Hollyhocks...and more

Names

by Dorothy Aldis

Larkspur and Hollyhock,

Pink Rose and Purple Stock,

Lovely smelling Mignonette

Lilies not quite opened yet,

Phlox the favorite of bees,

Bleeding Heart and Peonies -

Just their names are nice to say,

softly,

On a summer's day.

The above are not the named flowers in the poem, but just as exquisite.

My sister, Margy, recited this poem for us about a year ago on a garden tour as we left Connie's on a VERY hot day.

Below, this hollyhock is tiny in stock only; its flowers are normal size!

Is this the Drama Queen, Connie?
The unfolding and opening of one my bold pink favorites.

The face of this hollyhock is everybit as complicated as ours, and surprisingly lovely with no make-up or new hairdo!

I may have had to buy a lug of tomatoes to put up yesterday,

but my flowers flouish.

MaryJane Butters and I have it Goin' On!

I'm in love;

...in love with MaryJane Butters! She and I are kindred spirits.

She's an older woman who bought 5 acres at the end of a road out of Moscow, Idaho. She supports herself by making good things to sell. She's written a book I'm reading and taking notes from called:

MaryJane's Ideabook, Cookbook, Lifebook

for the farmgirl in all of us

I'd been bemoaning the fact that I don't have a farm yet, a goat to milk, chickens that give me eggs. Then in dawned on me the other day as I was putting 4 gallon jars of home-made granola away, making and canning a load of applepie filling for the winter, and rustling up some applesauce in small jars for Christmas gifts that: I AM a farmgirl.

Oh, the bread machine was going while I canned too. It was making a loaf of whole wheat bread from wheat I'd ground myself. After all that my sweet daughter-in-law gave me a plate of sushi, which I usually make myself too. Don't you love the little orchid she placed

for presentation?

Just before dinner I went out and harvested my garlic, for I am a farmgirl.

The Martha Stewart part of the farmgirl in me planted red zinnias to complement the green squash plants with the yellow blossoms.

And what about the presentation of purple salvia and this new yellow plant for the farmgirl in all of us?

I think I am living the farmgirl routine pretty well.

I've subscribed to MaryJane's magazine and given a gift subscription to my little sisty who introduced us.

Rachel, my dear friend, and I will visit MaryJane's farm next month.

For the farmgirls in all of us, stay tuned; I'll fill you in.

AND! Rachel has even written an article for MaryJane's magazine!

Camping Trip/MamaPajama's Birthday

It was my mother's 86th birthday on August 6th. All of her children came to Bellingham where she lives with my youngest sister. My son, Kelly, and his family invited me to take a camping trip with them nearby. This is a picture of Kelly with his youngest, Marcus (left) and my sister's 6 year old, Jacob (right). Kelly LOVES camping, and he loves children, so we invited Jake to camp with us for a couple days while we were there.

This is Kelly's family with me and mom. It is a four-generation picture. Kelly's oldest has a baby now, so there are five generations alive.

Below is "the family": Barb (49), Margy (62), mom (86), Brian (57) and me (63).

Above, you can not only see all of us, but on the table in front of us is the quilt Margy made for mom as a wall-hanging. I'm in love with it, so Margy will make me a small sampler of some of it. I can hardly wait to hang it in my new room.

Most of the family came out to camp for an evening of s'mores over the campfire.

And, here she is, the MamaPajama!

She is a registered nurse.

She can stand on one foot and draw her name in the air with the other foot.

She baked all of our bread, and made everything from scratch teaching us how to sew and knit and work our fingers to the bone when necessary. AND! she can sing.

She retired from nursing at 68 and went into the Peace Corps,

serving in the jungles of Costa Rica for two years.

She took in countless foster babies, so she showed us how to be good mothers.

She has a great sense of humor, and she's quite funny herself.

She is beautiful inside and out.

And she loves Jesus.

That's my mom!

May this year bring you much joy as you wait for another great-grandbaby, Mama!

Don't hide; there's a zucchini coming!

Oh, sorry, these aren't zucchini plants; they are winter squash. But, never mind. Are they refreshingly lovely with those drops of dew around the edges of the leaves?

And one more winter squash plant in the dew of the morning.

I'm off on a camping vacation with my son and his family to visit other family members and to celebrate my "Little Mither's" 86th birthday in Northern Washington for the next week. This is it for a week on the blogging activity.

Pray and Watch

I am reading a book called Pray and Watch by neal and judy brower about a new way of thinking and behaving in our Christian walk. It is scary to evangelize; we make all kinds of excuses. This book says it is NOT our job to do that. It is our job to pray. It is our job to pray and watch to see what the LORD does. He is the One who stirs the hearts of man; He is the One who draws people to Himself. So, I've begun this new lifestyle and want to share it with you.

This is often, and mostly, a gardening blog, so I included, above, a picture of the lovely Morning Glory at my friend Connie's cottage garden. I love the rich and vivid purple velvety color. Growing and photgraphing flowers is my passion, but another passion has overtaken it. Below is a picture of my granddaughter and great grandson (Mandi and Cameron), two for whom I pray the 5-second prayer.

There is also the couple below, a Chinese doctor who was my friend and companion while I taught there for a year. He has since married and had a baby. He is the first person who asked me for a Bible in China. I also pray the 5-second prayer for him and his family.

Here it is:

Father, please send Your Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of these people.

Draw them to Jesus and make them kingdom laborers.

I have lists of people I'm praying for in this way, from the folks on my street, to the bank teller, to the checker at Cash and Carry. If I'm in contact with them, they get prayed for.

Join me in this; let's rock the world with an explosion of Holy Spirit work. I often say, "Holy Spirit, go!"

Let's pray and watch to see what God does.

Pray...and Watch!