See What's In My Yard!!!

I love living here. When I lived in New Orleans, the only thing that grew was the trash in the street.

Here, I'm surrounded by yummy smelling and breathtakingly beautiful plants.

If you think honeysuckle reminds me of summer, the picture below REALLY takes me back to my childhood.




I LOVE the smell of mimosa's. Not only that, but they look like little "firework explosions" when you hold them. They are also tickley (as my daughter would say) when you brush them against your nose (when you're inhaling the oh, so, yummy smell).



In about another month or so, these will be delicious blackberries. I love being able to just pull them off and pop 'em in my mouth. My mother would prefer that I wash them first, but I've been eating 'em this way for YEARS and I'm not gonna change now. This is truly organic.



Can't tell yet if this fig tree is male or female. We've still got a couple of months before they are ready to eat (if they can even be eaten).



We have a plum tree!!!!! I pick up at least 10 a day in the yard. They are plump and juicy and delicious and smell like heaven.



This is blooming near the front of the house. The color varies from light blue to lavender to a mix of the two colors.

I also discovered that we have gardenias growing outside my kitchen window. Talk about a heavenly smell!

I also have wild roses, black eyed susans, oaks, pines, honeysuckle...it's truly a wonderful place to live.

Later,

Mama Dawg

Simple Things

After Hurricane Katrina, I had an epiphany of sorts (you like that? I used a big word...L, don't be mad).

I was always someone who really didn't care what people thought of me but at the same time, I took care not to do anything that embarrassed me or light of my life too much. I know that's a contradiction but it's more like I didn't care what people thought of me as a whole but I did get embarrassed if I made a huge faux pas or tripped and fell or something like that.

Anyway, after Katrina, I took it up a notch.

I decided to start letting myself enjoy the simple things in life. I've always enjoyed the simple things in life but I "realized" this about myself and due to this enlightenment, it increased my enjoyment tenfold.

Example:

Because my mom's down in New Orleans, light of my life is having to ride the bus to my grandmother's house in the afternoon and she's being looked after by my other aunt who's up for a visit.

I'm to call them when I'm about 15 minutes or so away from home and she'll meet me at the house with my daughter in tow on their way to taking my grandmother to walk at a local walking track.

Well, I called yesterday and my aunt said that they weren't ready yet and that she would just bring her home when they were done doing whatever it was they were doing.

I said, OK, and hung up.

I got home and was at a loss for what to do. I knew I needed to get dinner started, but since it just consisted of thawing some tilipia fillets and then putting them in the fridge to marinate in a lime cilantro sauce, that wouldn't fill up my time.

The house was also awfully quiet without light of my life and my mom there.

So, I poured myself a glass of red zin, grabbed my book (World Without End by Ken Follet for those of you who what to know....wonderful, wonderful sequel to The Pillars of the Earth), and went out on the front porch to sit in my swing and read.

The weather was gorgeous and there was a slight breeze.

This was nice....however, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I wasn't completely satisfied by this. I wanted something more.

I stared out at my yard and saw the wild rose bush. I got some clippers and a glove and went and cut some flowers to put in a small vase to brighten up the house.

As I came back towards the house, I decided to sit down in the grass on the small hill to pick the thorns off the roses.

As soon as I sat down in the grass, I knew what I needed.

I needed to lay down...in the grass...and watch the clouds.

So.....that's what I did.

What it did for my soul, I can never describe. That reconnection with the outdoors did more for my soul and psyche in 15 minutes than anything has ever done before.

To just sit there without any external distractions (iPod, TV, books, refreshments, etc...) and stare up at the sky and listen to the buzzing of the bees in the trees and the smell of fresh cut grass and the feel of a few small bugs (nothing that bites) crawling on me occasionally, it was heaven.

I live right off the highway so cars were going by and I'm sure that they thought I was crazy (I live in a very small town....2000 people or so, so I'm sure that word will get around about the crazy lady that lays in the yard).

With all the hectic things that go on in our everyday lives, it's nice to be able to stop every once in a while and lay in the grass looking up at the clouds.

Anybody else have any simple things that they use to relax or get enjoyment out of?

Let me know.

Later,

Mama Dawg

Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap.....

....that's the sound you would hear if I was wearing heels and the floor wasn't carpeted. My leg is just tapping along 90 miles a minute.

I feel like jumping out of my own skin.

I hate this feeling. It's not an anxious feeling. It's a feeling that can only disappear by me turning off my computer and going home.

Maybe if I tap my heels together (instead of on the floor) 3 times and say "there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home", I can magically find myself at home sitting outside on the swing or up on the hill doing some yard work or sitting on the porch picking my nose.

Anything's better than being at work on a Friday while it's GORGEOUS outside. I hate being cooped up. Why can't I find a job where I work outside? Ugghhh.....TGIF.

I need a beer or a shot of tequila or both.

Later,

Mama Dawg