Hello Again

I have had a lot of complaints because I haven’t been writing in my blog lately. Can you believe it? Complaints. I didn’t even realize that people looked forward to reading about my life in the cornfields. So I am going to try to update you on everything that has happened since February 3.

February? Oh my, it has been a long time.

So should I give you all of it, the good and the bad? No…not today. Today I’ll give you highlights of the good. It is too beautiful a morning to talk about bad. And I’ll start there…..It is a BEAUTIFUL morning. The wind is not blowing at gale force, it is not raining buckets and there is a strange yellow ball in the sky that we haven’t seen for SOOOO long. I couldn’t sleep in today because the sunrise woke me up. Yep, we had a sunrise. It was a glorifying site. With the heavy mist in the creek bed, the land around us looks like what I imagine an English countryside to be. And it is mornings like this one that justifies to me moving out to the country. Quiet, peaceful, green….everything I was looking for.


This morning’s sunrise.

It has been so long since I’ve written that I am apt to forget a lot that has happened. I should have kept a log. Let’s see….

Work went well in Marshall this winter. I finally got home April 19th. Because of all the bad weather and snow…Oh, right. No bad news in today’s blog. Work went well.

Hubby got to see something I have longed to see since I was in high school. A whooping crane. So it was exciting and wonderful news, even though it was second hand for me. It was migrating north from the Wisconsin flock of whoopers. Hubby saw it resting by the creek a mile away from our place and as he drove by, it flew up and headed out. To be able to see one of less than 400 wild whoopers was so special for him, and by proxy, for me. We find ourselves looking at the same spot every time we drive by, in hopes of seeing it again and probably will for years.

The garden is finally in and growing. I hope the fall frost holds off as long as spring did, so we can get a good harvest. This year we have the ever present onions, tomatoes, pole beans and yellow squash. We have shifted a few things around and are not doing bush beans this year. They take up too much room for so little result. We have added more cukes and broccoli; we double the amount of peppers, both green and frying varieties. And this year we are trying small eggplant and some of my favorite herbs.

My peonies were glorious this year, if only for a short time. The high winds managed to shorten the bloom time, but since all are finally staked, I didn’t lose any plants. And I got enough blooms on most to finally identify them. Of my mother’s plants I have a Festiva Maxima, Monsieur Jules Elie, Myrtle Gentry and two I can’t identify. Of the homestead rescue plants I have a Memorial Day, Laura Dessert, Felix Crousse, Sarah Bernhart, and Shirley Temple (I think). Of the rescues there are some I haven’t been able to identify and some more that are not blooming yet. Then I have purchased a Chocolate Soldier in memory of my brother, a Philippe Rivoire and a Raspberry Sundae to replace those left behind in Piedmont and a Duchesse de Nemours because I wanted a pure white. This sounds like a lot of peonies and it is. Between what I brought from my parents house, saved from the old fence line here and purchased I have about 27 plants. Some of the rescues will be duplicates, because I dig up all the little shoots that come up in the yard and replant. After a couple years, they are full grown plants and blooming. I hope I have them all now, because I am running out of room in the sunshine. Don’t tell Hubby I said that.

Rescued Sarah Bernhart.

We finally have outside work done enough that we can go fishing. Hubby got a new (very used) little boat for lake fishing and I have my entire fly fishing gear ready. We just need a good day. Today would be perfect……

Daughter and granddaughter both have very good grades in school. Brook has figured out her majors and is focusing on Psychology. Along with work and raising a teenager, she is busy studying hard and hopes to be finished in a couple of years. I am proud of them both.
We have had some medical scares in the family, most have turned out well. But I think I’ll leave that for another day.

This blog is starting to sound like a Christmas letter, all the year laid out in little paragraphs. And as much as I like to know what is going on in someone’s life, 365 days is a lot to put in one letter. Or in my case, 145 days. So I am going to finish up and try to get this posted.

It’s good to be back. Hope to talk to you soon.