Relaxed

What a wonderful weekend filled to the brim with TIME.

We took time to R-E-L-A-X and read and

wander through the gardens with butterfly nets

(or just a friendly finger),

Play in the kitchen with sourdough starter,

And so much more.

Who knew that a smattering of days without an appointment on the calendar could yield such bliss?

This Monday morning found me smiling and eager to play some more. Sure we have music lessons and marketing to be done, along with vacuuming and laundering and all the other cottage duties . . . but somehow I could not let the weekend feeling go without one more walk in the gardens before the week truly begins.

I found dew upon the fresh garden faces, which brought a smile to mine.

I sought vibrant color yet to be washed away by the heat of the day.


And I saw the promise of more to come.


The quickly-changing landscape always surprises me. Here sits a shy sweet bud of Anne Boleyn rising to bloom just a day or two ago.


Today she looks thus.


Tomorrow . . . hmmmm, as always, I pause a bit before “deadheading” this beauty when all her petals have fallen. I wonder, as many have through the ages, what really happened to bring about Miss Boleyn’s untimely demise. Evil on her part? Or another’s? I clip ever so swiftly and gently when the need arises. But for today, I shall merely enjoy the beauty of this delicate English rose.


Pondering has been my lot this past weekend.

Pondering why Blogger labeled me “Malicious” and blocked me from blogging for hours on end.

Pondering the similarities/differences found in our Sundays here at Wisteria Cottage and those of a turn-of-the-20th-century Sunday afternoon in France (in the country just outside Paris) as so beautifully filmed in Un Dimanche a la Compagne/A Sunday in the Country – a French film I adore and watched again this past weekend.

Ponderings continued as I finished up a tepid biography of Earl Hamner Jr (Walton’s creator – another fave of mine) and dove right into Where the Lilies Bloom. How did I ever miss this latter gem while growing up? Mary Call’s spunky nature holds her family together through wildcrafting (gathering of herbs and plants for medicine) in her Appalachian homelands. The trials of this 14-year-old who becomes head of household, tethered by poverty and a raft of untenable promises from an insistent parent, tugged at my heart and dredged memories of my own. Sadly the book ends abruptly and without satisfaction. I felt cheated when the storyline cut off sharply with a tidy summary as if the authors (Bill and Vera Cleaver) simply dusted off their hands and moved on to the next item on their writing list. I felt cheated . . . I wanted more time with this rag-tag family . . . I demand a sequel.

I retaliated by moving on down my own list of waiting-to-be-read. While glancing through the pile o’ books stacked to the stars, as my dear husband groans in pursuit of a spider on the ceiling whom he cannot access due to the rolling waves of books piled in plunderous plops next to the bedside, my eye catches the cover of Sue Hubbell’s A Country Year: Living the questions.


I snap it up and carry it downstairs for a re-read. I read this many years ago as an evaluative tool to decide whether bee-keeping held the key to our financial future. I loved the book, though we determined the path to financial freedom held no bee skeps for us. I think this week’s forecast of temps up in the 90s holds the very promise of lazy days of reading. Sue will be a fine companion once again.

Thus, I wandered in and out of the weekend duties as if in a fog of freedom – and it felt WONDERFUL!

This morning I carried my books and breakfast out into the coolness before the heat and breathed in the joy of another week virtually free of appointments.


I smile when I recall the blood pressure numbers recorded each evening – now in normal ranges . . . without medication. I put fork to food and enjoy a yummy omelet filled with sprouts and cheese, and YES there lies a chocolate treat upon the very same plate!


Elizabeth found a most scrumptious recipe for fudge pie in a coconut crust in the Whole Foods for the Whole Family cookbook by La Leche League. Delicious!!! (Whole foods can be fun and sassy when called upon to be a decadent dessert.)

SO in an attempt to carry over a bit more of the relaxed pace of the past weekend, I dove in and enjoyed every morsel of this chocolate goodness.


I intend to keep it up all week long.

Now forgive me if I cannot get to your blog to leave a comment or two, but Blogger has proven to be in a snit with me. (Have I landed on some “enemies list” due to expressing Free Speech? Quite possibly so!) Has any one else found the pathway to blogs blocked? Rather than fume about Big Brother and all the rest of the incendiary politics filling up the American Way of life, I choose to wander on out to visit the chickens. My how they have grown???


The cock-a-doodle-doos bring smiles to our faces each morning we rise in this country life. (No neighbors have grumbled – hooray . . . the joy of country acres between back porches.)

I sip the last of my tea, enjoy the morning, stroke my kitty friends, chat with my children, think about my husband hard at work on a new project, and embark upon another week of living in the country way.

And so I ramble on and away to who-knows-what along the way in the coming week . . .

Happy Monday!

: D