

Beautiful garden with new friends and a beautiful daughter. Doesn't get better than that.

Extreme Gardner visits OSU Botanical Garden

2011-04-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

I just watched Oklahoma Gardening on OETA where host Kim Toscano take a tour around TLC in OKC. Can I just buy everything they featured? Then I would have to water it, I guess, which is a chore since the current climate of middle Oklahoma is "desert". No rain in weeks, in our neighborhood.

Kim appeared in person at the botanical garden tour which topped off a fabulous day at the Gardening with Disabilities day-long workshop at OSU in Stillwater on Thursday. In this photo she is exuberant about the new blueberry, strawberry, blackberry area.

I also met a new friend, Shouna, whose son and daughter I get to visit with regularly at WINGS in OKC. We compared notes and "WOW" raised eyebrows all day as we listened to idea after idea we can apply to our community garden collaboration between WINGS, Whistling Wind and Chesapeake. We snagged Kim for a photo at the end of the garden tour.

Since the garden is not in full bloom and foliage yet, the garden structures were easy to examine. Here are some of my favorites.

Gotta love a good bottle tree.

The botanical garden is west of the OSU campus off of Western.

THEIR Garden Looks Great

2011-04-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this really isn't the Chesapeake fan club blog. But they do outdoor spaces so well here in OKC, I'm always in awe. And I'm just gonna work in THEIR community garden this summer instead of expanding mine, since theirs is all set up and beautiful, and fully equipped, fenced, composted and ready. I spent some time on mine flower beds this afternoon, and the weeds are winning.

Cori and I are signed up to volunteer again tomorrow morning and I'm SO excited. Going to bed early just to be ready!

Don't snort at me like that!

Chesapeake Employee Garden on OklaVision

2011-03-17T21:54:00.000-07:00

Cori and I volunteered at the Chesapeake community garden last week. It's a gardener's paradise. There are over 50 raised beds. Sheds with tools available to the community gardeners. A terrific compost operation. Watering systems. Restrooms! Everything you need besides sunshine and water. We also attended Kat Goodwin's informative class on sustainable gardening last weekend at Chesapeake. She talks about the community garden in this video.

Snowklahoma Gardening

2011-02-01T16:21:00.000-08:00

Creating accessibility to any area outside my house today, for all kinds of bodies, would require a snow plow, or at least a large shovel and a lot more gumption than I possess. For those of you on a cruise in the sunny Caribbean, or reading from somewhere else near the equator, you might not know that Snowklahoma is currently shut down due to Snowmageddon. I prefer my friend Ryan's name, Snowlapaloosa. Sounds more fun and exciting. Like a festival!

No schools. Most businesses are closed. "Stay off the roads," is the official emergency management plan. Wind-whipped snow and ice have filled the atmosphere, collecting in drifts and piles on streets and highways for the last 24 hours.

Hubby went to work last night just before it exploded into our county, packed and fully expecting to hang out at work for a day or two. So far he's been at the boiler plant through three shifts, moving soon into his regular midnight stint again. He should be able to get home tomorrow morning, if he can get his truck dug out of the drifts.

So, Cori and I are home, reading, browsing the i-net, cooking, napping. Yawn. Very much enjoying the down time...

-which includes another look at my accessible gardening book. (Accessible Gardening or People with Physical Disabilities: A guide to Methods, Tools and Plants, by Janeen R Adil.)

Warning: This next section involves MATH.

Arranging access from the house or parking lot to your accessible garden requires a pause to ponder a little math. Author Adil says,

"When there's a slope between the house and the garden, the gradient should be 1:20 or less; i.e., for every 20' of walkway, the path rises no more than 1'. This gradient of 5 percent may still be too steep for some, and if the pathway is long, level areas for resting may be required. A grade of no more than 3 percent (1:33.33) gives an even gentler slope, one that most wheelchair users would have no trouble negotiating."

For those of you suffering from a math disability, as I seem to be, allow me to illustrate how I would figure it.

You tie a 20 foot string to a stick at ground level at the top of the slope, then send a kid with the other end of the string down the slope 20 feet. This is the run. Kid #2 uses a level bubble to make sure the string is being held level and hollers at the first kid to lift the string up or down until it's held level. Kid #3 measures the distance from the ground to where Kid #2 is holding the string in the air. This is the rise.

The formula is Rise/Run. So if the rise is 1 foot (distance from the ground to where Kid #2 is holding the string level with the original ground position) divided by the run, or 20 feet of string, in this case.

Slope=1/20

Multiply by 100 to get 5%

So, my conclusion is that if the rise over 20 feet is more than a foot, it's too steep for a wheelchair user to negotiate comfortably without some serious landscape changes.

Whew. It's not really as hard as I make it! Feel free to correct my math or contribute a more understandable illustration!

Farm to Fork at Ludivine in Oklahoma City

2010-12-29T06:31:00.000-08:00

This online news story caught my eye this morning from the Daily Oklahoman, introducing Ludivine, a new "farm to fork" restaurant in Oklahoma City. Chefs Jonathan Stranger and Russ Johnson buy produce, dairy and meat products from Oklahoma farmers, most within close range of OKC, and produce their menu based on the current harvest.

The Ludivine web site includes fun video links documenting their excursions to local farms to gather product, which I plan to check out at my leisure, but this video reminded me of my own encouter with an eight foot stack of banana boxes and one huge compost pile at the OKC Regional Food Bank.

Accessibility is the Focus for Gardening in 2011

2010-12-28T09:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn’t feed the masses from my garden last summer. The scorching summer Oklahoma heat kind of beat me back inside on too many days, but our local armadillo ate pretty well from the labor of my sweat and aching back! The gophers and deer didn’t do too badly either. Somehow this winter I need to work on fencing or a different set up if I plan to actually HARVEST some of my homegrown veggies. It was still a pleasure to create and work the garden, and I’ll try again this spring, of course.

One of the other pleasures of 2010 was working with my sister to grow and build a new non-profit organization, Whistling Wind, Inc. with the mission of promoting accessible recreation and sport. We had a blast working with the Wings participants to encourage a healthy lifestyle and just have fun together dancing, playing Frisbee, doing yoga, and as many other active games and exercises as we could come up with and get someone to do with us! In 2010 Whistling Wind also sponsored a therapeutic art class at a local elementary school, which was offered free to about 10 participants, due to a generous donation.

This year, I’m excited about Whistling Wind exploring opportunities for accessible gardening! So expect to hear a lot about the subject right here in the coming weeks.

As background material, I’m reading Accessible Gardening for People with Physical Disabilities: A Guide to Methods, Tools and Plants, by Janeen R. Adil, Woodbine House, 1994. I found it by searching Amazon on the topic of accessible gardening and ordered a used copy pretty darn cheap. (Sometimes the used books I order from Amazon come quickly, and sometimes I think the postal system parks them in a back room in Slapout, Oklahoma for weeks at a time, just to encourage me to pay the more expensive shipping next time.)

Here are some great questions for us to consider:

What makes a garden accessible?
What can be done to make an existing garden more accessible?
How can I build accessible features into a new garden?

In this week's blog entries I think we’ll discuss providing access to the garden from the house or parking lot, then explore structures that allow for ease of caring for garden plants for those who have physical limitations. Anything else you would like to research together? Any experience you would like to share on the the topic?

Here’s a great accessible gardening structure from Accessible Gardens.com to get you thinking!

Smile gently. Sometimes it's all you can do.

2010-08-27T21:18:00.001-07:00

Made me smile this week:

1. Listening to my husband hum gently to the grand baby as they rocked, while she drank her evening milk. His musical selection? The Star Spangled Banner.

2. Watching my husband herd a wolf spider from the middle of the kitchen out the back door. Hyah! Hyah! Git on outa here! Didn't know you could do that, but I witnessed it myself. The spider ran along and Gene cut it off at the pass, until it went out the door. I'da just stomped on it, but I was barefoot.

3. Conversing with the last kindergartner standing (sitting) in the car pick up line at school on Wednesday. "I'm a bus rider," he declared proudly, 15 minutes after all buses had departed. "OK friend, let's go make some phone calls." Sigh.

4. Leading 480 students in the Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem facing the empty spot where the flag usually stands in our Friday assemblies. They turn in unison to that spot and begin pledging without hesitation, after years of practice. I'm sure our kinders believe it's odd protocol to pledge to an imaginary flag, since this is the 2nd week I forgot. I assigned our 5th grade to bring the flags in next week!

5. Conversing with the last kindergartner standing (sitting) in the car pick up line on Friday. "How do you usually get home, friend?" "Oh, I always ride the bus, but I decided I wanted to be a car rider today." Sigh. "Let's go make some phone calls." We really do have very careful procedures for the after-school departure, especially for kindergartners. But they are sometimes slippery and very determined!

Our first full week of school was enjoyable, if you don't count the Pink Eye I contracted. But I think that most likely came from our granddaughter who had a cold last weekend, not the 85 million small elementary children's hands I've held this week to guide them toward the classroom, cafeteria, playground, restroom, car line, office, away from reluctant mamas, etc. I should buy stock in anti-bacterial hand soap, since I go through a bottle a week, just about.

The weekend weather promises to be cool enough for me to tackle that weedy flower bed in front. It has been so incredibly HOT for so long that I had given up all outdoor activity that wasn't scooting quickly from one air-conditioned locale to another.

Becoming reacquainted with my garden will make me smile for certain.

Disasters of the Crispy Variety

2010-08-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

I drove past the crispiest corn field I've ever seen this evening on the way to Bible study in Yukon, America. We don't grow much corn around here. Now I see why. Farmers mostly grow wheat that's planted in the fall, nibbled by cattle all the wet winter, then harvested in the spring.

It hasn't rained in weeks, and the temps have run around 100 for days. I keep watering, but everything's pretty sunburned. Except the weeds. They seem to manage, no matter what the conditions.

Since nobody wants to see photos of dry, dead stuff, I'll add some beautiful pictures from the Cheekwood Botanical Garden in Nashville which we visited a few weeks ago with daughter Charlotte and her husband Stan, the photographer of these lovely images. What made the garden even more wonderful than usual was the addition of blown glass pieces from the artist Chihuly. The sun on the glass, flowers and water was spectacular.

Meanwhile, back in Okie; yes, the state that recently declared a state of emergency for flooding; we'll survive the killing heat. Although the corn didn't make it.

"Wild" Missouri Highway Stop

2010-07-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

Easy Living Native Perennial Wildflowers, or Easywildflowers.com is one of the web sites I consult regularly for great photos of native plants, along with planting and growing tips. I like the cool chart that John, the proprietor and expert at Easywildflowers, has designed showing favorite host plants of various butterflies. We stopped by (hundreds of miles from home) to see what Easywildflowers was all about and John graciously took us on a guided tour.

The directions on the web site are easy to follow, and the place is not far off of highway 60 in Missouri, although it's easy to miss the simple Easywildflowers.com sign out front. But the open greenhouses and blooming wildflowers everywhere make it pretty obvious you're in the right spot! We pass that way, through Missouri, a few times a year to visit our Kentucky girls, and I finally got to stop and visit. Gene waited in the air-conditioned car until I coaxed him out to look at the way-out-crazy Passion Flower and fruit.

Then, even though I think we interrupted his lunch, and it was roughly 100 degrees in the shade, John offered to walk us both through his wildflower gardens where native plants grew in lovely jumbled profusion, behind and around the house, on a small hillside beside the house, and surrounding two small ponds where the dog was trying his luck at fishing for the Koi slipping coolly under the rocks. Too bad my camera battery died, or y'all would had even more great info from John.

Easywildflowers sells native plant seed by the ounce or by the pound. They also sell many native plants by the pot. Of course, I didn't get away without tucking a small box of grasses and flowers into the back of the car and driving them all the way across Missouri to Kentucky and back home to Oklahoma. They are now calling my name from the kitchen counter, asking to be taken out and planted.

However, I'm trying to put it off until the temperature at least falls below 95!

Give a Tree Some Attention Today

2010-07-10T06:57:00.000-07:00

We are fortunate to have several nice trees on our property, some growing rampant and wild, but several were obviously planted and tended by a previous owner. My favorite was undoubtedly the Bald Cypress growing behind the house. I say "was" because it's dead now. It's sad bare branches remind me every day that trees sometimes require human care and attention. It died of an intense bagworm infection. And it's demise didn't take long! Just a couple of weeks and the lush springy fronds were all gone.

I understand there is a serious bagworm infestation in Oklahoma this year. Check here for information on identifying and dealing with a bagworm infestation. This article is taken directly from an OSU extension document on the subject.

We also lost a pine tree in front of the house to the Southern Pine Beetle in 2009. These were beautiful trees and it's sad to see them die. It's especially sad because we may have been able to treat them and prevent the damage and death if I had noticed the signs. This is what a bagworm looks like.

The worm itself pokes it's ugly head out the top of this cocoon to spin heavy silk and munch on my precious tree leaves.

This is not a winter photo. It's my Bald Cypress in June.

Be saddened. Be warned. Be a friend. Be on the outlook for the devastation these pests can do and save a tree.

Smoke in the Holler

2010-07-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

Smoke from our sparklers, smoke bombs, Black Cats and Roman candles drifted across the driveway and down into the "holler", where it hung trapped by the heavy, humid air, below the house. Lightening bugs winked off and on, and headlights of late buyers from the fireworks stand up the street glowed in yellow rings through the haze.

I think every neighbor was bent on re-enacting the "Rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air" portion of our patriotic heritage themselves! There was a steady pop and boom of exploding fireworks from before dusk until after midnight. And the fireworks displays from driveways and fields around us were amazing! Huge, exploding, glittering, sparkling, shooting, whistling light filled the sky around us for hours.

Apparently, if you sell fireworks, it's good to be in Piedmont America!

Since we have been in or near flood stage for days now, and experienced another couple of inches of pouring rain earlier in the day, the grass and fields here are so soggy that nothing has a hope of burning.

Maybe my favorite sky display was a few Chinese floating lanterns that lifted above the trees and drifted off in the direction of Kingfisher. Have you seen these before? This is what it looked like.

Apparently, this is what it looks like in China when everyone sends their wishes to the heavens in a paper lantern.

Not on July 4th, of course.

It was great to be with family yesterday. Food was awesome. The company was relaxed and good humored. Niecy's new boyfriend seemed nice!

Before I came in last night, I looked up into the muggy, smoky, deafening, sparkling sky, and thanked God again for my country, my family, and the freedom to celebrate and enjoy it all.

Measuring the Passing of Time by Wildflowers

2010-07-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

The yellow glow of Coreopsis fills the fields and roadsides around Piedmont, these days. White Yarrow have faded; purple Bachelor Buttons have invaded as many wheat fields as they'll get to this season, left their seeds and gone. Showy Sunflowers are beginning to make the scene.

It must be July.

Change in Perspective

2010-07-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

Life had been crazy busy for days and weeks in April, May and June. Then suddenly I was on the airplane bound for Cali, with nothing to occupy my mind but a good book, and long air-nap.

The gem of the 5 day visit was our church reunion retreat we've been planning since last fall.

To get to the Twin Oaks retreat center you have to catch the Cal-Bodfish, Caliente turn off, on highway 58 that runs between Tehachapi and Bakersfield. Then you wind through the canyon for half an hour or so, dodging the cows and calfs crossing the road to get to the trickle of water in the stream.

Twin Oaks is rustic, but comfy.

Besides feeding my soul on the awesome worship and great Bible teaching, laughing and catching up with friends, I was also refreshed by wandering the flower gardens, of course!

Bees and butterflies were early risers.

The fountains and a small Koi pond sparkled in the morning sun.

I guess it's the change in perspective that refreshes, the chance to focus on worship and scripture, the familiar sound of voices I love and miss, the new surroundings of natural beauty, different from my every-day scene. It was all a blessing. All a pleasure.

Country Traffic Jam

2010-06-12T20:16:00.001-07:00

I hit some serious traffic on the way home from work on Thursday. It usually takes me 9 minutes to navigate the backroads home. That day it took almost 12. Had to wait several minutes for traffic to clear.

It's wheat harvest time in Canadian County so caravans of huge equipment move from field to field. Cori and I paused just in front of the house today, with granddaughter Rylan in the stroller, ready for a walk up the hill, to let these giants pass.

What I Learned in Third Grade

2010-04-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

"Wildflower" include dandelions. They're flowers. They're wild. I hate them.

White dandelion puff balls covered our "lawn" last week. It's not a lawn, of course, but it's green if you mow the collection of weeds regularly. But dandelions just duck when the mower comes by and then stand up again and make faces at your back.

When I was in third grade, old Mr. Shoemaker lived across the street from Patty Brock. Just down the block from us. He waged war on dandelions in his neat denim overalls, doubled over at the waist, since, I guess he couldn't kneel or squat very well. He spent hours plucking dandelions out of his pretty lawn. It was 1969, so lawn chemicals weren't yet in fashion!

Another old man lived across the street in the other direction. If I ever knew his name, I can't remember it now. I only met him once. I think it was Patty, or maybe my sister, who went with me to knock on his door to ask if we could collect some leaves from his huge trees for a school project. The name Catalpa, from his huge-leafed tree, always reminds me of that afternoon.

Our neighbor walked us through his front and back yards, narrating the names and habits of his impressive collection. I pressed the leaves we collected from him between sheets of wax paper, under a couple of volumes from the encyclopedia set.

If Catalpa entered my vocabulary from across the street, Lilac and Elm and Hackberry, Honeysuckle and Lily of the Valley came from our own home.

The Lilac marked the north boundary of the front yard. Running from the end of the sidewalk to grab a branch of the lilac meant you were safe at 3rd base. The first of May meant "borrowing" Mom's scissors to cut bunches of the sweet-smelling Lilacs to stuff in a hand made paper basket and hang from the neighbor's doorknob, ringing the bell and running to hide and watch as she retrieved them.

Honeysuckle grew by the concrete posts of the front porch, and Lily of the Valley grew off the side porch. Both their fragrances are unmistakable, and send me immediately back to my eight year old self on a summer night, chasing lightening bugs with the whole neighborhood, to put in jars with nail holes in the lid.

The Elm and Hackberry trees were our playhouses, until the Elm died of "Dutch Elm Disease." The cut-up trunk and branches made even better imaginary landscapes for a while.

At least that's how I remember it. Maybe next time my sister, and mom and I get together we can compare notes and see if my memory is correct.

Who's in Charge Here?

2010-04-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

Being a visual/tactile type person, and easily distractable, the shape and texture and color of my houseplants constantly attracts my attention. At this moment, the spiky, red Dracaena is peaking over the back of the couch. A small, rough Douglas Fir moves rhythmically under the ceiling fan in the kitchen. The Peace Lily graces the room with a few shiny, slick new leaves and two pointed, white blossoms.

It's hard to find a spot on the kitchen counter at times. You have to give the small pots of Pothos a shove with the back of your forearm to make a spot for the cookie sheet in your hand or if you want space for a cooling rack. The other day Melissa was searching the cabinets for the green Tupperware mixing bowl when I reminded her it was full of the new Hydrangea plants I was soaking so I could set them out. She wondered aloud if there was a flower pot free somewhere she could use to mix her cake.

Very funny.

If I go missing, please look behind the 8-foot Ficus in the den.

Ode to Dirt in my Nails

2010-04-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

It's hard to explain why hours and hours of hard work in the sun and wind can be so utterly satisfying. Healing even.

Oklahoma, this April weekend, turned out to be a great place to be outdoors. So I pretty much lived outside all day Saturday and for a while on Sunday. When I'm working in my garden or the yard I can breathe and I can think.

I spent most of the time making wire fencing arched covers over the curved rows I've planted to keep the wild critters from eating everything before it has a chance to grow, and to keep my big-footed giant dog from walking through it, leaving huge paw craters in the tiny lettuce sprouts.

I planted a few more flowers. As usual. I'm really gonna stop now. Planting more flowers and veggies, that is. It's getting hard to keep up without a better system of watering, and without a few more free hours in my work week.

It's a combination of creative thought and physical labor that makes it a pleasure. It's the miracle of seeds producing little sprouts, producing leaves producing blossoms and fruit. It's the sun and the wind on my skin. It's the taste of a sweet pea, or a warm tomato straight from the vine.

It's participating in something that has endured for millenia, but is fresh every morning when the sun sparkles on the water spray over the deep green of that cabbage that mysteriously grew three inches since yesterday and the goose bumps rise on my arms from the cool morning breeze and dew on my shoes.

Trash Garden

2010-04-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

Only a portion of my spring plants were in the ground and the Okie wind was howling relentlessly, tearing at those delicate little baby plants. So, at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, I was in the kitchen, sawing the bottoms off of every plastic container I could find.

Then I sailed across the yard with the blue flashlight in one hand, and the bottomless plastic collection flying behind me in the wind in a trash bag.

I anchored the trash bag in the shed, watered my leaning plant-lets, and quickly pushed a protective container around each.

The wind continued into early this morning (Friday) when a storm finally broke tension, but everybody in the garden looks very happy today.

Next time I do an early morning, before-work garden wind-protection operation, however, I'll remember to apply my hair straightener product first, thus completing two tasks at once.