Bits of Joy

It's hot!   You guys in Texas know this.  You also know that because of said heat there's just not much green and certainly even less of any other color.  But there are bits of joy to be had if you look hard enough.

About four years ago Kaylee, Bobby, and I (mostly Bobby) dug up all of the pointy stickery holly hedge in my front yard and I then planted azaleas.  I knew it would be a challenge but I wanted to at least try and it's fun to have a challenge every once in awhile, right? (she said weakly)  Well, I didn't necessarily lose the challenge but I didn't really win either when after the frigid winter of 2010/11 and then the brutal summer that followed, I lost three of my five bushes.  But I sucked it up like a big girl, bought new ones this past spring, and kept my fingers crossed.  Part of the reason I think I lost the original ones is that I didn't water or fertilize enough and I like to say I'm pretty good about learning from my mistakes (I make enough of them after all) so I've babied and petted these and so far, so good.....well, not completely.  Here's what's happened to one of the bushes. 

Let me insert here that part of my bits of joy is having this beautiful and hardy moon flower grow here in my front yard garden because of the compost I sprinkled around in the spring.  I had these a couple of summers ago but didn't save any of the seed so this time I'm saving them.  It's a great plant for the hot summers, as you can see, and it has the beautiful big white flowers in the morning.  But I digress.......see the sad azalea bush on the left above?  I've watered that thing till it's surely waterlogged a few times and I fertilized it hopefully enough but it still just turned all brown and crackly.  But look closer.......

There's new growth.  I really thought I was going to have to call this one dead and either start over or call it quits for this spot.  But hope is truly alive along with this plant, at least for now.  It's always fun to watch something come back to life.  We once had this dog named Lazarus............I'll save that for another post.  In the meantime, follow me now to the back yard!

The scene above has been kind of sad lately because on the right of the Oleander is where the gas company guys dug up a big circle of my flower garden and on the left is where the chickens had a hayday in my garden one day and dug up most of my ice plant and another flower that was doing pretty well.  (The good thing is that there is a remainder of both plants and they'll be back strong next spring)  But for now, between the hot summer, the gas guys, and the chickens, that section of my flower garden isn't looking very happy right now.........till today!  There really was joy when I went out this morning and spotted the flowers on my Oleander.

I planted this when I first created my garden area and it's struggled.  I almost lost it during that winter/summer I referred to earlier and it never has bloomed.  So now, four years later, there's a flower.  And what a vibrant color!  I knew I'd bought red but I hardly even remembered it because it's just done nothing for so long. 

So I refuse to be conquered by the heat!!  (Remind me I said that in about a week, please, if we continue to not get any rain)  Seriously, every time I step outside and have to suck in air because it's just hard to breathe in this stuff, I'll just walk over and see my beautiful plants that refuse to give up.  As will I!!!

Italian Cream Cake and the roomie!

It started waaaaay back in the sophomore year of my college days at good ol' Wayland Baptist College.  We were moving in the much nicer and bigger upper classman girls dorm that year and Cindy was my roommate.  Cindy was an outstanding roommate too but I didn't even begin to understand the benefits that she would bring to the table (literally) until she brought them to the table, or the desk, as was the case in our sweet little suite that we shared with Dorla and Sherry.  As I would find out very soon that year Cindy had a very talented and generous aunt that would supply her every so often with an Italian Cream Cake.  A whole one!  This cake was rich, filled with pecans and coconut and topped with a cream cheese/butter icing.  And I was hooked from then till now.  It is my favorite cake and I make one every chance I get which isn't often because if I make it then I eat it.  I mean, I guess Cindy and I could eat a whole cake all by ourselves back in the day but that was, well, back in the day and things have changed and rearranged a little, or a lot maybe.........well, let's just say I can't afford to eat a whole cake anymore.  

Anyway, because Bob is trying to be careful about what he eats and because I can't eat a whole cake by myself anymore I simply don't get to bake that often.  But I've been thinking about an Italian Cream Cake since about Christmas and it's just time.  We're having some friends over tomorrow night so there it is, my excuse.  And I'm taking full advantage. 

I love Italian Cream Cake because of how it tastes, obviously, but I also love it because it's such an old fashioned kind of cake.  The recipe has instructions like "beat egg whites till stiff, but not dry, and fold into batter" and "add flour and buttermilk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning with flour and ending with flour".  I never really have understood why you have to add them alternately and why you HAVE to begin and end with flour but I do it.  And I love doing it.  It helps me sort of touch base with how those little old ladies of long ago did it when they baked for the church covered dish supper.   

Cindy put up with me for two and a half years and we sure had some great times together.  Every time I make this cake I think about her and the thoughtfulness of her aunt that showed her love in the yummiest way.   

      

Honoring my good dad!

96 years young!  That's the milestone my family celebrates today with my dad, Mr. W.R. Walton.  Oh yeah, and Father's Day to a father of six, grandfather of 12, and great grandfather of six with one on the way.  

I treasure a lot of things about my good dad but one in particular is that he's been around a really long time.  He has lived during such a different time and remembers and  understands life before phones (land line and cell), television, and computers.  He has experienced a way of life that young people today are searching and yearning for........simplicity and clarity of what's really important in life.  

Something I'm really grateful for is that Dad wrote down and made copies of his autobiography about ten years ago so we, his forebears, can have a taste of what it was like when he was growing up.             

So yesterday most of the family descended on Whitesboro and celebrated.  We caught up with each other, laughed and talked with Dad, and eagerly soaked in the antics and activities of part of the newest generation, Clara (7 mo.) and Jayna (2 1/2 yrs.).  And we posed.  And smiled even though we were being barraged by mosquitoes.

And then we couldn't go without the obligatory sibling picture, minus Linda.  Pretty soon, if we're not careful, when it comes to age, it's gonna be hard to tell the dad from the kids. 

Happy Birthday and Father's Day Dad!

Harvesting

Sometimes I find myself dreaming about the "good ol' days" and how people used to live off the land, hunting their own meat, harvesting their own crops, and making their own everything.  Whenever I read about a long ago homemaker there appears in my mind this image of a lovely young woman stepping smartly just outside her kitchen door (screen door, mind you) to pick whatever vegetables or herbs from her convenient and always plentiful and immaculate "kitchen garden".

I know that's not the real picture but they did, out of necessity, have to fend for themselves and I'm really grateful that we don't have to work that hard.  Mostly I'm grateful because if we did have to live that way, I'm afraid my family would have withered away a long time ago.  

This morning I harvested my potatoes.  I'm actually pretty proud of my little collection of spuds but this is it!  This is the extent of my 2012 potato crop.  Bob would probably say I dug them up too soon but, good grief, those plants have been out there since February and I'm getting sick of looking at them.  So this is it.     

We also have tomatoes.  But these aren't from our crop.  If it weren't for the generosity of our sweet neighbors I'm afraid we'd be homegrown tomato poor because, while we do have tomatoes, we don't have much luck actually harvesting many.  Every year I think I'm ready for that pesky hornworm!  This will be the year that I win!  But every year that thing beats the socks off me.  All the books say just pick them off.  Are you kidding me!!??  Of course I'd pick them off if I could see the little varmints.  But they are very very cleverly invisible when they want to be.  I've even been known to go out at night with black light in hand because I read somewhere that it worked..........I wouldn't suggest it.  I guess it worked all right but it also made great story fodder for my husband to tell at any given dinner party.       

The moral of this story is that I'm just happy that it's not imperative that we grow our own food and make our own whatever.  If I want to I can do it but if it doesn't work I can just hop on my trusty bike and go get it at the store.   Or I can rest in the knowledge that I have some really thoughtful and generous neighbors that I can trade with.  Yep, I was able to give them some eggs.  Life is good on the Jacobs farm.

Phase Two--Lasagna Anyone?

I can't really take credit for this lasagna method of gardening. I got the idea from my sister, Linda, a couple of years ago so she's the one that did all the research and experimentation. I've just been able to benefit from her brainwork and good advice. Not the first time she's been a wealth of knowledge that I've greedily seized upon. Gardening is just one of her many talents!

The idea is to make starting a garden bed easier by not having to dig out the existing soil.  I dug out a little trench to lay the border of bricks for my new garden area that matches the other side.   



Then I laid a thick (when I say thick, I mean LOTS of newspaper--I had to go and raid the dumpster at the Denton Record Chronicle to have enough) layer of newspaper on top of the grass and then soak all of it. 

Just a view from the other end.  I actually did spray just a little weed killer around the border of this area but not in the center.  I wanted to deter any stray weeds from sneaking out the edges.  I also attached a long piece of small mesh chicken wire along the chain link fence so my soil wouldn't fall out on the neighbor's side. 

About half of my soil came from what Kaylee and Bob dug up to make room for the patio but I did go and get a quarter of a yard of compost for a whopping $7 from our local garden center.  And here on the right is the final product.  You'll have to just imagine how beautiful it's gonna look in a year or two.  And just ignore Bobby's boxers hanging on the line.........sheesh!  Who took that picture anyway??  : )

And this last picture is the view from my kitchen window.  Not much color in my garden right now but I think I need to rethink some of the plants I have in there.  And maybe bite the bullet and add a few annuals.  Oh, and the fencing you see is a must for keeping the chicken's claws out.  The things I put up with to have fresh eggs!   

Those Were the Days

This is what I wore to church this morning.......finally!  I bought this dress on the internet about five years ago and just haven't had the courage to wear it till now.  I'm not sure what prompted the wearing of it today but I just put it on and walked out the door!  I'm a sucker for vintage clothing because of the detail and the femininity.  Women really knew how to dress in the 40's and 50's.   I have a way-on-the-backburner goal of someday making a fru-fru dress similar to those you can see Lucy wear on the "I Love Lucy Show".  Lots of lace and satin!

My mom gave me this dress a few years ago.  It belonged to my grandmother and, boy, was she small!  I actually wore it once back when Bob and I were on the "no flour, no sugar" diet and I'd lost 25 pounds.  It's probably equivalent to a size 8 of today so there's no getting into these days unfortunately.  Of course I love it because it was Grandma's but I also love it because of the lace and the navy slip that goes under it.  So feminine!

Here's a close-up of the same dress  you can see the lace better.

The dress below is one I bought at a garage sale quite awhile ago.  It fits me but I'll probably never wear it and I'm sad about that.  The lace and detail is so cool but it looks a little like a go-go dress or something so I'm just not confident enough to be in public.  Plus, the diamond look trim around the waist and the lace overlay make it kind of dressy and I don't do dressy much.  Also, I just can't get past the fact that it gives the look of wearing your undergarments on the outside!!  I'm just sayin'! 

Blame It On Niece Camp!

Well, the Jacobs family truly had a physical journey last weekend when my two amenable children and my big, strong, hunk of a husband (read on and you'll see the need for much buttering up) pitched in and accomplished fulfilling a little dream I started conniving a couple of years ago, to make a seating area in my garden.  

It all started in 2007 at Niece Camp.  One of the activities we did that year was painting on paving stones.  And then the next year we made our own paving stones by pouring concrete into pizza boxes and then decorating the wet squares with gems and finger writing.  I love all of my paving stones that remind me of my fun nieces and have wanted to do something special with them ever since. 

In a whole separate line of thinking I came up with this seating area idea, mulling that over for awhile, like I said, and came up with a design to incorporate the paving stones into a patio area in front of my garden.  Actually, Kaylee pushed hard to convince me to go ahead and make the plunge.  Otherwise, this dream would have stayed a dream.  Teamwork!

So here's a look at the yard before our three day test of endurance started.       

And we're off!  There was a little mixup in the beginning about who, indeed, was going to be in charge of this project but the one with the biggest shovel won.......it helped a smidge that he also knows just a little something about construction and how stuff goes together.  I do the dreaming and scheming.  Bob makes it real (yawn!) by adding to the mix things like levels, measuring tapes, and the OCD need for everything to be perf.....uh, I mean right!  

We used brick pavers and flagstone.

First we......well, THEY pulled out some of the existing brick border so we (I did help a little!)could make the circle patio fit inside the garden itself. 

I saved as much of the dug up soil as I could because I'm expanding the garden over along the north fence and will need it to do that.  I ended up with this and some trash cans full.   

Bobby had other fish to fry (i.e. hanging out with Jennifer) so Kaylee and Bob did most of the digging.  And there were some sore backs all around later that night, to be sure.  When I wasn't playing photographer I was taking the grass plugs they dug up and replanting them in low places around the yard while also creating lovely playground material for the hens (insert frustration here).  I also sifted and collected the best of the soil to use in the new part of the garden. 



Bobby was back on Monday and Kaylee was glad to turn some of the job over to him.

He laid all the the pavers for the outside of the circle but there were jobs to be had by all.  It was hot and the sun didn't feel sorry for us and let up even one bit.

See, I actually did help a little.  But the afternooon shade helped and brought much welcome relief.

Time for a break before Bobby headed back to Oklahoma.

The semi-final result.  I still need to do the north fence garden.  And I'm thinking a fire pit might be fun.  We'll see!

Here are some examples of the niece pavers that are now part of the patio.  I know Kaylee isn't a niece but I was glad she took part in the fun.

Amy

Sadie

I don't remember why Mimi's ended up on a broken regular brick but there it is!

Erin