{PRETTY}
I may, just possibly, have a thing for wild flowers. I spied this one in my neighbor’s fence row on my way into town yesterday, and I just had to go back to photograph it. It’s gorgeous! And just crawling with bees, butterflies, and other assorted insects. It’s called orange butterfly weed, which is quite appropriate. I will attempt to gather some seeds in a week or two. Is it wrong to consider landscaping in weeds?
I think there is nothing lovelier than a hillside or fence row all grown up in Queen Anne’s Lace, and it really hurts me to pull out the chickory, it’s blooms are so lovely. I adore the black-eyed susans and the wild daisies that grow in the pastures. So much beauty, growing up without cost or care.
{HAPPY}
This girl. She just melts my heart, day after day after day. Even when I’m trying to scold her, she looks at me so earnestly with those big blue eyes, a faint smile playing on her lips, ready to break into a full grin the minute I lose my steely resolve and start laughing at her. And it happens every single time. Right here, she was on her way upstairs to play with her siblings, but she stopped and turned around to say, “Aye la mama!” And mama loves Evie.
{FUNNY}
I was working at the computer yesterday, and so obviously not paying real attention, when Tommy came downstairs and asked me, “Mommy, can I eat a pickle?” I assumed he had the hiccups and desired to stop them with our fail-safe pickle cure*, but a moment later, he was standing beside me with a small cucumber from our garden, looking uncertain and disappointed. “This doesn’t taste like a pickle, mama.” The poor babies have probably been looking at that enticing pile of pickling cucumbers all week, mouths watering. Now, they are sliced and vinegared, and we can probably start eating them this afternoon.
Last year, Penelope grew a single pickle vine, and I just kept a jar of pickle juice in the fridge. Whenever she brought in a random cucumber, we’d slice it and drop it in the jar, and approximately twelve hours later, it was pickled enough to enjoy. Just a tip, in case you, too, happen to have cucumbers, little pickle lovers, and maybe not enough time or resources to have a whole canning event. A single jar of homemade pickle juice goes a long way!
{REAL}
This is it! D-Day! The combined efforts of twenty women, give or take, to feed 150 people in a community-building charitable event. We’ve been working on this since March, and we’ve been working overtime this week to get our dishes prepared. Today is the final baking day, culminating in the actual event tonight, and I’m excited to see it pulled together and relieved that it’s almost over. I hope they don’t expect me to make a report at tomorrow’s meeting, though, because I’ve been neglecting some home work. We’re nearly out of feed for the animals, we’re nearly out of food for us, and the fellow I buy hay from called to say my alfalfa was ready to pick up.
It’s going to be a great weekend! Busy, but great.
Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more {p,h,f,r}!
*The Pickle Cure for Hiccups: Hiccups are usually irritating and sometimes painful, but children seem to be highly prone to them! I have one daughter who gave herself the hiccups almost every night, and then couldn’t sleep because of it. It turns out that a bit of vinegar stops the hiccups cold! Of course, you’d likely have a hard time getting a child to sip straight vinegar, but that’s what pickles are cured in. Anything pickled works, or just a spoonful of the pickle juice, if they prefer. We usually keep a jar of sliced dills on hand for just this purpose.
