Jackson after a self-given mud bath
The things these two dreamed while sleeping together.....
The promise of young life.
Yesterday, before he took his final car ride. Loving you enough to let you go was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
Love,
Mommy
http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/webcast/begin/anewearth_begin_main.jsp This quote it taken DIRECTLY from the OPRAH website: "You cannot fight against the ego and win, just as you cannot fight against darkness. The light of consciousness is all that is necessary. You are that light."
No particular order:
Basil from seed. Just testing myself to see if I could do it. Sure enough, it worked as God intended it to. I let my original plant in the big garden go to flower then seed. After the seeds were well-dried out, I put them in dirt. It took much longer to germination than tomatoes.
Ok, here is Garden 2. Small but in full-sun. I put 3 peat pots of cherries and 3 peat pots of Big Boy toms, 2 basil cuttings and 1 garlic clove. Sorry, the cropping of the photo does it no justice. I know I put a lot in this little spot but I thought I would end up caging the entire wall section and holding the vines to that. They should be to the roof by May. 
Here are my spinach. I thought I'd pull up all my leafy lettuce and replace them with spinach. Leafy lettuce creeps me out. It grows well, but when it comes down to eating it,....... no thanks. 
Here is my garlic plant. I haven't a clue what I'm doing but I'm willing to stick it in the ground and experiment. Any advice welcomed.
Here is a close-up of the toms in Garden 2. We had multiple seeds in the cherry pots so that's why you see a huge bunching. I didn't have the heart to decide which ones were weaker. None looked weak to me. Btw, that reminds me to put a plug in for Moisture Control potting soil. Blue bag. Can't remember if Miracle Grow was the maker or not. Anyhow, it is fabulous for seedling starter kits.
Here is the *new* left side to Garden 1: 8x16'. All those carrots and lettuce were pulled. My original sweet basil was transplanted to the back corner since it refuses to stay small. My brussels are taking their sweet time but have buds so I've allowed them to stay a little longer. I pulled some small cauliflowers that weren't going to make it. I've put in my new seedling and am leaving a little space for the new future peppers. The right side of the garden is primarily those out-of-control toms you see above. Also, I have the rest of the carrots, cauliflower, iceberg lettuce seedlings and a set of onions.
A hundred million ka-trillion dollars to whoever can guess how many cherry tomatoes are in this picture. What happened was that all these vines were hanging down to the ground, blocking light for the brussels & sweet peppers beside them. So, I tied everything up about 5' or so. When I did that, it displayed all these hiding babies!!! Honestly, I didn't count, but I'm thinking there are easily 75 marbles there.
Here are those short-n-sweet carrots from the lft side of the garden. They've been in the ground since August and I guess they're just never going to be the long carrots that I wanted. They taste great too but I went ahead and replaced them with Danver carrots this spring. I put those seeds in the ground today.
The coolest thing is that Jack, who was originally only wanting 1 or 2 plants, has gotten 110% onboard with the gardening. While he'll never be vegan or vegetarian, he has upped his healthy eating thanks to my gardening. He loves to walk through it and see what's growing.
Between prices and pesticides, home gardening has been welcomed addition to our lifestyle. I really don't know what I'm doing but I'm eager to google & read. My Dad always had some tomato plants around the house. I hope one day, I'll see tomato plants in my sons' yards.
Happy Gardening -- Robin
On Tuesday, we were quite alarmed when we saw termites swarming out of the dead tree that is in the ajacent lot. Aside from Simon Peter and I getting bombarded with flying bugs in the face, hair and shirts, we saw that the lizards were all having Thanksgiving Dinner. There were several on this tree all chompin' and displaying bulging tummies. This was my first swarm siting.
So,...... drumroll please...... the great news is that both boys excelled in their speeches, were given blue awards (based on individual's points received) and are eligible for District competition next month (purple ribbons). We have a little fine tuning, based on judges comments, and we'll be ready to go. My biggest joy comes from seeing them so comfortable in front of judges & a room of people. They remembered where to point and to look up the majority of the time. 
We ran errands today to pick up some things for the boat (see Robin's Reports) that were on order and then my sweetie took me to lunch. I wish I could say it was as delicious as those chocolate covered strawberries.
We're enjoying a lovely family night together before Jack goes for a wonderful adventure with his friend who bought a 32' Luhrs sportsfishing boat. They are picking it up in St. Petersburg and chartering it around the peninsula of Florida. I should have some fantastic pictures next week.
Valentine hearts,
Mama to many fishermen
"I showed you in all things that you should work as I did and help the weak. I taught you to remember the words Jesus said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "
I am so proud of my boys today. Andrew woked up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. This is not unusal anytime the alarm clock is involved. However, between the praise music, good Bible-based children's teachings and seeing the generousity of adults handing them a bag of candy for Valentine's Day, Andrew's day turned around. He confessed his sin (privately) of his bad mood and asked the Lord to give him a sinless day. Next thing you know, he was offering up candy to the child in the room that was the quietest, the child who knew the answers and so forth. And it didn't stop there...
Epcot had some beautiful flowerbeds. I thought I'd make a quick post about that. Click on the pics to enlarge. By the way, that is my original picture of the Epcot "ball", as we called it. I couldn't believe how sharp & cool it turned out.
Again, I'm thinking more pansies, only the contrast is from 2 different varieties.
Here is my youngest with the snapdragons. This is one of my favorite flowers since I was a child. I love how you can pinch them and make the "mouth" move.
Geraniums. Another favorite of mine, except I prefer red over pink. What a sea of beauty.
In and around the United Kingdom part of Epcot, you will find multiple rose flowerbeds. One is more beautiful than the last. 
I absolutely love multi-colored anything from mahi mahi to pinto horses to roses. 
I'm trying to recall where I took this at...... I think it is right were you part to go around to all the various countries, after Innovations. I think.
This picture was taken at the entrance. Sometimes it is so hard for me to comprehend many northern friends are covered up in snow and yet we're beginning our growing season in Florida. 
They had this mini-scene of a mountain forest with a train running through it. Ahh, the landscaping ideas are endless..... (anybody else thinking Godzilla?)
I believe this was taken across the walkway from China. If I could only get my iceberg lettuce to look this good in 3 months. 
Nana and the boys at the entrance of Epcot. From here, we shot over to all the space rides which were fun, but not if you get nauseated easily.
We stopped to eat lunch in Mexico. We have an uninvited guest looking at Nana's plato. 
El nino llevan sombraro y habla "Hola". We heard some wonderful singing in Norway next.
Here the boys pose in Norway. Don't miss the Maelstrom boat voyage. Gentle but fun for all 6 of us.
China was beautiful and they had a movie there but nobody wanted to wait on it, so we were off through the Outpost area, then onto Germany. 
Nana and Papa found lots of good frankfurters & kraut there. (By the way, you're suppose to eat your way through Epcot, but there was so much food so fast that we didn't even try to do that.)
Here are my men, posing in front of a beautiful statue in Italy. I was sad that Italy didn't offer much other than a ristorante. We weren't hungry but I would have loved to have heard some music or done Venecian canals, etc. Maybe Disney can put some of those in for me. Leaning tower? How about a collisium?We went to America next and heard some wonderful acapela singers and viewed several treasures in the gallery. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled for the day. My pictures are rather blurry of the singers. They did have beautiful paintings & quotes on the wall. I'll show those another day.
Poor Papa had to rest from time to time. The good thing is that he's seen Italy, for real, a couple times already. The boys are behind him and they never ran out of energy.
My monkeys..................oh, and a baboon.
Me, Chip and Dale.
More tomorrow from Morocco, France, UK and Canada.....
