A Little Walk With Me

This was my surprise (sorry it's blurry) when I went out to check on my garden Monday morning. If you remember, I am a "finder of hearts". I believe they are intended for anyone who seeks them. 

It's about 75 good steps to the bean patch. I've been trying to be more physical since my back is sort of kind of maybe feeling a little bit better. :) I love fresh green beans. We were blessed to be able to give away 2 bags of our "firstfruits" to our parents and my sister. I love having a plentiful garden to share. And they all know who to come to for pickles and zucchini too! They are growing like crazy!  

The Butternut squash are looking good! I can't wait for fall harvest to put some "Sunshine" in the freezer for those cold winter days. 

The tomatoes are looking a little tired. I hear it's not a good year for them. Well, the tomatillos are looking good beside them anyway. Salsa verde is on the horizon and that makes us all very happy! The herbs have been wonderful, although I haven't been able to keep up the weeding. I love being able to pull fresh dill and parsley out for my salads, and Steve loves the rosemary, thyme, and oregano for the meats he grills. I think we lost the cilantro somewhere between the mint and something unrecognizable. That happens in August, i think!! 

My mom gave me this Hydrangea bush a few years ago. She was moving some things in her beautiful yard. I love her cast-offs! It is quite happy in my front landscaping. I love that some of the flowers are lavender and some are blue. 

The swallows have gone again and taken their little family off to see the world! So the sign has been moved and my front door is in use again. Yes, I closed off my entire front porch for swallows. Wouldn't God do that? Yes, he already does! He makes sure they are fed, doesn't he? And I kept the hawks away the best I could! :) 

Thanks for taking a little walk through my garden and out my front door with me today. I get a little lonely sometimes out here in the big woods! I get to thinking about that a lot. Though I don't use the term "best friend" (I find it really trite and exclusive), my oldest friend lives 3 hours away. When she comes to visit her hometown (here), she has to rush here and there to visit her parents (in their 80's and failing health), her husband's widowed mother (in failing health), her many siblings and their families, her husband's many siblings and families, and sees absolutely no friends. She has made no friends in the city they moved to a few years ago. We have been apart for almost 18 years. We have seen each other sporadically in those years, but it's never enough time. We talk on the phone every week, but true friends need more than that! We need each other's time. With kids and family and busy husbands and pets and houses to take care of, friends often get left behind. I should be sharing my garden with her, cutting my flowers for her kitchen, and sharing our teenager stories out by the pool. For some reason, distance has robbed us of that.

 See how one blog post turns into another with me?She is heavy on my heart today as I write this.  She needs prayer. Her husband has been working in another state for the past several years, keeping their family in limbo. They don't live together and don't see each other enough at all. It's why I don't push to see her when she's here. I want her to spend her time with her husband when he's home. Her desire is for him to find a job that would unite them all together as a family and bring them back close to their parents again, where they ultimately want to be as a family. I was talking with her about my garden this morning, but maybe I was thinking more about how she needs roots again. How she was uprooted and has never felt settled and able to flourish in the city they are in now. It's because they need to be a family all together in one home. Please join me in praying for that to happen.