garden wisdom

we were set upon in great numbers by Japanese beetles this summer....the shiny bastards ate their way through my Virginia Creeper...to my extreme distress and dismay.

it seems the little shites can't really be dealt with in any sort of pleasant and earth-loving way so apart from occasional crushing sprees {yes, the earth-love went right out the window} i couldn't do much about their mission of annihilation.

then because i couldn't bear to look at the skeletal remains of the leaves, i asked my Grandad {he's the master gardener} if it would be okay just to trim the vine back and  hope it'd rebound next year. {wherein i shall have beetle traps in place}.

so i trimmed the poor vine back to baldness.

and then whaddya know....

just when the caterpillar thought the world was over,

it became a butterfly.

         ~unknown

~*~

not that it'd be at all noticeable, but i'm taking a bit of a digital sabbatical for the month of September...time to spend some time unplugged...big shifts afoot requiring a greater measure of Presence...

i will be back, though...of that, i'm certain.

yup, still here

it seems strange to just wander back in here.

but i'm going to do that, seeing as how i'm at a loss as to how to segue from nothing to something after several months of absence.

i shall just carry on then, shall i?

~*~

almost September...well, if you believe the newspaper flyers pushing school supplies and the Dollar Store with it's Halloween decorations {wtf? seriously, i saw it with my own eyes}.

it's been a stinking hot summer -- but an enjoyable one.

overall, anyway.

charmed, i'm sure

i do feed him, really. 

 we found ourselves mostly at either the pool, the beach {what passes for such around here} or hiding out in the air-conditioning. thankfully, the well-timed purchase of those two little units of cooling nirvana enabled us to brave the blistering heat more often -- knowing we'd have cool respite on our return.

which was a great improvement over last summer wherein we lay about like great sweaty slugs without the will to move unnecessarily for fear of generating more heat.

so endeth my high-minded notions on the perils of air-conditioning.  i'm still not a huge fan of bottled-air --  much preferring the open-windowed approach but i concede to the reality of global warming and peri-menopausal influences.

'nuff said.

so yes.

busy.

Savannah and her beloved Penny -- so happy she can't open her eyes. :)

things have shifted considerably -- inner and outer.

the 'outer' being in the form of rather monumental financial disruptions -- monumental in terms of near-catastrophic at times which has meant a bit of reshuffle and re-prioritizing.

basically -- those priorities being shelter and food.

i'm not kidding.

not a bad thing -- seeing as how simplicity is what we've always aimed for and craved. the Universe provides and all that....

and this is the way of the off-the-trail, dream-following folk that we are. these are just the deeper, fiscal lessons that come with such wacky notions, yes?

inner-wise...a shift in focus as well. gradually moving toward a more unplugged existence. i  treasure the great value in this interwebby world, but i find myself happier these days with only brief sojourns in the ether before slipping  back to the pen-to-paper, face-to-the-wild-wind approaches of connection.

an effort toward conversation over monologue, y'know?

i must confess to massive influence by certain books --  prompted by certain podcasts. {omg - if you have a minute to spare go and peruse the rest of the juicy {FREE} library over here.}

and then the children.  growing and changing before my eyes -- joy-full and sad all at the same time. i catch myself staring at them sometimes, marveling at their brilliance and Beauty....and getting mildly panicked that it all seems to be moving too fast.

and then there are the days when i'm tearing my hair out and wanting to throttle them.

such is the magic...:D

so we're back in this space. it was a long time sorting out what it might become -- it can't be about an inventory of our days -- they are too much the same and too much wildly different to try and chronicle as such. and for other reasons...more bound up in sovereignty and what is truly mine to share.

so it might look a tiny bit different -- or maybe not at all.

i have a thought to bringing making this the place to pile the moon-stones as well....a thought that this is the place to find those moments of Presence and acknowledgement of Beauty.

which is, after all, the point of everything.

~*~

{i tried to upload more photos -- but Blogger is being tiresome -- so i'll catch up in the next while}

small stones - blogsplash

a little project i'm taking part in.....;)

~*~

Kaspa & Fiona have taken over my blog for today, because they
need our help.

They are both on a mission to help the world connect with the world
through writing. They are also getting married on Saturday the 18th of
June.

For their fantasy wedding present, they are asking people across the
world to write them a ‘small stone’ and post it on their blogs or on
Facebook or Twitter.

A small stone is a short piece of observational writing – simply pay
attention to something properly and then write it down. Find out more
about small stones here.

If you’re willing to help, we’d love you to do things:

1) Re-post this blog on your own blog any time before June the 18th and
give your readers a chance to hear about what we’re doing. You can
simply copy and paste the text, or you can find the html
here.

2) Write us a small stone on our wedding day whilst we’re saying our
vows and eating cake, post it on your blog, and send
it to us.

You can find out more about our project at our website, Wedding Small
Stones, and you can also read our blog at A River of Stones.

We also have a July challenge coming soon, when we’ll be challenging
you to notice one thing every day during July and write it down.

Thank you for listening, and we hope we’ll be returning from our
honeymoon to an inbox crammed with small stones, including yours.

Kaspa &  Fiona

~*~

although i fell out of the habit {what? who? me?} -- i started writing my own small stones here -- as part of the January challenge and plan to take part in July's. it's a lovely, simple exercise in mindfulness -- something i perpetually struggle with...;)