Category: Life

Now It’s Time to Rest

empty lawn chairs
Time to Rest

This past year has been one of the worst ever for me. That is mostly due to lack of finances and unexpected big bills. After a busy season, now it’s time to rest. My fingers are crossed for a restful and productive (business-wise) winter.

All summer I worked in the yard, planting and digging and enjoying the crops. My tomatoes were a huge disappointment, but everything else did quite well. I kept very busy working online all morning, and working in the yard for a few hours in the afternoon. We had a wonderful summer, and beautiful fall here in the northeast so the weather was usually cooperative.

We were graced with a spectacularly warm and sunny day just this week – in mid November! It was in the 60’s and I was raking leaves in a t-shirt! I didn’t work online that day, but spent all of it outdoors. I didn’t want to miss a moment of it. Even though my back was telling me I had done enough, I still had gutters to clean out and mulching to do, so I pushed myself more than I should have.

I dug up some parsley and mint to bring inside for the winter because they both still looked so darn good. I used the blower and rake and wheelbarrow to remove the masses of leaves that were everywhere, even though I had raked numerous times already. I paid for it with lots of aches the next day, but I was satisfied with my efforts.
Bring on the snow!

I took pictures on that bizarre summer-like day and will be using them as soon as I get the chance to load them to the photo library. My single blue hydrangea flower is beginning to dry out.  It never turned purple like last year.   All the limelight blooms are gone by, but they would make a nice dried bouquet for indoors, if I didn’t have a cat that would “play” with them.  I will trim up those plants soon so the snow won’t break the stems.

I’m ready for that rest.

Chicken on the Grill: Food on the 4th of July

grilling chicken Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans. Here in New Hampshire it’s a dark and rainy day and we won’t be doing any grilling. But a few days ago, before the heat wave hit, we grilled up some huge chicken breasts to use for our “no cooking” meals. It’s always difficult to find food to feed the family on muggy hot days. I could easily eat a salad, or have cheese and crackers (with wine of course), but my kids want more.
So I headed to Roys’s Market in Peterborough where the chicken pieces were humongous and bought six pieces.   I marinated them in my special, homemade marinade, and my older son grilled them for us.  It’s been enough for the 4 of us to eat for 3 days. I’ve made chicken salad sandwiches, quesedillas, and enchiladas. Today we will finish up the enchiladas and maybe get some clams and seafood from Kimballs. Not cooking in the heat is top priority for me.  We may drag out the ice cream maker and cook up some of that!
So happy 4th to everyone, whether you are grilling, eating out or whatever. Be safe on this American holiday and enjoy the fireworks if it’s not raining where you are.

May Brings Out the Dusty Street Sweeper

street sweeper
Street Sweeper in May
It has to be dry to sweep the streets, and the day the sweeper came by he sure kicked up a ton of dust. May is when our town sweeps up winter’s leftover sand from all the roads. They put a tentative (because of weather) schedule out, but I am never really sure when they will appear in my neighborhood.

Having the street swept is a new thing for me. The first spring in my new home, I noticed that people were making rows of sand at the edge of their yards. They were brushing (?) the sand off their grass somehow, and I wondered why. The sand comes from the sand trucks that frequently sand and salt the roads all during winter. I found out a while later when the noisy street sweeper came through the neighborhood and sucked it up!

I don’t bother to sweep sand off my “grass” mainly because I don’t have any grass. I’m working on it, but that is far down my list of yard work that needs to be done. I did get this photo of the sweeper as he went by a couple of times, kicking up clouds of dust. It’s a normal part of Spring clean up in this part of New Hampshire.

Mother’s Day Blues

Image
Or should I say, blue for Mother’s Day. It’s sunny and bright and beautiful for Mother’s Day here in New Hampshire, and I don’t have the blues, just pictures of blue flowers. There are no hydrangea flowers in the yard yet, so I’ve gone into my massive archive (haha) and pulled out a favorite photo to share.

I will be heading outdoors soon and hopefully the black flies will leave me alone. I have a mound of dirt to move around in my trusty wheelbarrow. There are seeds to plant and grow in my little greenhouse and plenty of other things awaiting my attention.
But first I have to pick up my son. Then the day will be mine.

I don’t have a Mother to celebrate so I get to celebrate my own motherhood. I’ve been a mom for nearly 37 years and I like to think that I have done a good job.
I hope that my children have learned some good things from me. Like perseverance, independence, thankfulness, and the importance of having a good work ethic. I think all my children have turned out well, and of course they are still evolving, but in general they have good hearts and are very decent people.

So Happy Mother’s day to all the moms who may come across this post today. The blue flower is for you as my wish that you will stay strong in this journey of motherhood that is really never-ending. And for the mom’s who do it all alone, you are not alone in your journey. There are many of us out there who also have to make our best attempt to “do it all”. It’s impossible, so pass on the things that can wait and take care of the things that won’t. Children grow up very fast and our job is to see that they grow up well. There are great rewards for that.

Good Bye Winter – Pictures of Snow

snow winter
Late Winter Snow

In this post I am saying good-bye to winter. Here in the northeast we had a cold winter with plenty of snow, and as usually happens we got a coating of snow in April. The light-post picture here was taken February 14th, 2014 and the image below was taken April 16th.

Whenever Spring arrives I hear everyone say how awful the past winter was. It doesn’t seem to matter what the winter was really like, it was always “the worst”. I don’t think we got as much snow this year as last year. And it was cold, that’s true, but it’s winter in New England! Shouldn’t it be cold? There were no power outages where I live due to nor easter’s, which I would consider to be bad. I think the middle of the country got it a lot worse in places, so I am thankful for the winter we had.

Oh well, next we’ll have a horribly hot summer according to “them”. Even if it’s just normal with some hot days, many people will be dramatic and think it was just awful too. Why complain? We choose to live here and part of the reason is the beautiful area and nice, yes nice, weather.

After living in central Florida for 27 years, I think the changes in seasons are nice. I expect snow and cold in winter – imagine! I have to shovel and lug wood myself all winter and I have to cut my own grass, stack wood, and tend my own gardens in summer. I don’t have it exceptionally easy, but I enjoy the different seasons which bring different needs. And I’m always thankful for a body that lets me do it! You want to see bad weather? Live in Florida!

I plan to write about hydrangeas and other flowers very soon!

morning april snow road
April Snowfall

Where to Find Beautiful and FREE Nature Pictures

colored Easter eggs
Find this free image at Pixabay
Anyone needing to use some beautiful pictures of nature that are free, pay attention. There are many stock photo sites out there where you will find some awesome pictures that are supposedly “free”, but not all of them really are. In fact “royalty free images” will cost you something and you have to buy points in order to download them from the sites. It can be confusing.
I have nothing against purchasing someones photos or designs. The stock places carry a wide array of very usable items. Those people are trying to make a living selling their images, and who could blame them. I get very irritated when I find that someone has helped themself to one of my blog images. Some people are clueless when it comes to that sort of thing.

But there is a place where you can download beautiful images and it really will cost you nothing. That place is called Pixabay. The Pixabay people are quite picky when it comes to what photos they will approve. I’ve had many declined. I’m not surprised, as I am not a fabulous photographer. And after browsing the Pixabay site, I have seen that there are others who definitely are.

You’ll find lots of nature photos and splendid macros of insects and flowers. Also graphics and clipart which is generously offered. Seasons, mountains, buildings, wildlife and so much more will grab your attention. And they can be used commercially free of charge! (Not all images can be used this way because of trademarks / brands.)

I use Pixabay for my work, and whenever I need an image for a post that I don’t have myself. Pixabay is a relatively new site so they don’t always have what I am looking for, but people are contributing from all over the world, and the landscape photos are stunning.
They occasionally hold contests for contributors, and give out awards to the deserving. It might be a place you will enjoy visiting.