Thank you so much for all of your kind comments on my last post. Your
support and kindness mean the world to me!
I’m joining with Nancy of A Rural Journal in her Random 5 Friday, where, as Nancy says, “you can share 5
random facts about you, your day, your pets, your kids, whatever!”
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| See the haze in the photo? It was so humid, my lens was fogging up. |
One
Larry is making great headway on our raised bed garden frame.
I love how he goes about his work. He did a lot of research beforehand
and made a few drawings. Then he figures out things as he goes along. He’s very
exacting, precise and thorough.
This is the dirt that forms the bed of our yard. You can see the red
clay mixed in.
We’re going to get a load of topsoil to put into the frame for the
planting. Fencing will go around the tall posts.
I don’t know if we’ll have time for any winter crops. But planning for
next spring is fun, too.
Two
I just finished a spy thriller called The Kill Artist, by
Daniel Silva. It was well-written and absorbing. I feel the need for a switch
to something a bit more peaceful, though, so I think I’ll be reading a
nonfiction gardening book I’ve mentioned before, The Backyard Parables: Lessons on
Gardening, and Life, by Margaret Roach. I’m also currently reading The
Lotus Still Blooms: Sacred Buddhist Teachings for the Western Mind, by
Joan Gattuso.
What are you reading?
Three
Speaking of peace, I am feeling the need to get back to the practice of
meditation, specifically, mindfulness meditation, which at one time I was
becoming pretty regular at. I let the habit slip away.
I have been allowing negative and angry thoughts to creep in and take
over, and I can feel the resulting anxiety and discontent. I need some time to
slow down my thoughts and focus on the present.
Do you meditate?
Four
I asked Larry about a year ago to build a meditation chair for me. He
looked at some samples I showed him and said he couldn’t do it with the tools
and machinery he had.
I think he has proven that he can find a way to build what he needs to.
So I’ve asked him again about that meditation seat. Maybe when he’s through
with the gardening frame?
Five
When I was at the dairy farm last week on assignment with the paper, I captured
one of my favorite shots I’ve ever gotten on the job. I can’t put the photo on
my blog, but if you’d like to see a photo that includes a Holstein calf, you
can find it HERE.
Thank you for visiting, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Great post, Tina. Meditation is so helpful. The time I spend in nature helps me a lot to get things in perspective.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great photo! It's so cool that you get to have your photos published! A true professional photographer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the book recommendation. I love that genre and will have to check it out. I'm like in the middle of reading 10 books! I think I'm going to have to start some of them over again and concentrate on just a few at a time!
Meditation is wonderful. I practiced it every day over the winter and into the spring, but let it slip this summer, and i regret it. Time to get back into it. I made the mistake of thinking i don't have to do it when the sun shines, but i'm wrong about that. Practicing mindfulness meditation is an important thing to do throughout the year for those of us with anxiety and depression.
ReplyDeletePlanning gardens is so much fun! What to plant.. where to put the plants. Thinking of the flowers when they bloom and the delicious things to make with veggies and herbs! :) You'll love it. And your frame looks great. Larry has done an excellent job!
Daniel Silva's books are fabulous. Adventurous and fast. But right now, i'm reading a novel called Instructions for a Heatwave, by Maggie O'Farrell. It's about the trials and also the good times had by an Irish Catholic family in England during the 1970s. It's absorbing and fascinating. I love books about ordinary families and their dynamics. Have a beautiful weekend, Tina!
Wow to the raised garden bed structure, very impressive! That is a cute little Holstein. I do meditate but often do it while I walk, have my morning coffee outside in the morning, or when I weed, robotic tasks, I find sitting still ineffective for me at the moment. However style I do it, it is essential to my day. I am going to look up Daniel Silva's books. I'm reading 'elle s'appelle Sarah' by Tatiana de Rosnay, rather heavy going as it is about the Jewish roundup in Paris.
ReplyDeleteSweet photo of the baby calf! Looks like you'll be ready fore next spring planting. We've done raised beds for vegetables but I'd really like to raise my front flower beds. Our soil is mostly red clay and needs a boost.
ReplyDeleteI am going to look for that book on my kindle. The Buddha one. It sounds like something I would like. I don't know if it's "real" mediation but I spend time "within" every morning. I know what you mean about negative thoughts intruding. What you think, you become.
ReplyDeleteYour Larry is quite the handy man Tina -- love the design of your raised bed. :)
ReplyDeleteThat is some garden bed! Great job! :)
ReplyDeleteI have never meditated but I am really intrigued by the thought. That garden bed looks amazing. So unique. And I love the picture of the man and the calf :)
ReplyDeleteOh Tina I love the Holstein photo:)
ReplyDeleteLooks like Larry is and will continue to be busy it is looking wonderful and I can see a meditation chair coming after this. I think I should meditate possibly sitting in the bush on a rock I already am:)
Take care Tina. Hug B
Your raised bed looks excellent. Very exciting - a bed full of promise! :-)
ReplyDeleteWOW Larry is off to a great start on the raised bed and I bet he will find a way to make you a meditation chair.....Meditation is so beneficial and I like you go from being dedicated to getting too busy....
ReplyDeleteglad you're incorporating fencing into your garden plan from the start. cute calf, too. :)
ReplyDeletethat raised garden bed is looking great! ha, i've had my camera lens fog because of the humidity too!
ReplyDeleteRaised garden beds... I am looking forward to doing that in our new yard... great job!!
ReplyDeleteOoh, I love the picture with the calf, Tina. Well done!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet little calf shot you caught! As to reading, I'm reading 'Nearing Home, Life, Faith and Finishing Well,' by Billy Graham. As to meditation, I do have a quiet time with the Scriptures and prayer. I'm your newest follower...
ReplyDeletei would love to mediate ... but find at times to many thoughts are moving around my brain - & i can shut up ... guess it depends on when it is ... other days i can totally center myself. ( :
ReplyDeleteThat IS a terrific picture!
ReplyDeleteMeditation is a perfect gift . . it's amazing how Life Can Sort ItSelf Out - when we let it . . . (meditation being a great key)
Thank you for your kindness -
I'm just finishing "The Last Chinese Chef" - one of our blogger friends had it on their list -
love & love,
-g-
I don't meditate but from time to time I do have my moments of quiet solitude and thought. Is that what you call meditating? My meditation seat is my Mother's swivel rocker.. so comfy and brings back memories.
ReplyDeleteHi Tina, Larry sounds like a gem. You have to love a man who isn't only a good partner, but also good with his hands. I just finished reading some of Hemmingway's short stories. Think I'll move on to a thriller novel soon.
ReplyDeleteMadison
What a wonderful garden. Larry has talent, and he sounds so willing to share it. I just read Daniel Silva's newest book, The English Girl -- loved it! I'm not good at meditation -- seriously, last week at work I took a workshop in it and just couldn't sit still. Something to work on!
ReplyDeletei am so excited that you are so excited about your gardens.....larry's construction job looks amazing!!
ReplyDeletei hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!