Spring Has Sprung,The Grass is Riz, The Flowers Is!

One of the things that gives me great pleasure in this life are the change of seasons we enjoy here in the Midwest. After a long hard winter I am usually fighting the doldrums and flowers bring me such joy! Surely God planned the most beautiful flowers to come after the gray winter to cheer and encourage us. I love getting out and working in the soil.

The lantern and flowers to welcome spring!

This spring has been such a wet and cold one that I finally went out and planted my first seeds in the rain! I just couldn't wait any longer. As Keith told you in our previous blog post, the salsa garden is in and getting a good start. My rain barrel is doing a great job to help keep the water bill down. During a spring like this one, it's a good thing it has an overflow spigot! I think I could have filled a dozen or more!

The front shade garden

The front garden has been an especially fun place to plant since it adds to the "sit-ability" of the front porch. Since that area would not grow grass we decided to give in to the natural habitat and grow a shade garden. We've been adding things for a couple of years now and it's really taking shape. The small water fountain I added last year is running again and I planted a Lasting Love Caladium directly in front of the porch. Right above it you can see the new porch box I found at a nearby discount store (yeah Gabriel Brothers! for those of you who know it). It was fun going back up to the Amish green house to pick some pretty flowers.

The bargain front porch flower basket

So now we can sit and entertain on the front porch surrounded by the beauty of some of God's floral creations. What a blessing! After summer I'll be glad for the fall and then winter but let's not think about THAT yet!!! Everything in its time.

So, if you are passing through Ohio this summer, stop by and have a sit on our front porch at....

We'd love to have you!

The Sun Came Out Today

The sun came out today. Trust me, that's NEWS around here. Actually it came out one day last week, too. We're in the spring weather cycle of one day of sunshine for every six days of overcast and/or rain. But we are definitely into spring. In fact, as hard as it may be to believe, we're only one month away from summer...

We've had our second set of Mourning Doves raise a family in our front porch nest this spring (previously used by three generations of Robins), flowers are up, trees have all their leaves, we're mowing twice a week (if it's not raining), the climbing roses are getting ready to bloom, and Karen's been planting.

Here's one of our Iris's after a spring shower.

Karen's 2011 Side-Street Salsa Garden is in! Lord willing we'll be canning salsa by late August.

Jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, grape tomatoes and the monster Mum bush...

Roma tomatoes, bell pepper plants and our other monster Mum bush.

And the climbing roses just before bloom.

The roses are just a tad late this year but that's no surprise after our longer/colder winter and darker/wetter spring.

I'll see about having Karen post some pictures of all the planting she's done. We hope you're having a great weekend. Thanks for your gifts and prayers which enable us to serve!

Nine Men, Two Planes

Here's my latest video project from up at the hangar. It's been several weeks since I've produced a video, but my energies of late have been rather focused on an HR administrative project. I hope you enjoy the video.