Purple : 3

We pick-up my daughter from camp today where we left her on Friday. We've missed her!

Farm Day

Chasing ducks,

befriending dogs,

discovering bones (what is this and do I really want to know?),

and running by the lake,


while the moms talked and picked huge, plump, ripe blueberries for more jam making from the overgrown, "secret-gardenish" maze of towering bushes.

It was a farm day in Florence, Mississippi, during a heat wave (105 degrees heat index). It was worth the sweat as I hope you can see.

Purple : 2

Back to basics with a blanket-- a project with a friend--my turn for a few rows! Just wait 'till you see the entire thing finished!

For My Son

My son found this caterpillar on our parsley plant. Do you see it at the top of the leaf munching holes through my parsley? He went outside during the heat of the day and decided to look for it. We knew that we might have caterpillars on the parsley, because we have had them before in years past when my parsley has been decimated to the ground. I have since learned that the caterpillars may become black swallowtail butterflies. As soon as my son found it, he wanted to "Google" some photos. We came up with these amazing photos of the life-cycle of a black swallowtail. We moved this little guy, named "Foxer," into the container that we used for our monarch rearing.

It has been a fun few days with my son. While his older sister has been at camp, he has been an only child for a few days. We have taken walks together, read together, worked together, swam together, sewed together, and made some blueberry jam together. I have a prophecy that he may be "Nature Guy" at camp someday because he is infinitely curious about all things nature. For now, however, I can enjoy little "nature guy," his many questions ("How does an egg get fertilized?" he asked while eating his boiled egg at dinner tonight), and his caterpillar project at home.

Purple : 1

freshly made blueberry/lime jam stacked in the garden window

Miniature

little tomatoes, a little pepper, and a little Lima bean

First, Then, Next, Finally

Steps Towards a Saturday Morning

First, we picked the berries.
Then, we made the bread and jam.
Next, we enjoyed the jam with toast and tea.
Finally, I assembled the photos for a blog post and had another cup of tea.