Trees and Things

The Southern Pine Beetle claimed about 30 of the pine trees in our side yard, and they came out this weekend. We also took out the big queen palm (Micah will be disappointed, but it was leaning toward the house. Our neighbor had one come down in the last hurricane.), all the melaleuca (an exotic), and a few others. It's a big job, but it had to be done sometime. The yard can definitely stand some landscaping, but in many ways it's better. The back of the property is very pretty now that we can see it, I won't have pine needles in my pool anymore, and I won't have much risk of trees falling on my house during hurricanes. It looks a little naked, but it reminds me of how the Israeli immigrants of the 40s revived the desert. Anything is possible!

The kids have thoroughly enjoyed trepsing around over all the stumps and dirt.

Noah went garage-saleing today and found a 14 x 6' trailer for $20. It's rusty, but solid.
They had been planning to sell it to someone for $10, who never bought. Apparently they cost almost $1000 new. It was hiding in the bushes; who says money doesn't grow on trees?

It's been really rainy here, and lots of mosquitoes to boot. Er, to bite. We're dealing with it. Just looking forward to nice weather and thanking the Lord no hurricanes have come.

Well, enough of the boring stuff. The kids had a great bedtime. Micah gave Levi a kiss, and Levi promptly replied, "nite, nite." Considering their boyish, competitive nature, I get a lot of reassurance from those moments.

Little Survivalist

Micah is turning out to be quite the survivalist. He is always bringing things to me and asking if they can be eaten. Lately, he has taken to savoring the flesh of the queen palm seed. We have a huge tree in the front yard that is continuously dropping "berries." They are orange, and mostly hard, but are covered in a fibrous, sweet flesh thats about and an eighth (or two) of an inch thick. Micah scrapes off the flesh from the fibers as if he was eating an artichoke, and chews on it forever. Natural gum, I suppose. We should probably start a plant identification course for our yard. Then the little squirrel might learn to avoid poison ivy and deadly nightshade. Pictured at left are queen palm fruits (not poisonous, but not generally conceived as edible, either; typical squirrel diet), berry from the "jamaican cherry" tree we're growing, and a leaf from the "cranberry hibiscus" shrub (tangy, and supposedly good for teas and salad, though we've yet to try).




Another joy he has is looking out his bedroom window for "ground apples" as we call them. The vine is really a nuisance weed, but produces a spiny orange pod with slimy red seeds inside. It's really known as a balsam apple, and is related to the cucumber and bitter melon species.
The kids do not like them (I had to fry one for Micah one day, because he thought he might rather like it cooked), but I have seen them sold dry in bulk online. My first occurance with this was when Micah was about 18 months old. He was playing by the front porch, and I discovered him eating something bright red. I grabbed the flower and leaf, and shot off to the computer for a few moments of bristling fear. Now I love the moments he wakes up in the morning, bolts upright, and looks out the window shouting, "look mom, grOUnd aaap-ples!" You'd think it was snow.

Seed thoughts

The heart is a garden
Where thoughts that we think
Are the seeds that we sow.
Every kind loving thought
Bears a kind loving deed,
While the thought that is selfish
Is just like a weed.

We must watch what we think
Each minute, all day;
We must pull out the weed thoughts
And throw them away.
And plant loving seed thoughts
So thick in a row,
That there will be no room
For weed thoughts to grow.

W.M. Walker


in our garden

 

dream harvest
(grown in Immokalee)




micah's birthday watermelon
(it wasn't ripe :)

TO BE A CHILD

A Day In The Life

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."

The challenge is to distract yourself long enough to keep your mouth from watering.

Although I enjoy my job as a stay at home mom, I always find myself short in the qualities it truly takes to succeed. We're not talking about being uneccessarily hard on yourself. We're talking about bread and butter-- the simple logistics of what it takes to succeed as a family, and even as an individual.

Mom hereby announces that she is in the middle of a battle of selflessness, having chosen the road of least resistance too much to win easily. I am on the uphill, but luckily God is on my side.

Micah and Levi are growing in so many ways, and are our livelihood. Micah just turned 3. We would have some posted some pictures of his birthday party, but he slept through the whole thing. Poor kid wasn't feeling well. At least his guests had a good time. We saved him a piece of cake, and of course he enjoyed his presents upon waking.

Levi is 1 and going strong. He's a tough little critter, but loves to nuzzle in soft blankets. Noah and I have a running bet as to when he is going to outweigh Micah, but haven't decided on the jackpot yet. He loves to follow and play with his brother, and especially to sit right in the middle of the action. If I'm reading, he comes to sit on me. If Micah's digging, he tries to sit in his lap. If there is a toy, he'll get right on top. It's pretty funny, but I try to guide him towards respecting other people's space.

Micah is becoming a deep sea diver. He can get breaths of air and dive down to retrieve quarters, a Leatherman, or whatever else Daddy has decided to throw in the water. Levi loves the water too, and can hold his breath and float a little.

Speaking of which, Levi is crying. I'll have to continue this later.