Forward - From the Heartland of Carolina

The Quest for Spring

2011-03-02T11:25:00.000-05:00

Well, today, March 1st, is considered the first day of meteorological Spring. The calender says that Spring begins March 20th this year. Naturally, we'd prefer the former date to the latter. Toss in a couple days of 70's and low 80's, and the tease to get out and do some serious gardening really gets going.We know better, however.

Another cold front comes through though, and winter refuses to let go, with temperatures falling into the upper 20's at night. We've seen a couple cycles like that lately, and there may be more ahead, but each day, there's a little more daylight, the sun is slowly creeping higher in the sky, and little by little, the soil is warming - slowly, ever so slowly, but still warming.

With all that being said, I took the camera out in the yard over the weekend on a quest to find Spring.

The birds - they know the season is changing. Their chirp is chirpier. Their flight is flightier. They seem to be feeding with a purpose lately. Some, especially the male Cardinals, are getting more territorial. Bluebirds are investigating the boxes. Downy woodpeckers are carving new cavities in dead branches up in the pines. Chickadees, Titmice, and Nuthatches seem to be everywhere.

Yellow is starting to pop around the yard. Clumps of Daffodils...which seem to be early this year. We have pictures of these same ones blooming on March 20th, a few years ago.

Forsythia are filling out nicely, thanks to the recent warmer days

The Violas always rebound quickly after the frosty nights that seem to put them to sleep temporarily

Outside the back porch, the Daphne is sharing flowers and fragrance, that on milder days, drifts inside through the open doors and windows.

Heading into the woods, the Winter Jasmine has been tossing out more yellow blossoms

This Camellia has been blooming since December, and still has many unopened buds to go

Judging from the swelling buds, the native Dogwood by the pond is going to be putting on quite a show in April

The Hellebores, a little behind schedule, are putting on their best show to date.

Some of the Hydrangeas have already broken out of their long winter's sleep.

Even the ground covering Vinca has started to flower

The Silver Maples have been blooming for several days now.

Back at the house, new growth on the Clematis promises a flush of color in the not too distant future.

So, there you have it - a quick walk around the yard. Hints and signs saying that yes, Spring really is on the way, and Winter will soon be a distant memory.

Of course, there's always one rebel plant in every yard. This Parsley, sitting out, unattended and unprotected all winter long, has laughed at the single digit nighttime temperatures we had, the 10" snowfalls, and what little moisture it absorbed from the few light showers we've had these past few months. It's reward will be to get transplanted to an out of the way location where it can go to seed, giving us even more baby Parsleys, which in turn will become food for the Black Swallowtail caterpillars.

Happy March, Happy Meteorological Spring, or if you listen to the plants, Happy Successful Quest.

Sharing "Leola's Love" (free seeds)

2011-02-08T23:07:00.000-05:00

One year ago last night, February 7th, 2010, a very special woman left this earthly world.

My wife and I, 2 of her sisters, and one of our nieces had been keeping vigil for several days over their Mother and Grandmother, Leola Grace Glover. Our hospice team, for the time we had them, were another realm of Angels that helped Mom, and ultimately us, through her final months, and especially, her last days.

It was Super Bowl Sunday last year, and, I distinctly remember being called back to Mom's room a year ago. The TV had the game on as background noise, and as I passed by, the Saints scored a touchdown. Some time later, I realized the irony of that timing :) The real Saints had a new one among them.

A year ago, our blog had been silent for a while. We, and Lynne's extended family, were consumed with caring for Mom. During the time Mom's condition deteriorated, my sister Mary Lou Brown also passed away. There was a time period in there where the people, the families who needed to know, knew. Since that time, we also came to realize that we had a few annonymous followers who commented to us rather often, and our self-imposed silence left them out of the loop. We apologize for that, and maybe, they still have us bookmarked, and will find their way back to our Heartland Ramblings, and understand why we were away.

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Winter has been interesting in North Carolina this year, and in much of the Eastern US. Temperatures well below normal, a beautiful post-Christmas snowstorm. There's even talk of some light snow possible in the near future! Not a yardwork inducing forecast, to say the least.

While Lynne continues to sort through Mom's items, and we change the house up, we're also waiting for one of those days 'just a little warmer', so we can get outside and start reclaiming the gardens that fell into a state of unkemptness and neglect over the last couple years. We're not going to take total blame, however :)

A region-wide drought, and 90+ days of temperatures of 90° or higher last year added some assistance to their demise. Or so we want to think and say :) Then there's days like today - Bright warming sun, slowly getting higher in the sky, but holding a gusting wind that still cuts through you. No, we're not dealing with Dakota-like minus 30 temps, but still...

Lynne has lots to do inside, always redecorating and changing things up to fit the season. We have projects that we've got to stop talking about and start working on. Right now, the inside is her domain, and the outside is mine. I know it's a little too early to cleanse the garden beds of the heavy layer of pine needles and leaves that have accumulated, but some can, and need to be exposed. The Daffodils are rising, some with buds showing! There's other beds that need a total overhaul. Fortunately, there's even some that need little more done but some weeding.

So, it's time for us to get going on our respective chores. We WILL get our gardens rebuilt, restored, refurbished. Sure, we hope it might all happen this year, but if not, we will know we made progress. We'll have some stories to share along the way, as is our way.

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Now, for our gardening and decorating friends, we'd like to share something very special with you. Last year, we collected lots of seed from a plant that we only know as "Chimney Pinks". They aren't the Pinks that are known as Carnations or Dianthus. These are annuals, that re-seed freely wherever planted.

These "Chimney Pinks", as far as Lynne and her sisters can remember, are dated back at least to their Great-Grandmother and Great Aunt, and probably beyond. Lynne's seeds came from her Mom, who used to collect the seed in medicine bottles, and share with her family and friends. They've flourished in the mountains of Pennsylvania and the postage stamp lots of Delaware. When we pass along some of these seeds to our Granddaughter and great nieces this spring, they will then have spanned at least 6 generations as pass-a-long plant.

We have enough seed collected now to share a little of "Leola's Love" with you.

We call them as Chimney Pinks, simply because that's what Mom told us they were. Mom's are never wrong, right? :) Someday, we'll know the correct scientific Latin name that goes with them :) They are light and airy, and bloom continuously from mid-Spring through Summer, sometimes reseeding early enough to produce a 2nd blooming period. True to their name, they are pink(surprise!!!) I wish we had a close-up, but this distant Hydragnea with the Pinks will have to suffice. Seed sown now should bloom this late Spring/Summer.

Just leave us a comment here and let us know why you'd like to have a little bit of the love that Mom was so passionate about passing along, as well as how we can contact you, (DM us on Twitter, or Private Message on Facebook), and we'll be happy to spread a little of Leola's Love with you. You know how to find us. :) There might be some surprise seeds as well.

Anyways, as always, we thank you for listening to our Heartland Ramblings, and we'll be back again soon.

Peace and Love,
Tom and Lynne

Night Lights and Snow Scenes

2011-01-15T21:38:00.000-05:00

Just a little addition to our Christmas decorating - we wanted to share some of our outside Christmas lighting, and a few snow pictures taken after the December 26, 2010 snowstorm. It's really a shame that, just as our obsolete camera is starting to die, and a replacement battery for it can't be found, not to mention the model is no longer in production, that the camera user is finally figuring out how to adjust the settings for non-typical photo ops, like after dark snow pictures.

It's not often that we get a decent snow here in this part of North Carolina, and this year, we 'almost' had a white Christmas... except that the snow started a half a day late, when it began falling in the early morning hours of December 26th. For this area, it was a really good snowfall, officially measuring 10" when all was said and done. Of course, it's a snow like that that you really hate to walk in, because you leave footprints in the pristine palette of whiteness. That had to be done, though, to get the pictures... and a week later, when melted, there were no footprints.

Daytime was just as pretty, only brighter

The 3" branch above eventually broke off the tree, just barely brushing the front of my car.

The photo below is one of our favorites from this storm... a puff of wind stirring the pine boughs 60 feet up, causing a cascade of powdered snowdust to gently drift down in the appearance of a crystallized waterfall in slow motion.

So, now, we're a couple weeks into the New Year already!! We hope your holidays were full of all the good things you wished for, and our wish for you this year is for good things to continue come your way. Thanks for stopping by!

Peace and Love,

Tom and Lynne

Christmas 2010 - Traditions continue

2011-01-03T00:25:00.000-05:00

In this home, Christmas season starts on Thanksgiving weekend, mainly because of Lynne's decorating abilities, and the fact that she has a willing husband who's task each year is to 1) bring all the decorating goodies down from the garage attic, and 2) do whatever he wants when it comes to outside lighting and displays.

As many of you know, Lynne's Mom, who lived with us for almost 5 years, passed away last February, so this was really our first Christmas together, alone. Much of the decorating, inside and out, had been focused on her, and what and where she could see things. Interestingly, since her passing, very little changed. Where the outside displays could be seen from her bedroom window, looking into the back yard, now, those lights have moved around to where our view was better, or people driving by could share Mom's special angel, or 'her' special trees. Same lights or figures, just a new location. Still Mom's Angel, or her trees. We'll post those pictures in the next update.

Inside, still, many trees. 14 this year, I think? What qualifies as a decorated tree? If lights are added, or ornaments are hung, it's a decorated tree, right? Some are 3½' or 4' specimens, most are various 6 footers. All are decorated with love. All have a meaning, a purpose, a place, a history.

The previous blog mentioned the misfits - leftover ornaments and unused light strings. Next to the misfits is a tree that holds only ornaments that are 40 years old or older... our antique tree, if you will. If you enter the house, you must walk by this tree. Ornaments that have been passed down in the family for generations.

There's two kinds of history, though. The ornaments that have been passed down through the years, and the ornaments than are handmade and collected through the years. Again, this year, the handmade tree was a focal point in our family room, still holding decorations that span 4 generations... Some of Mom's last ones, and our grandchildrens' most recent ones.

The Christmas villages were scaled down to just one area this year for the most part, although there were little vignettes scattered around.

The recently built corner cabinets provide ample decorating possibilities.

Also in the family room was the angel tree, that last year had to grow in size due to the addition of more ornaments that we had come across and that Mom had made in recent years.

Somehow, in the area leading to the dining room from the family room, we found room for the red and white tree, and our new last year 'main' tree.

There's the Victorian look in our bedroom.

Even the top of the fridge wasn't safe from being decorated ;-)

Off to the main living room, where Lynne did the color themed trees. Teal, red and gold, and gold decorations.

There's also a tabletop alpine tree and the garland wrapped mirror.

Of course, there's the back porch nature tree, which uses among other things bird nests found on the property over the years.

Other decorations around the house...

There was one misfit tree that was so out of the way that it didn't get mentioned the previous entry. This little guy is tucked away in the misfit room, hiding next to my recliner.

This entry is titled "Traditions continue". This year, we've continued a tradition that Lynne's Mom started many many years ago, setting up her aluminum tree, still stored in its' original box, with instructions, each sleeve tucked away in its' paper wrapper. I love decorating, but even more, I love watching Lynne decorate. This year, it was with a special silence that I watched Lynne set up and decorate Mom's little tree from the 60's.

Traditions. They're easy to start. They're easy to carry on. They're easy to pick up and pass along. They suddenly become full of meaningful memories.

Traditions. Why not start one today?

From our house to yours, we wish you the very best as we embark into a new year, a new decade.

Peace and Love from Tom and Lynne.

The Christmas Misfits

2010-12-21T22:43:00.000-05:00

Every year, as Lynne is finishing up her decorating, it has become a tradition that I get to use whatever leftover lights and ornaments there are to decorate with. Yes, I'm aware that it's bad grammar to end a sentence with 'with'. It's the Holidays, though, and I'm sure everyone is forgiving, in the spirit of the season, even though I just did it twice.

We'll be back with some more serious posts in the coming days, but wanted to share what the Misfits were this year. In this first picture, there's some rather old icicle lights, and a string of lantern lights, and an old string of fancy C-6 (?) clear crystal-like bulbs. We've had to move our 6' trees around some from their previous locations, because where two of them were before, there are now corner cabinets, so one of those trees somehow wandered into my 'space'.

This next one is an older four foot tree, that along with the tree in the next picture, was looking very lonely up in the garage attic. I instituted a new ordinance in this household, with Lynne's later approval, of "No Tree Left Behind", so these two trees also found a way in to my 'space'.

You may notice some strands of purple beads on this tree. Not your usual Christmas color, for sure. Lynne needed the vase they were in, however, for an arrangement, so they ended up on this misfit tree as garland. However, those are no ordinary purple beads, in necklace form. Those were my 'award' last Spring, at our "Relay For Life", for being a 30 year Cancer Survivor. Interestingly, we also had 12 matching ornaments of almost the same color purple. Misfits on any other tree in the house, but a perfect fit on this Misfit tree.

This last tree holds the 'best of the rest'. Ornaments that, this year, just didn't have a home. However, because of "No Tree Left Behind", these pieces of glass, plastic, and glittered snowflakes now adorn their own tree. Rudolph and his Misfit friends would be so proud of this display.

Finally, our littlest misfit cat Skittles found her way into the branches of the 6' tree. She claims she was forced up there by her much larger buddy Shadow. I think it was more along the lines of "Hey Skittles, I DARE you to climb up into that tree". The jury is still out on this one. What do you think? Does she look innocent?

We'll be back again real soon, and as we close in on Christmas, we wish all of you the very best during this special time of year. God Bless...

Tom and Lynne.

Tomato Cage Christmas Trees

2010-11-28T22:15:00.000-05:00

Don't put your tomato cages away yet!

That's right, it's still tomato cage season!!! With a little wire (I use 16 gauge galvanized craft wire),

some twist ties and/or plant wire,

tomato cages and plant stakes (for larger cages)

and mini-lights, it's real easy to turn those cages into outdoor Christmas trees for your yard.

Help usually isn't needed - it's pretty much a one person project, but if they come by and offer... well, good help is hard to come by...

Turn the cage upside down and slightly bend the 'legs' of the cage so that they make a nice, even cone shape from bottom to top (or top to bottom, since the cage is really upside down now---or is it?). Cut the wire where you can make 2 rings - one near the top of the 'legs', and one mid-way between that and the first welded ring on the cage. Attach them in place with twist ties.

When I'm using the taller cages (4½' or taller) I like to use a plant stake as a 'trunk' to help stabilize and form the top of the 'tree'.

Center the trunk/stake inside the cage by using the wire, tied off at a couple different rings towards the top of the tree.

For my large cages (5') I use 2 strands of 100 mini-lights. It's always helpful to test the lights before you start to tie them off to the cage ;) Replacing any burned out bulbs is always much easier in your lap or on a desktop.

Starting at the bottom, twist-tie off the first light at the base of the cage, and string it up to the top of the cone (in this case, a 6' plant stake inside a 5' cage). Tie the string off at the tip, and run the string back down to the bottom. Tie it of again about 1/3 the way around the bottom ring. Then move over another third on the bottom ring, tie it off again, and run the string back up to the top.

Take your 2nd string (again, test the lights first)

and tie it off half way between where the first string of lights was attached. Back up to the top, tie it off, back down, tie it off between the first strings, move over again 1/3 of the way around, again between the first string, and run it back up to the top and tie off.

When you're stringing the lights, don't stretch the light string too tight against the cage...kind of let one light point left, and one point right, in a zig-zag sort of way. After doing this a couple times, you'll figure out just how much to stretch the wire while running it up and down the cage. Then, go back and twist-tie each string off at each loop. This will keep the lights from swaying too much in the wind and possibly breaking.

On the 4½ foot cages, I use just 1 100' strand of lights, attached to each leg. For the 42" cages, I also use just 1 100' string, but make 5 lines of lights up and down the cage, equally spaced around the bottom ring.

Once you're set up, it only takes about 15 minutes for each tree, other than a little tweaking to get the lights spread out right.

Up close, they might not look like much. Strategically placed around the yard, however, it adds a special magic to the nighttime Christmas landscape.

Now, go plant some tomato cage trees!!!

Falls Last Hurrah

2010-11-24T23:01:00.000-05:00

Every year it gets harder. Always trying to extend the Summer and Fall gardens just a few more days.

This year is no different. Despite several nights below freezing, numerous frosts, and very little rain here at our Heartland Gardens, some plants are just refusing to admit it's the 3rd week in November, and continue to surprise us with new or continuing blooms.

However, all good gardens must be trimmed and cleaned, weeded and covered and put to bed for the winter, so hopefully, they can once again produce whatever our flowers of choice will be next year. Ours are slowly getting there. Probably too slowly this year, since it's already Thanksgiving Eve and soon time for Christmas decorating, inside and out.

One last trip around the yard these past few weeks brings these photos, some plants that will hold out a little while longer, some that have gone to that great wildlife berm along the back property line for the birds to feed on for a while longer.

When Lynne isn't watching over me like a hawk, making sure I'm just pulling the annuals and not any perennials, she leaves this guy in charge.

Tomorrow, I'll raid our VERY scant pumpkin patch and bring these cute guys in for decoration :-)

Now that the gardens will be resting for the winter, Lynne will be here, filling everyone in with the decorating she's been doing during the fall, and what we're doing in the weeks leading up to Christmas... That is, if she can remember her password and figure out the changes that Blogger has made since her last real Blog post :)

Tonight, however,we are most thankful for our new-found friends on Twitter and Facebook, our long-time friends from various forums and blogs, and most especially, our families. All of you, near and far, add so much to our lives, and we wish all of you a Wonderful Thanksgiving with you and yours.

Please leave a reply so we know you stopped by... we'll be back again soon!

Tom and Lynne

The Monarch - Once Upon a Time

2010-11-13T23:49:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time ... Ahhhh, the beginning of a good story. Yes, this blog is always about stories ---- from our home, our gardens, our decorating, our lives. We'd like to think that, no matter the subject, you'd find it a good story, no matter the subject... so, this story continues...

Once upon a time,this past August, there was a Monarch Butterfly...

Not unlike this one.

Early one morning, that Monarch fluttered along and spied one of our potted Butterfly Weeds(Asclepias tuberosa) , a variety called Bloodthroat.

After feeding on the flowers for a while, Lady Monarch proceeded to lay some eggs on the leaves. Not just some eggs, but apparently, many eggs. We'd seen the Black Swallowtail do this numerous times on our Parsley, or other leafy herbs, but this was the first time seeing the Monarch begin it's life cycle.

In a few days, the eggs hatched...

In a few more days, as more eggs hatched, that poor Bloodthroat had been stripped clean of its' leaves. It must be stated here that unlike many butterfly species, the Monarch caterpillars only feed on those plants in the Milkweed family, Asclepiadaceae. We had picked these particular plants up at our local Farmer's Market in downtown Clayton, NC earlier this past spring. As stated, soon the plants were leafless..

The caterpillars, now, 2 weeks later, started to wander off from their food source, looking for just that right place to morph into their chrysalis stage. Fortunately, for the one that we were following, it was the edge of the house siding, just a few feet away from the pot that it was hatched on. For a day, it didn't move, then it attached itself to the siding, as I learned later, in a very familiar hanging "J".

It stayed in this position for about 24 hours - maybe a little longer. By this time, we had done some reading up on what was transpiring right outside our side door, mainly information gathered from The Butterfly Site. Soon, in what could maybe best be described as a caterpillar doing the hoochie-coo, and maybe a little Texas two-step thrown in, the caterpillar shed it's striped skin, and in short order, revealed it's final chrysalis stage.

For 10 days, something magical was going on inside that little chrysalis, and then as if a magic wand had been waved, we witnessed the 'birth' of our very first Monarch.

While all this was going on, most of the other caterpillars had wandered off to other morphing locations, which we never found, but there was one sibling caterpillar who decided to allow us to re-witness, in a sequence delayed by a few days, what we were following so closely. Now knowing a little better the timing, we were able to follow along a little more closely, our 2nd hatchling.

After spending a little while stretching and drying it's wings, this one made it's way to the driveway to complete the process in the warmth of the September sun...

About 2 hours later, this Monarch took flight...and wandered about the gardens. How long it it was with us, we're not really sure, because in the ensuing weeks, we saw many of its' siblings...

We did, however, learn quite a bit about the Monarch. Once they reach their breeding grounds, they go through 4 life cycles, of about 6-10 weeks. The fourth, and final cycle, is a remarkable, and most important one. The one we witnessed. For whatever reason, the first three life cycles each year are only meant to create the fourth generation, the generation that migrates to Mexico every year, only to return the following year and start the process all over again.

Tonight (11/13/10), while watching a show on the National Geograpic Channel, originally aired last weekend, a series on Migration, we also learned something very sad. Last winter, it is estimated that almost HALF of the migratory Monarch population was killed due to adverse weather conditions down in Mexico where the Monarch overwinters.

So, here at Heartland Gardens, we did our little part, somewhat unknowingly at the time, to repopulate the decimated Monarch butterfly population. What's cool is, these pictures only reflect a part of what happened from one potted up Butterfly Weed. The clump pictured in the first image had many many more caterpillars...creating many many more Monarchs, that hopefully, are on their way to a much less destructive winter haven this season.

What's cool is, you don't even have to have a garden to help repopulate, like maybe we did, the Wonderful Monarch Butterfly population. While we have our little clump of Orange Butterfly Weed, that was equally stripped of its' leaves, the images above were from little seedlings grown in just a 6" flowerpot. Next year, they will be planted out in the perennial bed, hopefully, becoming a larger host plant, with many more leaves for many more caterpillars.

Oh, that plant posted above that lost all its' leaves? Here's a picture 2 weeks after the Monarchs 'flew the coop'. Since then, it's even filled out even more, and is still blooming, believe it or not... despite already having several nights below freezing.

We're always happy watching, and sometimes, lucky enough to observe the magic that occurs in our yard and gardens. And we enjoy sharing that magic. We hope you've enjoyed the magic in this blog tonight.

Maybe those who stumble across this post will consider finding some Butterfly Weed seed, and someday share their own Once upon a time... story with their friends...

Until next time, from Heartland Gardens
Peace and God Bless...
Tom and Lynne

Now I am officially back also :)

2010-10-20T15:03:00.003-04:00

While Tom managed to get back into our blog and post I was still shut out ~bummer~ After some very frustrating days of rejected names and passwords we decided to delete me from the blog and Tom would re-invite me under a different e-mail and password. VOILA - it worked and here I am. Now I have to read up and figure out how to post my own pictures since I will be doing a lot of 'girly' stuff from here on out that will involve decorating, crafts and hopefully linking to some online 'parties' - I just need to figure out how to do all that stuff.

The last 7 years have been a rollercoaster for me (starting back in the 2005 entries will catch you up) and I am really looking forward to some quieter times, back to the gardens and decorating our home in the country style that we love. Please feel free to stop by anytime and follow our story as we 'move forward' in this wonderful life and be sure and leave us a note .......

much love - Lynne

Heartland Gardens is back!!!

2010-10-07T22:56:00.004-04:00

Hello, friends!

Yes, it's been a while - too long - almost two years! Two very emotional, difficult, yet love-filled years.

For those who have followed us since our wedding in 2005, you were aware of Mom's deteriorating health, as well as the battle my sister Mary Lou was undergoing with her Cancer. Sadly, Mary Lou lost her courageous fight on May 4th, 2009, blessed by the presence of her children by her side.

Lynne's Mom graced us with another year and a half of her smiles and stories, a few more crafts and 'presiding' at more family gatherings, before the Lord called her this past February 7th, 2010 - also surrounded by family --3 daughters, myself, and one of her granddaughters.

We took a break from this blog for a while for a couple reasons. One being the advent of 'social media', ie:Facebook, and the ease and quickness of contacting family during some of the crises that Mom was dealing with.

Then, there was that old-fashioned tool called a 'telephone'. Remember them? Well, ours got quite a workout. We're not yet 'up to snuff' when it comes to all these cell phones and Blackberries and Iphones or Ipads. Texting? Let's just say we're still living in the last century when it comes to digital communication. We're more along the lines of the Idunno. So yes, we used the real, old fashioned telephone quite a bit.

And finally, we just didn't have the time, the energy, or at times, the motivation to 'blog'. For a while, we were just totally spent.

Helping Mom consumed a lot of our time since our last entry, and we were blessed along the way to have the most Wonderful hospice team to assist Mom, and us.

Lynne's sister, Ruth, continued to visit Mom twice weekly almost every week, giving us a little time to - well - just breathe a little. While her weekly trips down here gave her 'alone time' with Mom, she'll really never know how much we appreciated the break they gave us. Sometimes, our 'dates' were quick grocery shopping trips - together! Sometimes, it was just a few hours out in the gardens together.

Lynne's sister Lee, and her husband moved down in the fall of 2009, and were also here - just a block away, whenever we needed them to help out on short notice. Again, words are insufficient in expressing how much their help with Mom helped us.

In the end, Mom's last weeks and months were filled with visits from her family, most who now live close by, and her Sunday School friends from Church, and the wonderful hospice team. She went to be with Jesus on February 7th, 2010.

So, here we are ---October, 2010.

Life is much different now. We're slowly adjusting to 'just us', after having Mom with us for the first 4½ of our married life.

As Mom's condition changed, so did our gardening priorities. For the last 2 years, our focus was giving Mom the best view from her bed of the back yard gardens. Needless to say, there was a lot of the yard that got overrun due to time and neglect. That wasn't important then, and while we're fighting now to reclaim those overgrown and well weed-covered beds, we wouldn't have done it any other way.

Over the next several entries, we'll do our best to connect the missing pieces of the recent past to the present. Those who have followed us always loved our photos and stories, and we'll try to catch up on those as we move Forward.

Of course, I type this with the disclaimer that Blogger really hasn't liked either Lynne or myself ;)

We've always had posting/password problems since day 1, so we may still have some problems getting reconnected to all our friends who followed us regularly, and attempt to connect with our newer friends that this wonderful thing called the Internet has brought us over the past 2 years.

For those who have patiently waited for an update, we hope you understand our absence. Especially our anonymous friends, who always have had kind words to say to us.

For those new to our blog, we welcome you, and hope you'll visit our archives, and spend some time catching up. We've got a lot of catching up to do ourselves, and maybe, just maybe, someday down the road, the past and present will finally reconnect.

Mom, and Mary Lou - we miss you, love you, and hope you don't mind if we continue to remember you, as we stumble along, while Living, Loving, Laughing --- here at Heartland Gardens.

Rest in Peace, Mom and Mary Lou.

Love,
Tom and Lynne

There's a New Kid In Town! :-)

2008-11-26T20:59:00.011-05:00

Here she is!!!

Say "HI" to the latest member of our family, Arilyn Grace Fasy. She was born on Monday afternoon(Nov 25th) at 1:19PM and was a very healthy 7lb-4oz.

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Proud beaming Daddy, Lynne's nephew Alex.

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and his wife Amy, equally proud, but probably a little more exhausted ;-)

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Dad, Mom, and their newest addition.

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Welcome to the family, Arilyn Grace!!!!

Celeste's Party

2008-11-23T23:27:00.011-05:00

A 3 year old granddaughter, a bunch of family, a couple cameras, and well, this is the result :-)

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We really have to thank our daughter Dawn for most of these pictures. Lynne and I were under a little bit of a time constraint for Celeste's birthday party, since a Hospice volunteer was kind enough to come stay with Mom so we could get away for a few hours.

The pictures pretty much tell the story of the afternoon. Apparently, Celeste and her cousins had fun with the helium baloons, some which must have escaped her Daddy's grasp 'accidentally'.

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Celeste playing with her cousins, Dawn's boys...

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Smile!!!!!

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Celeste and her Birthday cake

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Celeste really seemed to like the party horns

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All that fun deserves a cake refill :-)

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And presents -- cant forget the presents ;)

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As mentioned above, thanks to Hospice, we were able to get away for a few hours. They do so much for so many, and we've used their services a few times since Mom's hospital stay last February. We can't ever say enough about the fine staff from Johnston Memorial and Hospice Care who have done so much for Mom, and for us.
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Coming up next--- September rains bring October's best.

Again, we hope all is well with all of you who stop by to visit us. Please leave us a note in the reply box so we know you saw our latest update. Take care, and God Bless- From the Heartland of North Carolina.

Tom and Lynne

September ~ Pennsylvania Trip

2008-11-22T21:08:00.014-05:00

As we had mentioned earlier, we had wanted to get up to PA to visit with Lee and Danny, and Lynne's sister Joyce early in September, but Tropical Storm Hanna altered our plans until the end of the month. With Ruth staying with Mom, we were able to get away for 4 days - of course, 2 of those days were spent driving, since the drive is 12 hours each way. There's not much of a story to go with these pictures... most of Lynne's time was spent with her sisters, while Danny drove me around some of his favorite off-road sightseeing areas. We managed to hit the Route 6 area at the perfect time for fall color. The weather wasn't the best, with it being cloudy or foggy much of the time, but that didn't keep us from getting some decent pictures. It's just beautiful in the mountains in the fall!!!

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Some woodland photos

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A few wildflowers we spotted

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The Pennsylvania Grand Canyon
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While we were on this part of our afternoon out, Danny and I saw Canadian Geese flying over, deer crossing the road, a rafter of wild turkeys, and a black bear. Unfortunately, they all came and went before we could get stopped and out of the car. Oh well, the memories are there ;-) Here's some shots from the overlooks on the North side of the 'canyon'.

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Just a neat old rundown house in Coudersport

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There were lots of scenes like this - quaint little towns or farms nestled in the valleys.

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We drove up to Amy and Alex's for a quick visit, and the view at their place was just as stunning as what we'd seen the past 2 days.

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The view from Lee and Danny's front porch.

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Things here at Heartland Gardens are well, and we hope all is well with everyone who stops by for a visit. I'll be back tomorrow with pictures from our granddaughter's birthday party in early October. I've got to get all caught up on all these pics, with the Holidays quickly approaching! Take care and God Bless, from the Heartland of NC.

September, Part 1

2008-10-21T21:15:00.015-04:00

Welcome back! Yep, this is part 1 of our September picture blog, mainly because we took a ton of pictures last month, and need to break them down into 2 seperate blogs.

The first part of the month had Lynne's nephew Alex, Amy, and their baby Amaris, down for a few days checking out the area and doing some house-hunting. Of course, that lead to another family get-together and cookout here. Mom had been up and out of her room a good part of the day, watching over her great-grandchildren...

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... but she got tired and went back to her room before we could get everyone together for a group picture.

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Of course, that didn't stop the kids from continuing their visit with her ;-)

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Celeste, Jenn and Dawn playing in the yard...

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Celeste and Jenn coming out of the cottage garden

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Amaris stopped playing long enough for a pose

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It was really nice to have most of the family over again, and we'd be seeing them all again soon.
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On to some garden shots -- the third picture in this set, the Rusty Amaranth eventually grew to be as tall as the 11' arbor behind it, before the weight of some raindrops bowed it partially down to the ground!!!

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Moonflower blossom, Mandevilla vines on the arbor, and Black-eyed Susan vine blossoms.

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And our favorite flowers for this blog...

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The cats were trying to hunt down a lizard, then Skittles took a break :-)

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Of course, it's fall decorating time, and Skittles had to see what all the commotion was about :-)

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We'll be back again soon to catch up on the rest of the month. Thanks for stopping by! Please leave us a note so we know you were here :-)

Peace and Love from the Heartland of NC!

Tom and Lynne

We're catching up -- August pics ;-)

2008-10-12T22:21:00.011-04:00

Hi everyone --- and thanks for your patience. It's nice to know some of you anticipate our updates and pictures. This picture post will be shorter than some previous ones, mainly because, well, there wasn't much during the month that was photo-worthy in the yard. The drought continued, as did the heat, and the yard wasn't at it's best. But once again, it survived.

What August lacked, however will be made up in the September photoblog - which will be up towards the end of the week. It'll be worth the wait.... honest :) With all that said, off to the pictures...
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Despite the hot and dry conditions, we still managed an assortment of veggies from the gardens. Here's some of what August blessed us with.

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We spent a good part of the summer watching the grandsons, on days when they didn't have summer camp or weren't with friends. Here's John, enjoying an early morning breakfast :)

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All three grandsons obviously aren't morning people, and this setting was observed more than once

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One plant we tried this year was an ornamental pepper called 'Medussa'. We had a couple in pots, and the extras ended up in the raised beds. Something different that added a little color.

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Lynne was able to get away and watch over Celeste while her Mom and Dad had some business to attend to, and she took these pics while they were together. What a cute little princess she's becoming!!!

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Just a little moth on a Morning Glory leaf... because it was there, and I had the camera handy.

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Backyard shots from the roof... it sure looks different from up there. The 2nd picture, that shows the Tulip Poplar tree, that was just a little seedling the spring before we got married 3+ years ago. It's now almost 20' tall!!!

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My sister insisted I take some pictures of our hummingbirds, so - these are for you, Marge :-)

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Everyone here is doing well. Mom still has her good days and her so-so days, but all things considered, we consider every day with her a Wonderful blessing. She's getting ready for bed now, and we're not too far behind, so I'll finish this for now.

Skittles, the shy cat, took time out to say HI and bye to everyone.

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'Til next time, Take care, and God Bless. Thanks for taking time to check in here. Please leave us a note so we know you were here...

From the Heartland of NC.... Tom and Lynne.

Is it fall already?????

2008-09-23T20:35:00.003-04:00

hard to believe that summer has slipped by so fast this year but here we are the beginning of fall. Temps are beautiful, humidity is down, night temps are great for sleeping with the windows open and the gardens have come back to life. I have learned over the years to work with the seasons here in the 'heartland' of North Carolina and have found fall to be one of the ones I look forward to the most. When I lived up in Delaware fall meant that a long cold winter was just around the corner, ice and snow and frigid temps. Down here it means a chill in the air but many days still left with 70's - often hitting them almost every fall and winter month several times. We have the wonderful fall colors but still have flowers to enjoy and more to enjoy as December and January greet us. I am eagerly looking for the first signs of reseeding violas to dig up and move to where I want them. While I will buy a flat of new ones it is the reseeders that win my heart.

Fall also means the start of decorating season - first my fall and harvest theme which will give way to Christmas once the Thanksgiving turkey gets put away in the fridge - a truly wonderful time of the year. Tom has been busy putting in a fall/winter garden - lettuce, carrots, beets, brocolli among other things. We still have some tomatoes and peppers but for the most part the summer garden is done. Not as good as we would have liked but there is always next year. We have been using this last week or so to do some garden cleanup.

Now for some family news - Mom for the most part has been doing good. We have had a couple of ups and downs but have managed to correct the situation before it got too bad thanks to a really wonderful hospice team. They are right here when Mom needs them and offer me all the support that I need to keep Mom comfortable. She has been busy making her angel ornaments and gives one to every new hospice team member that comes into the house. She and her angels are apparently the center of conversation at the hospice meetings. Our Celeste turns 3 next week and is really quite the little talker. It is so neat to be able to carry on a conversation with her now but my-oh-my they grow up way too fast. The grandsons are all getting settled back into a school routine. Other family news has my nephew Alex and his family Amy and Amaris moving down here about 6 miles from us the end of October and the next spring or early summer Tracey and her family will be moving into the area......can sister Lee and Danny be far behind **hint** **hint**. Tom and I are planning a trip up to see everyone in upstate PA on Sunday for a couple of days. We had to cancel a planned trip a couple weeks ago when Hanna went through. It will be the first time up there in 3 years and the longest time away from here since Tom and I got married. We certainly thank Ruth for her plans to stay with Mom to give us this break. Good news from HoustonTX - my niece Kristen and family were evacuated to Austin to her sister Dana's for Ike and able to return a couple days later with no damage to the house - just yard clean-up.

I will close out for now - Tom will be along later with pictures. Thank you all for stopping by - be sure and leave a message

Lynne ~~he who plants a seed - believes in tomorrow~~

June and July

2008-08-24T23:21:00.018-04:00

Well, early June started off on the hot side... 4 days over 100. That sure did a number on some parts of the gardens, but we have a cactus plant that didn't seem to mind.

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Wonder what they were watching and smiling about????

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Mom, Dawn, and Lynne were enjoying the antics of a hummingbird at Mom's new window feeder ;-)

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Even though we're still in a drought here in NC, the overall temperatures haven't been as unbearable as last summer. Some new plants thrived, some struggled, some failed. Here's several pics of some new daylilies Lynne has planted in a starter bed to be moved out to a permanent location in the fall.

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I like playing with the zoom feature of the camera :-)

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Once again, Thanks to our niece Tracey, and Kenny, Lynne and I were able to get away for our annual 2 day trip to Charlotte to meet up with a gathering of internet friends we've gotten to know over the years. Of course, this always means another family get-together whenever they get down to visit. We also took the time to celebrate another niece's birthday, her sister graduating HS and headed off to join her 2 sisters at NC State, and, this year, Mom's 93rd Birthday!!! Happy Birthday, MOM!!!

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When we got back from Charlotte, Kevin and Jenn, along with Celeste, were able to get down for an afternoon. Kay ( y'all should remember her- she's the one who took most of our wedding pictures WAY back in this blog) drove back this way after the Charlotte weekend, just to spend a little time visiting with Mom. Alli once again spent the weekend with us before and after Charlotte. Sure was good seeing them again this year.

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Here's Mom relaxing after the Hospice aide had given her a bath and washed her hair.

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Plants on the back porch

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Around the yard

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Random closeups

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The veggie garden has managed to survive long enough to can up some tomatos and make some pickle relish and salsa.

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Here's a Downy Woodpecker at the suet feeder, grabbing a little lunch to share with one of his babies, that can bee seen to the right of the feeder.

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Thanks again for stopping by our little corner of the world here at Heartland Gardens, where all is well.

'Til next time...Peace and Love...

We're back, with LOTS of pictures

2008-08-10T21:41:00.015-04:00

So many pictures, so little time. Well, not really, but it sounded cute (again, not really...) :-)

We were able to get away a couple evenings early in the Summer (thanks to the Hospice volunteers) to see some of Brad and Andrew's Civitan League baseball games.

Here's Brad, at the plate, and then beating out an infield hit for a single.

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A couple of Andrew, who also was selected to the All-Star team this year.

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One big change we made this year was removing this Holly bush/tree. It had originally been planted way too close to the house, and was getting way too large to maintain where it was.

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Amaryllis around the yard

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Mom's room usually has a fresh boquet of flowers that either Lynne or Ruth pick and arrange. Here's just one of many she's had this year from the yard.

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Some random May flowers

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Once a week, usually, (if it's not too hot) Mom gets outside on the porches after the Hospice aide has been here and given her a sponge bath and washed her hair.

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More flowers

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We had a rare hailstorm on May 20th. The cool thing about the hailstones is that most of them were donut-shaped. It's not unheard of, but not very common, either, we've come to find out.

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And more flowers.... it seems that people who visit this blog like our flowers ;-)

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And more....

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Well, that's it for now...next up, June gatherings with family and friends... Birthdays, celebrations, and, of course, more shots from Heartland Gardens.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and visiting us. Leave us a note so we know you were here...

Peace, and God Bless...

Wow! It's August already!

2008-08-02T23:25:00.003-04:00

Hard to believe we're 2/3rd the way through Summer already!!!

We apologize for not posting lately. We could say we've been too busy....but no one would believe that for a minute ;-) Actually, things have been pretty ordinary around these parts the last several weeks.

Mom is doing pretty well, given her condition. As noted before, she's no longer able to walk, but still gets into her wheelchair on a weekly basis for a trip out to the porches and a view of the gardens she can't see from her bedroom. 3 weeks ago, she picked her first tomato from her 'upside down' tomato plant hanging on the front porch, and she's had several more since then from her plant, the most recent, and biggest one so far, this evening.

So, I guess it's time for a recap of the summer so far.

The drought in NC has continued, but this year, we have benefitted from a few more of the widely scattered showers and storms than last summer... - widely scattered being the key word. Aside from the vegetable patch, most of the gardening time has been spent in the back yard this year, since that's the view Mom has from her bedroom. June started out very hot, with 4 days 100º or higher, and as of this post, we've had 37 days 90º or higher. Those kind of temps somewhat limit our outside work to early mornings and evenings, and the never-ending battle with mosquitoes. Hard to believe how many there are, given the mostly dry conditions we've had.

The last weekend in June, thanks to Lynne's niece Tracy and her husband Kenny, we were able to get away once again for our once a year 'vacation', a gathering of Internet friends who have met for the last 6 years in Charlotte. Tracy and Kenny stayed with Mom, and took excellent care of the yard, while we were away for the weekend. We were so happily greeted to robust plants from frequent watering, and one garden completely devoid of weeds, one that was trying (and succeeding) in gettimg away from us.

Our good friend Alli stayed with us before and after our weekend in Charlotte, adding her special charm and charisma to our home while she was here, and another dear friend Kay, who has sort of adopted Mom as her own, also stopped by after our weekend gathering in Charlotte. Words cannot express how much such little things mean, not only to us, but to Mom. BTW, gals -- her chocolate treats are LONG GONE !!! (and we didn't help).

The Sunday we returned home, we had a nice family gathering and cookout ... one that celebrated many milestones. It was an early birthday celebration for Mom's 93rd birthday a few days later (July 2), one of our neice's 21st birthday, and another neice's graduation from High School --- which also meant we were celebrating Ruth and Russ successfully getting their 3 daughters through the HS years and off to college. All 3 are now enrolled at NC State, and that's quite an accomplishment that we're both very proud of for them achieving.

July, and the gardens started producing... not as good as in previous years, but there's been enough to give Mom fresh tomatos and cucumbers when she wants them. Not enough for us to can up in the quantities of previous years, but then again, that's a direct result of the unusually hot weather we had in June. Amazing the things you learn --- like tomato flowers' pollen isn't viable above 90º.

We quietly celebrated 3 years of married life together on July 9th, and just as quitely, celebrated Lynne's birthday last week on July 30th.

While I'm typing this, we're off and on watching a pretty non-stop lightning display from a storm 25 miles to our East and moving away. It's been that way for the better part of 2 hours, so in a way, we're glad we missed that particular storm cell, although we'd love to share in some of the rain it's dropping. We snagged almost 1/4" from showers earlier today, but days like that are few and far between this summer.

The next update will be filled with photos, which we also apologize for not having up sooner. Sometimes, we just get caught up in the simplicity and quietness of things, then remember we have family and friends who are looking forward to glimpses into our gardens and family life. Again, we apologize.... and will have lots of pictures up within the next week.

NOW>>>

If you've made it this far, we ask for just a few more minutes of your time.

Please keep in mind Lynne's sister Joyce, who lost her husband Bobby earlier this week, after an off and on again battle with cancer.

Also, please keep in mind my sister Mary Lou, who was just recently diagnosed with cancer, and began her treatments this past week.

Your thoughts and prayers are much appreciated on their behalf.

Thanks for stopping by our little corner of the world here in the Heartland of Carolina, and we'll be back again soon.

Spring is well underway

2008-05-31T23:19:00.002-04:00

here at Heartland Gardens. Gonna start changing the focus of the blog back to the gardens now that Mom is doing pretty good. We are so pleased with her progress - she gets out in her wheelchair to both the front porch and back porch to enjoy the weather and the gardens. Her nurse is so pleased with her progress that she is only coming once a week to check on her - life is good and we thank God for her progress. It is such a joy to see her enjoying life again.

Now onto the gardens - we have had a pretty good spring with good amounts of rain and all the plants are loving it. Tom and I have been able to work on the area around the pond where we took the upper pond and stream out. Mom has her fountain placed so she can see it out her window and I have planted the area behind it with a bunch of annuals that I started from seed. We are looking forward to seeing it in full bloom. I have spent the better part of this week working around my shade house, perennial bed and the plant starting area. I am trying to get better organized so that when I start these seeds I can have a better handle on how they are doing and can manage the whole process better. I am very pleased with this years WSing - germination was really good except for one whole tray that I think I cooked the seeds by having them in too much sun - hence the re-organizing of the shade house. Even our early spring sunny days can be too hot for seeds to germinate - I am learning.

Another thing I am learning and trust me this is a BIG thing for me (ask my sister Ruth or even Tom) is to pull out plants even if they still show some life. Today it was the pansies and violas that have graced many of our gardens all winter and early spring. They still looked pretty but it was time because I have summer annuals to replace them and if I didn't get the new ones in the ground I would loose them - so now the mailbox viola garden is replaced with portulaca and other places have zinnias to take over where the larger pansies were. Many containers now have begonias and others have caladiums and coleus and now are on all the various porches. Pictures will look better in about a month when they really take off. The confederate jasimine has been spectacular this spring - every night the air is filled with its fragrance. The gardenias are starting to replace that smell and will last well into July. I try and plan to have something very fragrant blooming all the time.

Two days ago Tom and I managed to score really big at our local Lowes. Seems there was an 'oopppss' in the watering process and as a result a whole big cart of clematis got marked down by 75% so we jumped on that and got 18 clematis at $1.50 each. Customers want 'perfect' plants and I could see that all these needed was some TLC - they have been repotted and watered and look great - now where to put them all - what a wonderful dilenma to have. After giving some to Ruth and setting some aside for Dawn I think we can find places for the rest.

Tom has been having a ball with the veggie garden - it looks so healthy and luscious. I couldn't even begin to list all he has planted but even if we only get a decent yield from 1/2 of what he has planted we will be set for the winter with veggies - yummy.

So far Spring has been good - we are looking forward to a good summer but will take whatever heads our way weather wise. Please keep the mid-west in your prayers - they have been hit so hard with tornados. So until the next time - stop and look around you - there is beauty everywhere

Lynne ~~he who plants a seed - believes in tomorrow~~

Happy Mother's Day (Belated)

2008-05-18T21:13:00.007-04:00

Greetings from Heartland Gardens! We hope all Moms who come across this little part of cyberspace had a Wonderful Mother's Day.

Here, we celebrated a day early --- the weather was great, the gardens were full of color, and Mom wanted to get out of bed, into her wheelchair, and watch things from the porches. I was eating lunch, putting off mowing the lawn for a while, when Lynne called to me, letting me know Mom wanted to be wheeled outside... Well, like I had a choice, right? :) So, lunch was left unfinished, because Mom stayed out on the porches (back and front) for almost 2 hours! Yes, the grass did get mowed, but not during the heat of the day... Thanks, Mom, for delaying my work last weekend!

Before I move on to pictures, a brief update. Really, very little change in Mom's condition in the last few weeks. She doesn't eat much still, but her diet, at least, varies. This past week, she had some fresh carrots from the garden, wanted some Vienna Sausage, had some milk toast, and still likes her mashed potatos with fresh parsley from the garden.

Hospice care has been VERY good with Mom, and with us. In the last couple weeks, we were actually able to go out to dinner with some visiting friends, and watch our grandsons baseball games, thanks to the volunteer aides who allowed Lynne and I a couple hours of 'time off - together'.

Mom is visited by a hospice nurse twice a week, and has a home health care aide in once a week to help her with bathing, hair washing if needed, -- her personal care, and Annie does an excellent job.

Of course, Meredith, the social case worker, makes sure that Lynne and I, and the rest of the local family, are all doing OK with Mom's ever-changing conditions, and keeps insisting that we take time off together... which we have now, a couple times together, leaving Mom in the very capable hands of volunteer Laura, and last week, Laura and her husband.

It's kinda difficult for us, with the Hospice team wanting us to be able to spend time together, and us, not wanting to over-use the services that Hospice offers. Maybe in the weeks and months ahead, we'll find a happy compromise.

For now, Mom is doing pretty good, given where we were at just a couple months ago. As each day passes and dawns into a new one, EVERY day here at Heartland Gardens is Mother's Day.

Lynne's sister Ruth still comes down twice a week as well, to spend time with Mom, which gives us a little time together, working out in the yard uninturupted, or to go out to do the simple chore of grocery shopping together. Yeah, that doesn't seem important, or critical, but it's still a little time Lynne and I do have alone, even if it's walking down the aisles of the Wal Mart or Food Lion, or maybe even going to the Farmer's Market or a local garden center... Ruth's twice-weekly visits ARE so very important to us, and we so much appreciate the time she allows us to have together.
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Now, on to some pictures...

Here's a good shot of a beautiful stray rooster that frequented our yard, and our neighbors yards, for a couple weeks back in early April. He was a joy to see, but not particularly pleasant to hear at 4:30 in the morning :) We still hear him, but apparently he's back in the confines of his coop again.

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As Lynne posted, Karen's visit in April gave Mom lots to smile about. From the first hugs, through the sharing of pictures, both hard copy photos with Lynne, and then at the computer, where Karen and Ruth share online photos with Mom.

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April, May, and early June give us our favorite photo shots, as these will show. Mom has seen most of these, either from her room, or her porch visits. The pink Dogwood, new last year, put on a nice display for a young tree.

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Here's some of the Irises we had blooming

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The Clematis are still putting on a nice show in various spots around the yard.

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Here's some random flower shots. 2 years later, and we're still trying to figure out all the features on the digital camera :)

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Here's a boquet of flowers Lynne picked for Mom a couple weeks ago. They really brighten Mom's room, and bring a smile to her :)

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And, of course, after a hard day's work, Shadow and Tinkerbell take a well deserved nap...

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Thanks for taking time to stop in and see what's been going on here at Heartland Gardens. We'll have more pictures again soon, and hopefully continued good reports on Mom. Take care and God Bless!

Spring has arrived

2008-05-01T00:23:00.000-04:00

but first an update on Mom. After we had the family reunion Mom stayed on real high for a couple of weeks - she couldn't stop talking about it to the nurses, home aid and Hospice counselor. Then to make things even better we had a visit from her oldest grandaughter - my niece Karen. We surprised Mom with that visit and was she ever - her faced beamed for days after Karen left. Since Mom is spending almost all of her time in her bedroom now, Tom and I moved her furniture around so she could see out her window from her bed and watch the birds at the bird feeder and see the ever changing flowers in several gardens. She has really enjoyed that. All in all she is holding her own - she still is not eating or drinking much and continues to lose weight but her spirits are up and that makes us happy. Our continued prayers and our mission is to keep her comfortable so her remaining days are filled with love and peace.

Tom and I are really keeping busy now that spring is in full swing. Our winter sowing was a complete success this winter and as a result we have tons of plants to get out into the gardens. Tom has expanded his number of veggies adding more varieties of peppers, tomatoes, beans, squash, you name it he has planted it. Hopefully we will have sufficient rain this year to have a good yield. I did alot of perennials trying to chose ones that were drought tolerant once established. I am going to do away with the fussy annuals that need constant water during the heat of the summer and stick with drought tolerant ones. I have been doing alot of reading and research on which varieties to use. Thanks to Ruth coming down twice a week now Tom and I do get out and are able to really work uninterrupted while she is here. On days when she isn't here we take a baby monitor outside with us so we can hear Mom if she calls for us. So far it is working out really good.

So as spring sets in I can say that life is really good here in the Heartland - thanks for stopping by and please leave us a message when you do......until the next time

Lynne ~~he who plants a seed - believes in tomorrow~~

Mom's Family Reunion Pictures

2008-04-08T21:55:00.019-04:00

As Lynne said, the weekend came together at Mom's request. And it came together really well. The weather was perfect for everyone travelling in. First to arrive was Pauline, the youngest daughter, who flew in from Texas on Thursday. Mom's eyes smiling in this picture says it all. (Pictures can be clicked for a larger view)

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Bill was the next out-of-towner to arrive, coming in on Friday afternoon. Again, another happy and tearful reunion for the siblings.

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Bill and Jan, along with Jan's Father, Fred, made the trip down with their dog 'Snickers', who really took to Mom :-)

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Pauline and her S/O Eric helped take 'Snickers' for a walk with Jan, while Bill spent some time with Mom, and then after everyone settled down, Bill and Pauline got some quality time alone with Mom.

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After a quiet pizza dinner, Bill and his family went home for the evening, we waited for Lee and Tracy to get in from PA, and Pauline took a break with Mom's cat 'Tinkerbell'

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Things got started early on Saturday, with Lee and Pauline up and at it early, although not so bright-eyed :-)

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Pauline went out and picked a flower arangement for Mom, using almost everything that was blooming in the yard at the time.

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Mom spent much of Saturday morning catching up on family pictures, some which Pauline brought with her, and then on the computer, via the family's various MySpace and Facebook accounts.

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Mom sat with us for a while (this was the longest she'd been up for quite a while) then, went back to her room with Tinkerbell, waiting for everyone else to arrive later in the afternoon.

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Mom rested for a while, while we snacked on a meat and cheese tray with fresh bread and rolls, several batches of wings, home-made dips and salsa, a spiral ham, and of course, Lynne's 'famous' potato salad. ;-)

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Finally, everyone was here, and Mom came out from her room again to enjoy the family who had gathered around this weekend.

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As the weekend came to a close, Bill and his family returned to Virginia, Pauline and Eric flew back to Texas, Lee and Tracy drove back to PA, Ruth, Russ and the girls went back to Raleigh. Mom's wish of being with her family was honored, while she understood that her other daughter Joyce was unable to travel down, having just recently been in the hospital herself. The family did make sure everyone, including Mom, had a chance to talk with her during this special weekend.

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Mom's weekend ended on a 'high' that lasted well into the next week, and for us, that was a WONDERFUL thing to see. What the future holds, the Good Lord only knows, but all of us are especially thankful for our weekend together.

We again thank you for visiting our blog, and we thank you for your good thoughts and prayers on Mom's behalf. They are appreciated, more than we can convey.

Peace and Love from the Heartland of NC,

Tom and Lynne.

Family Reunion

2008-04-06T11:26:00.002-04:00

Last weekend we mananaged to pull off Moms wish - the one she had requested while she was in the hospital - we got 5 of her children here for a family reunion - a weekend of sharing, reminiscing, laughing and yes crying. In all we had 21 here on Saturday between children, spouses and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Various members of the family were here from Thursday thru to Monday giving Mom a chance to spend time with different ones on an individual basis. I personally have not seen Mom so happy in a very long time as she was last week. Between Ruth and I and numerous phonecalls, e-mails and co-ordinating schedules we were able to pin down a date when the most would be able to come. It was so wonderful to see our babysister again - Pauline if you read this - don't make it so long between trips back east again - you know you have several places where you and Eric can stay ;). Lots and lots of pictures were taken and Tom will be posting them soon.

The main thing that I personally enjoyed about the weekend was we were all able to 'enjoy' the visit. So many times families only get together when an elderly relative dies and there is alot of 'wish we could have gotten here sooner' type of thinking. Our prayer of course is that we can have Mom around for years to come and have her be able to enjoy more visits but if she is called home we all know she is ready and at peace with her life and all of us were able to help grant her last main wish/prayer.

On a sad note - Tom and I had to put our oldest cat, Simba, to sleep two weeks ago. Old age (18 years old) and an inoperable tumor were just to much for him. We kept him and loved him for as long as we felt he was comfortable but finally had to make the decision. Jenn our DIL was so very gentle, caring and supporting in our decision. Thank you Jenn for all the loved you showed our Simba over the years. I know he was a very special part of yours and Kevins life too.

Spring while in some respects has been a very sad time for me it is also a time of rejoicing and rebirth. The gardens are coming alive - most plants did survive the drought of last summer and have been drenched with much needed rain the last few weeks and puttting on their spring growth. Bluebirds are nesting in Mom's bluebird house. We have yet to spot our first hummingbird of the season but did see our first firefly the other night. Nights are getting warmer and sitting out on the porch after hours is becoming the activity of choice. We have a new visitor to the yard on a pretty daily basis now - a rooster from somewhere in the neighborhood struts his stuff for the better part of the day. He is a right handsome gent and there is a mutual respect between him and the cats - i.e. they all keep their distance of each other. Our wintersown baby seedlings are looking healthy and strong waiting for the soil to warm up just a bit more. All in all - Life is pretty darn good here at HeartlandGardens. Thank you all for stopping by and for signing the last blog - your thoughts and prayers for Mom were/are greatly appreciated - until next time

Lynne ~~he who plants a seed - believes in tomorrow~~

It has been a very rough few weeks

2008-03-06T06:49:00.002-05:00

and difficult decisions have had to be made concerning Mom. After a short stay in the hospital which was not a happy event for Mom this time around and after talking things over with extended family members, doctors, home care nurse and most importantedly Mom, we decided that it would be best to enter her into Hospice Care. Mom had made it very clear to several of us that she never wanted to go back into a hospital again, that she was ready to 'go home and see Jesus'.

In many ways for me it was coming back full circle for it was exactly 5 years to almost the day that Glenn was entered into Hospice. It brought back so many memories and making the same decisions again with a family member has been very emotional. I am blessed to have the same Hospice counselor as before so she knows my story and was so sweet when talking to Tom and I about my reliving 5 years ago. I am also so blessed to have Tom by my side through all this. It is so ironic that 5 years ago he was just a name on a computer screen. We had met through a forum and then through the pages of the Caring Bridge community and then he helped me through Glenn's ordeal and listened as I typed my frustrations out on the computer. It just really drives home the very last words of the song we have called our own which say "someone had a plan in it long before we even knew". Those are from "Keeper of the Stars".

And so I come to the cyber world again asking for prayers in helping all of us -children, grandchildren and those who have married into this family to have the strength to see Mom through to the day when she will be where she wants to be "home with Jesus". Mom is ready - she is at peace with her life - all we can ask at this point is for God to take her peacefully.

Thank you all for stopping by - say a prayer and hug your loved ones and tell them you love them.

Lynne

Finishing Up Christmas~

2008-02-13T00:43:00.011-05:00

The Christmas season, 2007, was especially special this year, for Mom and the rest of us. We were introduced to the newest member of the family, Amaris!

Tracy, along with Amy and her daughter Amaris, spent a few days between Christmas and New Years with us, giving Mom lots of doting time with her newest great-great granddaughter.

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Of course, Lynne got in on some of the loving, too :-)

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And another indirect 4 generation picture :)

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Mom was feeling well enough that we drove up to Ruth and Russ' house and celebrated Christmas and the holidays all over again.

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Back at the house, the weather was nice enough that the grandsons could get outside to play a little 'baseball'

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Back inside, no one was looking when Simba hijacked Amaris' baby seat :-)

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More random shots from their visit...

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And, in case y'all wonder, sometimes, we actually do see a little winter weather in mid-January.

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That's all for now from our Heartland Gardens for now. The drought has carried on into February, but it looks like we may get some relief in the next week. Just in time for us to start playing in the gardens again!

Thanks again for stopping by. We really do like the little messages you leave us, and we're looking forward to springtime, and more pictures to share with you.

Please keep our Mom in your thoughts and prayers. She's had a rough few days lately, and is trying to fight off a case of Shingles and some other problems at the moment.

Thanks for visiting, and we wish all of you love and peace, from our little corner of NC, here at Heartland Gardens.

The Holidays with the Family

2008-01-28T20:26:00.000-05:00

Well, Daughter Dawn, you were right!!! We missed 3 trees in the last post, so here they are just for you! (well, for everyone else, too, but, you know) .... the gold tree in the dining room, the blue and white plain tree, and the 'nature' tree, both on the back porch.

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Christmas Day here at Heartland Gardens was a little less hectic this year. There wasn't a 'set time' for a formal sit-down dinner, since both Dawn and Kevin and their families had things of their own to take care of first, and would drop by whenever they got here. We baked a ham (not one of those fancy ones, but it was just as good) I made some cole slaw, and Lynne made potato salad, and along with some crackers and veggie tray, some home made dips, fresh bread and rolls, a batch of "pigs in a blanket", and of course, lots of cookies ...we were pretty much set.

Dawn, Elex and the grandsons showed up first. Now the boys aren't much into 'good food', and the main menu didn't impress them too much.

Christmas music was playing out in the family room, and "The Christmas Story" marathon was on my TV in this room. The grandsons were wandering around, looking over the foods and dips, and of course, we heard more than a few "What's that?" followed by the obligatory "OH YUCK!". While waiting for Kevin and his family to get here, the boys were getting restless, but we had told them that there would be no computer time, no video games, and they could either listen to the Christmas music, or watch "The Christmas Story" in my room, and that was it. So, for a while, they settled in to watching the movie, and snacking on the 'pigs'

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Hearing the company, Mom decided to come out and took her seat at the dining room table, observing everything, missing nothing.

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Kevin, Jenn and Celeste showed up shortly, and of course, Celeste had to check everything out as soon as she got here :)

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The grandsons, meanwhile, were getting restless again, and dinner wasn't too far from being served, so I threatened them by saying "If y'all don't behave, I'm going to make you guys eat some broccoli!" Of course, it was an idle threat, since we didn't have any.

Mom, of course, heard that threat --- or part of it at least. She DID hear the word 'brocolli', and wanted to know if it was fresh or steamed :) Well, I told her that we didn't have any on the menu, and you could see the disappointment on her face. So, I added..."but, if you'd like some, I can go out and pick some for you". Her eyes lit up, and out to the garden I went to grab enough for everyone. Large heads, like these I had recently picked.

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After a pre-dinner picture of 4 generations of the women in the family, the ham was carved, Mom said the blessing over her brocolli and the rest of the meal, and we settled down to eat.

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After dinner, it was off to the tree, and the exchange of presents.

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After everyone had left for the night, 2 of the cats stayed hidden, but Mom's cat Tinker went back to her room with her, and Shadow, the big guy, was seen talking things over with Santa about next year's list.

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That's all for this blog, but not all for the holidays. There's lots more to come before we wrap up the Christmas season.

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to check in on our little slice of North Carolina. We really appreciate the comments you leave with us, and hope you'll keep checking back for more.

Peace and Love from the Heartland of NC.

Decking the Halls...

2008-01-20T22:04:00.000-05:00

... although we don't have much in the way of halls ;)

Well, to start things off, we still had some nice fall color from the Bradford pear in the back yard early in December...

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Our hawk has returned to watch over the yard when the cats get too lazy

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The yard is still giving us a little from the flower department as well! Here's a Camellia that's still in bloom, and the Geranium pot is still as lush and colorful as anytime during the season.

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Right after Thanksgiving weekend, the fall decorations get packed away, and just as quickly, the Christmas boxes make their way down from the upstairs over the garage. This year, the oldest cat, Simba, and Mom's cat, Tinker, pulled security duty, watching over the many village houses before they found their final destinations.

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Speaking of Mom, she was VERY busy during the Summer and Fall. During that time, she made over 400 beaded ornaments, as gifts for family and her friends from church. Here's Mom with a stash she took to her Sunday school class at church, and here she is with Ruth, who helped her pack things up to go out in the mail. Many of the ornaments she's made over the years were displayed on one of the trees Lynne decorated this year.

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Here's an assortment of Mom's canvas crafts she had scattered about the house this Christmas season.

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Then it was off to set up the villages. A different year, a different look :)

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Of course, the villages didn't all get done at once. There was the matter of setting up the trees as well.

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And, there were other little scenes to set up on available shelves and spaces

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While Lynne was busy inside decorating, I once again had charge of all the outside lights.

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After several weeks of decorating, trips up and down the stairs, climbing on the roof and all, I took a well deserved nap with Simba, while Shadow was wondering where his seat for Christmas dinner was.

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That's it for now... Next time, Christmas Week revisited.

Peace to all, this chilly night, from the Heartland of Carolina.

November was slow...

2008-01-04T22:50:00.001-05:00

...in the photo-taking department. Honestly, there wasn't much in the yard that was photo-worthy late in the Fall. With the drought continuing (and worsening), a lot of trees that normally give us some color simply dropped their leaves. The few that didn't, didn't start changing color until well into the month. These were taken late in November around Thanksgiving weekend.

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I was still picking more banana peppers and cayennes up 'til mid-month, then the nights were getting too cool and too long for much more. This was the final batch that was picked.

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As usual, the autumn decorations were scattered around the house, including a fall village scene that had been packed away for a while.

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Thanksgiving this year was a little quieter, with it just being Lynne and I, Mom, and Dawn and Elex. The turkey made it very easy on us this year. When it came time to move it from the roasting pan to the platter, it helped us out by letting all the white meat come out at once, while leaving all the dark meat together in the pan. Sure made for easy carving :)

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Mom must have been hungry, even though we were eating long before our somewhat 'normal' 6:00 dinnertime. She came out to the table early, and started fixing her plate while we were still being amused by the ease of the turkey preperation. After a while, dinner was set on the table, and after Mom saying the blessing, we settled in to another delicious Thanksgiving dinner.

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Since Thanksgiving came so early this year, that meant we could get an early start on decorating for Christmas. Of course, we had some helping hands, and what I've gotten to know as 'cat inspections' from our feline family :) Here, Simba oversees the construction of an outdoor tree made from a tomato cage, and Tinker then gives it an electrical inspection.

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Of course, Shadow and Skittles had to make sure the garland was safe for big fluffy cats and little short-haired cats.

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Last year, Skittles was just a kitten and new to all this decorating stuff, but this year, she kept an eye on Lynne, making sure each house, tree and rock was placed 'just right'.

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Knowing there would be several weeks of work and inspecting yet to come, the cats wisely decided it was time to rest up for the busy December decorating days ahead.

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That's all for now, friends and family. However.... what the last couple months lacked in pictures will be made up soon. The camera has gotten quite a workout over the last few weeks. But until next time, we hope all is well with everyone, and wish you Peace.
Please leave us a note in the "COMMENT" section, so we know you've been by to visit our little corner, here in the Heartland of NC.

September and October

2008-01-03T22:22:00.000-05:00

These are 2 months that we enjoy for several reasons. It's sort of our 2nd season for some of the flowers and vegetables, 2 of the Grandsons are into playing football, and now, there's Celeste's birthday on Oct. 1. Oh, and there's the State Fair, that we got back to for the first time in 3 years.
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Here's some flowers that managed to survive the drought and heat of the past summer.

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This Oleander, that we have potted up, opened it's first bloom on May 23rd, and was still blooming through the fall. We'll have to get a picture of the shrub in full bloom next year.

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We didn't have as many butterflies this year during the summer, but they showed up again in the fall, and we saw this one that had just started spreading it's wings.

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Lynne got me a new bird feeder station for the back yard for my birthday, and it didn't take long for the birds to know there was a new restaurant in town!

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Of course, for us and Mom, Celeste's birthday party is always special. We don't get to see her or Kevin or Jenn nearly as much as we'd like to, so when her birthday rolls around, we're ready to make the trip up to North Raleigh for the afternoon. Here's some pictures from this year's party.

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October brought a couple flower surprizes to the yard. This morning glory, planted in the spring, decided to wait until the fall to sprout and bloom.

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This firecracker vine, that should have been blooming late in the summer, also waited until October to set it's blooms. It was worth the wait!

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We've posted pictures of the swallowtail and monarch butterflies we get, but this little guy visited us one afternoon. That's a Pansy flower he's on, to give you an idea how small he was.

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Like we mentioned earlier, John and Brad played football in the fall, and we got out to watch them play on their 'Homecoming day'. The one with the red arrow is pointing at John, and he's also somewhere in the next picture. Brad is in the 3rd picture somewhere as well. The uniforms pretty much swallow the kids, so it's hard to pick them out in a crowd :)

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Back in the springtime, when we had the trees taken out, I had started some extra pepper plants in case the ones growing got damaged. Well, those plants survived the tree removal, and I ended up planting the 'extras' around June 1st. They actually did better than the ones planted in the spring, and after seeing some of the exhibits at the State Fair, I might be tempted to enter some of my own produce next year. These sweet banana peppers were 8-10" long, and we had many an enjoyable meal using them as a casing for various stuffings. The other peppers in the tray are some hot Cayenne peppers that Ruth's husband loves, but doesn't have time to grow.

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As usual, the cats have the last word. Nothing exciting this time, just the cats being cats.

'Til next time ~ Peace from Heartland Gardens.

Welcome to the Family, Elex

2008-01-01T20:04:00.000-05:00

As Lynne mentioned, Dawn and Elex were married in a very simple ceremony in August. Here's a few pictures from that special day.

Lynne and Dawn

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Tom and Dawn

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Elex and Dawn, with Andrew, John and Brad. Aren't the boys getting big?!

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One of the things we do sometimes is leave old flowers on the plants for the birds to enjoy. Here's a couple pictures of some goldfinches eating the seeds from some spent Zinnia flowers under the kitchen window.

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John and Andrew still love to explore the pond, usually in search of tadpoles.

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Ruth came over one day in late August with a 'find' she had picked up at a thrift shop. It's an old wood sash window, that at one time had been painted and used as a picture frame. Of course, Lynne loved it, and it now hangs between the family room and dining room.

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And as I head off in search of more pictures (actually, I have to copy them off Lynne's computer and crop/resize them) we'll leave you with Simba this time, who still manages to find the strangest, smallest, most unlikely places to sneak a nap.

Happy New Year

2007-12-30T15:12:00.000-05:00

to all our friends and family far and near. Please don't be toooooooo shocked to see an updated blog. I have been getting it from all sides that we need to get this updated - what better time than to start the New Year off right. We have been doing really good so there hasn't been too much new news but of course there have been a ton of pictures taken over the fall and Holiday season - Tom will get some up in a couple of different entries so please keep coming back. We do promise to keep this more up to date since we have found out that people actually do read it - lol. And a special thanks to our friend Eva who will actually sign in and let us know she has visited. We need more of you to do that :)

Since we have been MIA - we have added to our family. Dawn and Elex were married in August at a very simple ceremony with immediate family present. Welcome to the family Elex :) Celeste and John have both had birthdays - John turned 7 and Celeste entered the 'terrible twos' although that has yet to manifest itself. She is just a delightful little princess and the light of our lives. The grandsons are all in basketball right now - John and Andrew in a Community league and Brad in a middle school league. Doesn't seem possible that he is ready for school sports but he is. They grow up so fast.

Mom has been in fairly good health for her age. She spent the entire late summer and fall right up to the day after Christmas working on over 400 beaded/crystal ornaments (12 different designs) for the entire family right down to great-grand children and for her lady friends at two churches and her missionary families. What a treasure for all of us who received them. She put alot of love in each and every one and will have places of honor on many Christmas trees around the country for years and years to come.

Speaking of Christmas we had a wonderful one with both children and grandkids over for Christmas Day and then two days later my nieces Tracey and her son Zachery and Amy and the latest great grandchild Amaris came down from PA for a couple days visit - much too short but Mom did get a chance to see and hold Amaris which was the highlight of the trip. We got several wonderful pictures of that. We all had a great time including time spent up at Ruths for a delicious dinner and and gift exchange. More memories and more pictures but that is what the holidays is all about - time spent with family.

As usual I did my 'over the top' Christmas decorating in the house and hate to take it down. I will keep it all up for another week or so and just sit back and enjoy it now that it is quiet here at the house. I did notice with all the decorating that I did the most fun and what brought the most smiles was doing Mom's 60's aluminum tree and putting on all the homemade ornaments made by various family members over the years and all the memories it envoked and all the stories she had to go with them. It prompted me to do a tree that was just ornaments that she has made and given to our family over the years and I have it here right by the computer to enjoy. I have several glitzy and sparkely trees in other rooms but these two with the handmade ornaments are the most treasured. Next year I will get back into my crafting and making the homemade ornaments again. I had kinda gotten out of the habit of doing them with all the changes in my life over the past few years but it is time to start that tradition again.

Thank you all who stop by and follow our little story. Tom will get some pictures up soon. Have a very safe and HAPPY NEW YEAR and remember to tell those you love how important they are to you.......

Lynne ~~he who plants a seed - believes in tomorrow~~

July Recaptured

2007-09-11T21:51:00.000-04:00

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Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, families, and friends of 9/11/01.
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As was mentioned 2 posts ago, the big family news was the opening of the Animal Hospital up in Brier Creek, North of Raleigh. We drove over for the open house they had the Sunday (7/15) before 'officially' opening, and we were very impressed and pleased with the facility they have put together. So much is so new and state-of-the-art, in this age of computers and electronics. We're well aware of all the thought and planning that went into this, and were very proud of what this dream has become. Here's some shots from that day.

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Here's part of the examining area, and a neat feature they have. When pets have to be kept overnight or longer (after surgery or waiting on tests) there's a kennel area that will be set up with live camera feeds, and pet owners can check in on their pets via the WEB.

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Meanwhile back at Heartland Gardens, we did have some decent pickings of cucumbers and beans, before the deer found them.

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We also had several sandwich-sized tomatos this year, before the heat set in and the yield got smaller. Lots of Roma/Plum tomatos have turned into salsa this year. We made more of that and put up less whole tomatos this year. I think/hope I made enough pickles to get the family through 'til next summer. They do seem to enjoy the pickles.

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Mom's upside-down tomato thingy did well for her, and she was caught several more times picking her own to snack on. Once they started ripening, she was picking them every other day or so, and if hers weren't ripe, well, lets just say we probably could have had a few more jars of canned tomatos this year... but Mom loves her tomatos, and you don't say no to Mom. She must have kept close tabs on her plant, too. During the last week of August, we had to pick about 6 of 'her' upside-downy thingy tomatos, because they were getting ripe all at once. Well, 4 days later, we hear "I'll have my last tomato with my dinner tonight.", knowing she had already eaten some of the others, but knowing she still had one left. Good thing Lynne and I didn't have a salad that night :-) Fried green, or sliced or diced, what Mom wants, Mom gets.... and she got lots this summer. So, Daughter Dawn, when you read this, and are looking for that one last jar of dill pickles next spring, if your Grandmother hadn't requested so many cucumber salads this summer, we would have at least a quart jar here for you, but... :-)

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The drought hadn't set in yet in full, so we still had color in the yard during July.

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We had to watch Celeste on a couple days, when she came down with some sort of summer 'bug'. She gave the cats a day off, and became our homeland security system for a while.

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She got feeling better, and ran to our bedroom later that day. I guess she wasn't too impressed with my serenade to her ;)

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One of many storms that 'almost' rained on us, but missed us by about 10 miles.

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A few more flowers...

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Big snakes have to be babies first :) (Sorry, Eva, but I couldn't resist)

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And again, we can't close withough a greeting from the cats. That's the 'baby', Skittles, now a year or so old, looking ferocious with her yawn, while Shadow quietly stares off underneath her.

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Again, thanks for stopping by. Next up, August, and more great family news via pictures, and a few from the yard and gardens.

Love and Peace,
Lynne and Tom

Before the Heat...

2007-09-09T22:14:00.000-04:00

As Spring rolled over into June, before the heat and drought set in in full force, plants and bulbs, and a late winter planting of onions and beets, that somehow survived the hard Easter freeze, along with many plants Lynne had wintersown and planted into containers, began to show their color and beauty.

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This hydrangea, which during the freeze had lost all it's new growth, surprised us with an overabundance of blossoms. With the initial growth killed off, all the secondary flowers were much smaller, but much more numerous than if the plant had bloomed under normal weather.

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One of Lynne's favorite flowers (yes, she is partial to many) is the Lily. Any color, any variety. Here's several from her various collections.

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Here's some of the containers from Lynne's winter sowing.

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With school out for summer, we were able to have the grandsons on several days, days they didn't have summer camp or sports going on. John, of course, and sometimes Andrew, are both still fascinated with the pond, and watch for frogs and 'stuff' they might see. Most every visit, they would catch lizards or dip some tadpoles from the pond, and sometimes take them home with them.

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The end of the month, and the family got together once again up at Ruth's family's home for a combination birthday party for Mom and their oldest daughter. Mom turned 92 on July 2nd, and their daughter's birthday was the over the weekend, so it was easier to get everyone together at once.
Lynne and I, along with our friend Alli, were returning from a weekend in Charlotte, where we meet up every year with a great group of internet friends. While we were gone, our niece Tracy and our daughter Dawn looked after Mom. For now, late June and this gathering of friends is our only extended time away, and just like Ruth coming down once a week to spend time with Mom and give us a couple hours off together, Tracy and Dawn helping us out on this one weekend a year means the world to us, and because of Tracy's travel plans, we also had time to actually enjoy some time with her as well when we got back. Here's some pics from the party. Naturally, our granddaughter Celeste showed up in quite a few, as did Mom, for some reason :)

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Some shots from the yard, as this entry comes to a close. If you look close, in each of the birdfeeder pictures, you can see a bright blue bird. These aren't Bluebirds, though! We've been fortunate enough to have THREE different Blue birds visit Heartland Gardens. In the Gazebo feeder in the first picture, is an Indigo Bunting. and in the 2nd picture, Mom's feeders show the bright yellow Goldfinch on the left feeder, and a Blue Grosebeak on the feeder to the right.

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As always, the cats say HI... and we'll be back with many more pictures shortly :-)

A Mid-Summer Night's Dream

2007-08-31T23:54:00.000-04:00

First off, we'd both like to thank everyone for our Anniversary and Birthday wishes. It's nice that you've remembered us with your guest comments.

While our summer has been rather uneventful for us here at Heartland Gardens, there have been good and exciting things that have happened with our family, but you have to read on to catch up :-)
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We've had a dream. A Beautiful dream. A Repetitive dream.

We often dream out loud in the late evening hours, while sitting out on the screened back porch at the end of the day. We talk about things we need to do, remodeling projects for the winter, changes to the yard and gardens. Sometimes, we talk about trips or visits we'll make in the future.

For most of the summer, however, we've had one dream. A dream of rain. A gentle rain. A nice soaking rain. An all day and night rain. Maybe a 2 or 3 day rain. Not the kind of rain that Texas saw in June, or PA and NY saw in July, or what the Midwest just had in August, but a rain that you don't mind walking out in to get the newspaper first thing in the morning, or getting a little wet getting the mail at lunchtime. A rain.... any rain.

If you're reading this and live in the Southeast US, you know what we mean. August has come and gone, and our official tally for this month is just over one half inch. Lynne and I often mention how glad we are that we're just backyard gardeners and not farmers. Reports are now coming in for the summer harvest, and they're not pretty. This, added to the Easter weekend freeze has really devistated farmers in the region. Even the livestock here has gone to eating their winter feed, because there wasn't much of a summer harvest.

For a while, we tried to keep up with the gardens by watering, but as this drought continued, and reports of wells going dry trickled in, we've had to cut back on that considerably as well. The lawn still grows, but crunches underfoot. The heat, well, that's another deal. To some, 90 degrees doesn't seem that hot. But August here gave us 30 out of 31 days at 90 or above, and several of those days were over 100. Record highs were set or tied on 9 days.

Now, while we do some spot watering, our main concern is trees and shrubs we've acquired over the last 2 years. Some have taken really well and haven't needed much help, despite the lack of rain, while others seem to wilt as if they're attached to a clock. Then, there's the critter problem.

With this current weather, or lack of it, the critters are also out searching for sources of water and moisture. The once cute deer are now a nemesis, as they're nibbling new growth on anything, from Azaleas to Zuchinni. The heat, especially the night-time temps, pretty much shut down tomato production, but not before we could can up several jars, and a pretty good supply of home made salsa. We're also set on pickles for the season, unless some certain in-laws/nieces keep hinting that their supply is getting low ;-) That's what makes gardening fun, though. We use what we can, and are happy to share.

If you're wondering, Mom's upside-down-tomato-planter had done well, and she has about 8 tennis ball-sized tomatos left, and then I think that plant is about spent. It's been good to watch her obseve 'HER' plant, and step outside to gather 'HER' ripe tomatos when they're ready to pick.

Other exciting news from within the family ---

Back in mid-July, our Daughter-in-law, Jenn,with our son Kevin's assistance, love, and support, and after years of dreaming and planning, opened her own Veterinary Clinic. It's all state of the art, and even has things like X-Ray tables for hamsters and gerbils, and even a little kids' play area. We're so proud of Jenn as she fulfills a lifelong ambition of helping other peoples pets.

Mid-August, in a simple cerimony, our daughter Dawn was married to her betrothed, Elex. Elex has been a stabilizing force in Dawn's household as she struggled to raise 3 sons, and we welcome him to the family.

And lastly, last week we were informed that Lynne and I now have a brand new baby grand-niece... Amaris Kayleen Fasy. This little girl is truely a Godsend to Amy and Alex, who had previously suffered through 4 miscarriages.

Lynne's sister, Ruth, God bless her, still comes down weekly, to spend time with Mom, and to give Lynne and I some time out together. I still don't think she knows how much that 1-3 hour break means to us, whether we're out grocery shopping, checking out garden centers, or as it worked out 2 weeks ago, time out for dinner away from home.

We'll be back over the weekend with pictures, if the internet allows.

In the meantime, life continues to ramble along, here in Heartland Gardens, where things are Wonderful.

PS to Jo.... you asked about where we were in NC.... we're about 20 miles SouthEast of Raleigh, and about 200 miles from the ocean *chuckle*

Lynne and Tom

A little different blog today

2007-07-04T19:09:00.000-04:00

As many of you that read this blog know Tom and I first met on the internet - a Nascar racing forum to be exact. Later we were drawn together again by visiting the online caringbridge community while Glenn was going through cancer and we developed our friendship from that experience. Well we both still post at the racing forum and there are several neat stories that get posted there and not in the blog. Tom will probably get me for this but I have taken the liberty to lift a couple of the recent stories and am going to post them here. Everyday he amazes me with his gift for the written word and the way he expresses the simple things in life - the things that make our life so very special.. Not many men would go into a marriage with a MIL already living in the house. He not only did that but has taken Mom into his heart and life - there is nothing he won't do for her. These two stories are just an example. On the racing forum we go by the names Solak (Tom) and Mrs Solak (me)

First story as posted on the forum which was written after a Nascar race in which two of the top drivers were caught cheating and there had been much discussion on the forum as to what penalties shoud be assesed ......

In the annual struggle for Solak to have a ripened, sweet, juicy, dripping sliced tomato sandwich before the 4th of July, Mrs MOMSolak, aka MOM, was caught last week with 2 servings of fried green tomatos. That's right... TWO seperate servings!
Thursday, while returning home from a short outing, Mrs. MOMSolak noticed 3 potted tomato plants alongside the garage, extra plants that didn't have a home in the vegetable garden. She saw some small ping-pong ball size tomatos on the plants and commented to MrsSolak; "It looks like it's almost time for some Fried Green Tomatos. "
Well, MrsSolak, kind soul, and loving daughter that she is, innocently replied back to MOMSolak, saying; "Well, Solak has some much larger ones down in his vegetable garden."
Now, I'm not saying that the rather large tomatos MrsSolak picked for MOM, at MOM's request, that were subsequently battered and fried for MOM, 2 nights in a row, would have possibly been the first ones to ripen before July 4th, but given the evidence witnessed firsthand, I can only wonder.
When July 4th arrives, and there's several tomatos ALMOST ready to pick, did the blatant theft/picking of these 2 tomatos play a factor in not having a fresh tomato sandwich on or before July 4, 2007? Could they have been the bright red, juicy ones I've anticipated for months since I planted the seeds back in March?
Was MrsSolak, at MOMSolak's request, working within a gray area of the produce rules, picking tomatos before ripened, using the excuse "Well, they were there."?
Is MOMSolak responsible for recalling her days of old when she grew her own vegetables and didn't give a second thought about slicing and frying her own green tomatos?
What should the penalties be for these women invading Solak's vegetable garden, and possibly picking THE tomato, that one glorious tomato, that in another few days, could have satisified Solak's year-long wait for his very first soggy, dripping, juicy tomato sandwich of 2007?

Second story posted a couple days later......

Y'all know that MOM, even though she's stealing MY tomatos, also has her own personal upside-down tomato planter thingy with her own personal tomato plant growing in it. Well, the hanging basket thingy is designed to water it from the top. The instructions say to fill it with dirt to within 3" ot the top, so I did as instructed in 14 different languages.
Well, Saturday and yesterday, Mr.& Mrs. Wren decided that that little 3" deep sheltered area was a perfect place to build a nest, and had commenced construction, with pine straw, twigs, and moss.
However, If I allowed this, it would be difficult to water MOM's tomato plant from the top, since the water would have to pour through the nest, and eventual baby birds.
After much agonizing, and a highly emotional consultation with MrsSolak, it was decided to terminate the construction of the nest in that location, and the watering opening has now been covered in a manner that will still allow watering, but prevent the Wren Family from resuming their project.
The Wrens, while unhappy, were told of numerous other places they could build on the property, locations that have less stringent building codes, and more than likely much better easements and right-of-ways.

I hope this brings a smile to your heart and soul - I know it did mine. I will be back later with more happenings here at the Heartland but until then - look around at what God has given us - this free land we live in and be thankful for all that we have.

Lynne ~~he who plants a seed - believes in tomorrow~~

All Caught Up

2007-06-15T01:04:00.001-04:00

Well, this edition will cover by pictures most of what's been happening here at Heartland Gardens during April and May. And yes, Lynne did forget one major item that happened about a month ago, but the pictures will tell that story, as well ;)

As Lynne said, late winter and very early spring were unusually warm, and that helped bring on some early season color, mainly from the bulbs, and some trees and shrubs that bloom then, regardless of what the weather is doing.

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Some early blooming Azaleas at one of the entrances to the woodland gardens

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Mom's front yard bulb collection that was planted last fall. She ordered somewhere near 250 assorted bulbs last summer, and they showed up all at once, so most of them went into the recent front yard berm she can see from her sitting room.

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We went up to Kevin's for an early Easter family dinner, and under Jenn's watchful eye, Celeste was naturally the center of attention, and rightfully so. Fortunately, our afternoon visit was just hours before the great "Easter Weekend Freeze" set in for 6 days. While it was on the chilly side outdoors for John, Celeste and her cousins kept things warm and hopping for everyone inside inside ;)

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That night, and for the next 5, temperatures dropped down into the middle 20's at night, and barely rose through the 30's during the day. We tried to protect what shrubs we could, to no avail, and the hard freeze killed off most the azaleas that were either in bloom, or had set buds. Almost anything that had leafed out, even the trees, were burned by the bitter temps as this pic of our Tulip Poplar shows. It was really strange when out and about, driving through the older neighborhoods that had much older yards, and trying to figure what the color of the azaleas might have been, based on the shade of brown the freeze-burnt flowers were. We thought we'd lost a good part of everything we've worked so hard on the last 2 years, as well as what Lynne and Glenn had started with, but plants, on the whole are very resilient when it comes to weather conditions. Some things were oblivious to the freeze, while some others, like the Hydrangeas, lost all their new growth and buds. We'll talk more about that in the next blog, though.

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Meanwhile, what wasn't affected by the freeze that wiped out the Southeast farmers' peach, nut, strawberry, early corn, tomato and pepper crops, just to name a few, continued to add more color to the yard, as temperatures ever so slowly recovered to more April-like readings.

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So now, we're in to May. Tomatos and Peppers finally got planted out, a month later than planned, in a new vegetable bed.

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The othe gardens continued to surprise and please us, as different things came in to bloom despite the previous month's adverse temperatures.

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Here's a couple pictures of some of the plants Lynne had winter-sewn, that made it through the freeze.

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Now, on to the one item Lynne left out in her most recent post. Over the winter, we had gotten some estimates to remove 11 pine trees that had been diseased many years ago. Now, due to their size and height, they were becoming a potential threat to the house, should the right kind of wrong storm come along. Obviously, a ninety foot tall pine tree, 20 feet from the house, with a much weakened trunk, is not a good thing to have in the yard. After contracting the work out, the tree removal company arrived at 9 in the morning on May 16th and began work. Of course, every tree we had taken down was either IN a garden bed, or adjoining one, so we obviously were worried about any damage that might occur in the process.

Here's the front of the house, before the work began.

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The work in progress...

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Here's the new view of the front of the house. On the plus side, we got about 16 cu yds of mulch out of the deal for free from the grinding of the limbs. :)

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No damage to the tomato/veggie plot that had been planted out 2 weeks prior to the tree removals.

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Lynne mentioned more garden beds... there's 2 30' long beds along either side of the new fence, and a stepped down new bed along the end of the house.

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Of course, another photo post isn't complete without the cats taking part, so here they are :)

Speed bumps...

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Homeland Security at HeartlandGardens...

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Of course, we also have border patrol on duty :)

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We'll be catching up again soon with some June things, and our usual rants and ramblings, but for now, a few more glimpses from around Heartland Gardens, where life continues to be WONDERFUL.

Catching up - part II

2007-06-05T19:19:00.000-04:00

There is a saying that 'time flies when you are having fun' - well time sure has flown and yes we are having fun. I can't believe it has been so very long since we have blogged. Thank you all who kinda gave us gentle nudges through e-mails to bring our story up to date.

First off there is some really good news to report. BIL Bobby has gone through his concurrent chemo/radiation and as of the latest CAT scan - the tumor has shrunk dramatically and he is feeling pretty good. We certainly thank God for being with him during this time. What once was a dire diagnosis has turned into good news. When you have been touched to the core with cancer the way both Tom and I have been, everyday a loved ones beats cancer is a good day. Tom went and did Relay for Life with the church group just this past weekend. I had to stay home with Mom but he brought back her survivor shirt and was able to tell her about some of the events. We all went 2 years ago and she did the entire walk around the lake but now she is too frail to walk that far. Even a wheelchair is too much for her with her needing the oxygen and all. Mom is doing OK given her age and oxygen capacity. We do get out to church and SS about 1/2 the time - the other times she is just too tired but we are thankful for all the times that she can go. She loves her church and her missionaries who she faithfully prays for.

Other family news has Kevin and Jenn coming down the homestretch with the building and opening of the Animal Hospital at Briar Creek. Equipment is going in and they are looking at an early July opening. This has been a dream of Jenns since childhood. She is partnering with another doctor. The location is an excellent one just outside Raleigh off a new by-pass exit where there will be alot of new housing growth and hopefully lots of 4 legged furkids that will need vet care. Celeste continues to grow by leaps and bounds and is such a joy. We don't get to see her near enough and when we do lots and lots of pictures are taken. She is starting to put a couple of words together and is such a little grown-up playing with her dolls and all. She is just growing up way too fast.

The boys are all finishing up the school year and it was a very good year for all 3 - good grades and having fun with their various sports. Dawn and Elex have had a masterbedroom suite built on the house with an upstairs 'guy' room for all of Elex's computer equipment so they have been busy with that. Most of it was contracted out but they have doing all the painting, ect. The boys will now all have their own rooms which they are very excited about. Each have their own theme they want to go with - Brad wants sun,moon,stars sort of a universe theme blue/gold colors. Andrew wants an NCState theme red/white and John wants Army camaflouge. They are all gowing up fast also - lol guess that means we are too **wink**

Now to the gardens - gosh I don't even know where to start. Let's just say that we are out there everyday that weather permits. Several new gardens have even been added since Tom posted the pictures taking us through March. Our best planning time is late at night with XM country music playing in the background and candles lit on the back porch and we are just talking - it usually starts out with Tom asking me "so what are your plans for tomorrow?" -" what gardens will you be working in?? "- that way he will know to start watering in the opposite part of the yard (no rain means lots of watering) - then I will answer with "I saw something really neat in a garden magazine" and the planning begins - lol . We toss around several ideas and the next thing you know we have a new garden planned. Of course anytime we see Mom thumbing through a garden catalog we know we are going to have to make room for more plants. Just last week we were able to dig up several hundred $$'s worth of hosta from a neighbor who is moving and told us to take what we wanted. These are the HUGE leaf hostas and will look so good in the woodland gardens. Of course this means more deer food for the deer but what the heck - eventually I will get enough plants out there that they will leave some alone - at least that is the plan.

This summer I am propagating a lot of hydrangea, azaleas and viburnum in order to increase those plants in the woods. The price is right besides it is fun. WinterSowing was so-so this past winter/spring. We had such warm temps early on that things germinated and grew long before they should have and then the Easter freeze zapped alot of the seedlings. We still had alot of survivors and just re-sowed what we had lost. Tom will be posting pictures of all the new gardens in their spring glory. We are now going through a change over in flowers and veggies so color is hit or miss right now. It is such a thrill to go out everday and walk our little piece of paradise and see what is new.

On to other news - we had a really nice vist with some internet friends Eric and Alli a few weeks back. They stayed with us overnight on their way to and from the Nascar Darlington race. We have also had internet friends from England spend several days with us. In a couple of weeks Tom and I along with Alli will go on our annual trip to Charlotte and meet up with a group of other internet friends. It is amazing how many life long friendships we have made over the last couple of years through the internet. Tom and I have also met several gardners from in and around the Raleigh area in a gardening forum and we get together twice a year to swap plants. The group is now making plans for garden tours of our various gardens which should be very interesting and alot of fun.

I know I have left stuff out or forgotten (not getting any younger) but I need to close this out. We both promise not to be so long between updates. This blog is as much for us as it is for our friends. By writing things down it helps to bring us back to the simpler things in life and makes us stop and dwell on what we have created - a haven for birds, butterflies, humingbirds - for all God's creatures - great and small.

Thanks for stopping by - we love sharing our little piece of paradise with you. All we ask is that you take some time each day to gaze around you and see that life is good - life is beautiful - it is all around us in nature.........

Lynne ~~he who plants a seed - believes in tomorrow~~

Catching up, Part 1

2007-05-29T22:20:00.000-04:00

Hello Family and friends!!! Thanks for stopping by and checking up on us. We apologize for not updating lately. We're back again, now, and this update and collection of pictures we're sharing covers things from the Heartland Gardens that Lynne wrote about in her last entry, and a few that carry on into March.

Everyone here is doing well, so sit back and enjoy the photographic story ;)

As Lynne said, Late January brought her her own picket fenced garden. Of course, she made sure the camera was handy during the construction of it ;)

Here's some early winter color we had from Christmas through early January

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Lynne managed to keep the camera handy, not really knowing what was going on on those chilly late January days, other than I was building her a fence. All the posts and pickets were cut and manufactured here, not pre-cut or pre-assembled kits. She really had no idea what I was doing, other than making lots of noise with the saws!

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Here's what the Cottage garden looked like before we got started on this project.

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The pictures above were taken on a Saturday, and by the time Sunday afternoon came around, the fence was well underway.

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Winter was on the chilly side this year, and while the fence was still being built, I did have to take a day off from it for one of 2 tiny snow events we had.

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Of course, we were also entertained by the various birds we're fortunate enough to have visit our little slice of paradise.

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And here's the 'after' pics of the completed Cottage Garden fence.

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We had another mini-snow event on Feb 1, and found out that the fence could withstand minor snow conditions without any problems :) The skies cleared, and the sun dog looked down on the next project... a straight line fence to seperate the front yard from the side/back property.

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Of course, no blog entry would be complete if we didn't have Mom and her cat in here somewhere.

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Or the deer, who continually visit us and feast upon the plants they think Lynne's planted especially for them :)

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March came along, and more flowers started blooming, and we were surprised with an abundance of early butterflies with the unusually warm temperatures we had.

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Earlier in March, Kevin, Jenn, and Celeste were over, and it happened to be the same night as the eclipse of the moon, which we adults enjoyed and ohhhhhh'ed anf ahhhhhhh'ed over, but at 18 months, I don't think Celeste was aware of it at all :)

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The last week of March brought on some more mild weather, and with that, allowed Mom to get out on the porch and get a little closer to all the new changes and happenings in the yard and gardens.

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So, that updates things through the end of March. Early April sure showed it's ugly face, with the Easter weekend/week-long hard freeze, that left us wondering if we'd have ANY spring flowers at all.

Lynne will be writing real soon about those results, more newly completed projects, (yep - she seems to think I always have to be doing something! :) ) and the unexpected pleasures the month of May has brought us. Also, she has some really good news to share on a more personal note.

And, of course, lots more pictures from April and May will follow that next blog entry.

Again, we thank you for checking up on us. Sometimes, when life is going along so well here in the Heartland of NC, we forget that this little blog/journal is often the only way a lot of friends/family follow along our life here in the Heartland.

Wishing you Peace and love from Heartland Gardens...
Lynne and Tom

Picket Fences and other ramblin'

2007-02-18T10:58:00.000-05:00

When you close your eyes and think of a picket fence what do you see?? For me it is the quiensentential cottage garden - a place to linger - to think of past, present and future. A place where flowers bloom in wild abandonment and spill out over the fence and buterflies and hummingbirds dart around sipping on Gods necter. I have ALWAYS wanted a picket fence enclosing a cottage garden - dreamed of that from my childhood days in Kansas City where there was one on the side of Mom's garden. She has all the beautiful cottage flowers growing there - hollyhocks, larkspur, zinnias, batchelor buttons, peonies, cosmos - it was beautiful. My grandmother had one that backed her garden on the farm where I was born. Well good things come to those who wait and this January with the loving hands of my wonderful husband I now have my picket fence. He literally built it from scratch - cutting every picket and shaping every post. It is beautiful - it is my dream come true.

When I stand on my porch and look at the cottage garden I now see my past, present and future - the past where Glenn first built the raised beds our first summer here as we started to put our mark on our place - the present where plants are planted there in his memory and the bench that bears my message to him and the future - the fence that encompasses it all just as Tom's arms held me close and gently helped me to step into the future. A garden mirrors life with birth , nurturing, growth, death and then renewal each new season - thats is what my garden and picket fence mean to me.

On another note - Life here had been going along fairly smoothly till last Sunday when we had to get Mom to the emergency room with chest pains. After many tests, monitoring and more tests she is back home with no major problems. She was anemic so was given 2 units of blood but her heart checked out OK for a 91 year old. She is tired now which is to be expected and I expect it will take her awhile to bet back to where she was at Christmas. We thank God again for watching over her while she was in the hospital and for letting her come back home. Keep her in your prayers along with Bobby who is doing OK for now with his battle with cancer.

The rest of the family is doing great - boys are fully involved with "Upward" basketball - a church based basketball league and having a great time. Celeste is starting to talk and is doing pretty good with baby sign language and gets her point across. She is ALL over the place with her walking - keeps Mommy and Daddy busy.

Thank you for stopping by - spring is just around the corner so start looking for God's signs of renewal and rebirth - it is everywhere around you.

Lynne ~~he who plants a seed believes in tomorrow~~

Looking forward to the New Year

2006-12-31T19:37:00.000-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our friends and family. This holiday season has been one of sharing many good times with family - in fact we had two Christmases - each one so very special in its own way. Christmas day was spent quietly at home in the morning with just Tom , Mom and I. It was a very relaxed time. The afternoon was spent up at Kevin and Jenn's. We had a fantastic turkey dinner and then Ruth and Russ and the girls came over and we opened gifts and just had a great time. Mom was really enjoying herself watching Celeste open her gifts and seeing Ruth's girls getting all excited over 'retro' jewelry. Jewelry that Mom has had forever - yanno those big beads, bright colors - The girls loved them. It was neat seeing the G-guage trains up and even more fun sharing memories as Kevin and all of us looked over notes that Glenn had written down while doing the basement layout in Delaware.

Since the grandsons and Dawn and Elex were away for Christmas we all went over to their place yesterday (Saturday) to do it all over again. Again Mom really enjoyed watching the boys open their gifts - especially watching Brad play with Jacobs ladder - sometimes the simplest gifts are the most fun. Again Ruth and Russ ca me down as did Kevin, Jenn and Celeste. A good time was had by all - fun and laughter filled the air.

Looking back over the past year I can say it was a really GOOD year. Mom has gotten increasingly stronger and had no major setbacks. She managed to stay out of the hospital for an entire year - Thank you God for watching over her. She does remain on oxygen and will probably be on it for the rest of time that God gives her but it was so good to see her take part in all the Christmas activities and not get so tired. Tom and I continue to enjoy building a life together and find so much fun in gardening, remoldeling the house, cooking and just doing everything together. I echo again the words from Keeper of the Stars "God sure knew what he was doing when he joined these two hearts" - life is good.

As we enter 2007 I wish you nothing but joy, love and happiness. Thank you for spending the past year with us and we look forward to sharing more of life in the 'heartland' with you in the coming year. Spend time with your family - spend time with nature - the rewards are boundless

Peace and love - Lynne ~~he who plants a seed - believes in tomorrow~~

Quiet was the Night,,,

2006-12-24T21:21:00.000-05:00

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Merry Christmas Eve and Day, Family and Friends. We'd like to take this time to thank you for stopping by and visiting our little place here in the Heartland of NC.

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The kitchen remodeling is done, and we've actually taken some 'time off' from painting and trimming to decorate for the holidays. Since the house is sort of 'under construction', Lynne thought it best to limit the decorating to the rooms we use most often (besides, most the other rooms are storing the 'stuff' moved out to allow the renovations). Still, the house looks plenty warm and inviting, both outside and in. So... pardon the mess, while we share our Christmas with you.

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Skittles, the new kitten, has adapted to her new surroundings quite well. Sometimes TOO well :) She had to test out the Christmas tree when we first set it up, and as Lynne decorated it more, the kitten got more adventurous. For a little while, it was cute, as the pictures show. Then she became content to nestle among the decorations we weren't using.

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Of course, the old guy, Simba, had to get into the act before Lynne could get her villages finished...

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Scenes around the outside...

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This year's trees and villages...
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Last week, our youngest grandson took part in his 1st grade's performance of "The Grinch". John is on the far right ;-)

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We had Celeste and her other grandparents over to visit last week as well. (Sorry Mary, you were out taking pictures at the same time I was) We had a week of really pleasant weather, and Celeste had a blast exploring the yard and woods.

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Of course, there's the obligatory Christmas cookies. School and travel schedules for the grandsons meant that Lynne and I had to undertake this task all alone, but we managed ;)

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Even though we've had one really hard freeze (a few nights in the teens), this butterfly showed up last week, and the bitter cold didn't seem to phase the Clematis on the front porch. Sometimes, things out of the ordinary are ordinary here in the Heartland.

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It's early Christmas morning now. We've baked, cooked, and wrapped, chatted and smelled the scent of burning pine logs in the firepit, shared some quality time with Mom this evening, and all is well and WONDERFUL this early Christmas morning.

We'd like wish all who stop by here all the joys and blessings of this Special season.

Peace and Love, and wishing you God's Blessings,

from the Heartland,
~Tom and Lynne~