Time again for Dilly Beans!

These are a Happy Hour favorite!

BEN!

Can you believe how quickly kids grow up these days?????? (photo, courtesy of Auntie Amber; moustache courtesy of Uncle Josh, Auntie Paige & Piper!)

A NOT orderly garden!

7:45 am and Fred and I are just in from the garden. What a garden helper he is!! I am pretty sure he snatched my prettiest striped Roma tomato from the harvest bowl and buried it. He loves treasures! It is already feeling like a rather warm summer day, even this early. It feels so to me anyway, especially after a cooler one yesterday. I am laughing because our sweet granddaughter informed me of the following: "Gigi - your garden is not orderly. It should be orderly." Now I am wondering, which grown-up she heard this from! This is not the sentiment of a child! And I am truly laughing so hard!! I do think children appreciate serendipitous things, and that is what the Little Bird Farm garden is! (And sort of messy, in an indearing way.) If a fluffy pink zinnia wants to grow in the middle of the pathway, I let it. If a rogue tomatillo puts down a root in the green beans, "ces't la vie", I say. I will admit, I have a serious problem with sunflowers. We even yanked 90% of the wild-child sunnies as they appeared; but by now, the 10% remaining do flourish. Oh! But the finches love them so! And I do too. I must say, that if we have a longing for most anything, we can find it out there....somewhere...probably frolicking with an uninvited friend! (Hey! How did that calendula get in the zinnias? Guess it will go into our dinner salad. Now, where did I see that beautiful rogue coriander? Oh, yes - in the basil bed.) Normally, when I walk into the garden, I feel my whole body immediately relax into the flow of nature thriving; but this morning, I broke out laughing! And laughed all the while, as I picked beans, okra, tomatoes, and big bunches of zinnias and basil! Orderly? Nope. Beautiful and bountiful? Oh, YES!

Glitches in the blog!

In an effort to "improve" the blog, I have managed to fall down a rabbit hole, losing some things I meant to keep! Oops! I guess I will be spending some time on this in the (relatively) near future. My apologies! Please bear with me. (Think: learning curve!) At least most of the photos are still there...somewhere.

Little Ben's 1st Birthday!

A party at Little Bird Farm! And 5 FUN-FILLED days!!

Our Texas Kids Move to a New Old House

Here's a handful of Moving Day snapshots. Ben helped Grubepop install the new flag holder. The "Stars & Stripes" fly on the kids' pretty, new front porch. Abby loves her new room! Ben loves his new truck! (Grubepop couldn't help himself; he had to get Ben a BIG truck.) And...Ben loves Grubepop. :) Riley & Fred were hot & tired after all their hard work! Whaaat?? They spent their days at the Doggy Day Care while we all worked! So, that's what "a dog's life" means. Congratulations, Nate & Sara! Here's to a whole week in your new home, sweet home.