Playing At The Creek...

I do believe we have found a new summer time activity.  We drove by this spot off a small one lane bridge about a hundred times, but never really saw it until earlier this week.  It is a beautiful little area in the creek, clear shallow water to wade through and look for crawdads and minnows and tadpoles, deeper areas for my son to practice casting his line into (and maybe reel in the occasional little fish if lucky).  While my kids are playing and thoroughly engrossed in their surroundings, I am enjoying watching them and photographing all the beauty around us.  We went two different days this week, and there are plans for a third visit in the works.  Turns out, we can spend hours here before anyone even thinks about looking at the time. 

In the Garden (June 27, 2013)...

First Tomatoes of the 2013 Summer

These are the first tomatoes off the plants this summer.  Please take note, the largest is about the same diameter as a quarter.  Tiny, but beautiful.  I also picked one nice banana pepper, and one good sized jalapeno pepper. 

Green Beans

Dill Flowers

Zucchini Bloom

Banana Pepper

Green Tomato

 I have been watering daily.  It has been very hot, with no rain for well over a week now.  Almost every one of my 50 tomato plants has at least one green tomato on it.  They are looking so promising, that I am out there several times a day checking for any sign of bug, disease, or any pest of any kind.  I say a little prayer with each visit...

Needless to say, I have a little work to do in the weed control department...

Summer Morning...

In the summer months, later nights up playing mean that my kids sleep in a little later.  This means that I get some quiet time outside with my cup of coffee, to listen to the birds and enjoy the start of the day.  At 6:45 this morning, the temp was already heading towards 80 degrees (we may have hit 100 degrees today for the high) and the air was heavy.  Is it possible to photograph humidity? 

High up in this oak, there was a little woodpecker going about his business, looking for breakfast.  I  like to search for one of the pileated woodpeckers that calls our little woods home.  There is always quite an assortment of other birds to be seen and heard, though.  Just a few weeks ago the hummingbirds were so plentiful that we felt we had to dodge them each time we went out the front door.  Now, though, they aren't out as much... I don't know if it is the heat, or if they have just moved on.  

In The Garden...

Garden, June 2013

 This is how my vegetable garden looks today.  The space is approximately 45 x 60 feet.  This is the second season for my vegetable garden in this house.  Before it was tilled up, this little field was pasture to some horses.  The ground is amazingly (especially for this area) ROCK FREE!  This year's garden includes a ridiculous number (50) of tomato plants, about 100 running feet of green beans, several types of squash, cucumbers, and zucchini, several varieties of hot peppers, green peppers, kale, spinach, beets, watermelon, potatoes, and onions.  (I have great expectations for all those tomato and green bean plants.)

I got the garden in the ground later than normal this year, due to a cold and wet spring.  On Mothers Day, a neighbor came and tilled up the space for me.  By Thursday of that week, just about everything was planted.  Now, every day that it isn't raining, I find myself walking the aisles and rows, picking the little weeds and grasses trying to grow up through the straw mulch, inspecting each plant for signs of bugs (I'm thinking of Japanese Beetles, grrrrrrr...), and just trying to be patient and not panic. 

Now, some of the pretty flowers currently showing off in my yard...

 
 And finally, two "pets" who seem to have made permanent residence under our front porch:

Raven the Three Toed Box Turtle

Mr. Peepers

Catching Crawdads...

 

A couple of weeks ago, my husband, son, daughter, and me traipsed down to a little creek close to our house to see if we could catch some crawdads.  Now, mind you, none of us had much experience in crawdad-catching.  Turns out, they are fun little things to catch.  We had such a great time, and being in such a beautiful place certainly didn't dampen our spirits. 

I love doing things like this with my children.  These opportunities to get outside, right in the middle of nature, and get some hands-on experience with animals and their habitats... there is nothing like it for igniting that spark in my kids.  We leave with a million questions, and usually head straight for our little library, or better yet, get online and begin researching. I love the Missouri Department of Conservation website.  It is a wonderful resource for identifying and learning about our local plants and animals. 

Here are a couple more photos of another weekend adventure.  Our first family camp out in 2013!  It happened to be in our yard, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. 

Some Older Photos...

Incredible Pizza, 2013

Broken Arm, 2012

Hurt Back, 2012

At the Sac River, 2013

Ring of Cards, 2012

One of the things I love most about surfing through others' blogs is looking at all of their photos.  I am a photographer.  My work stems from my life and has focused on my children for the last eight years.  A "goal" of mine in blogging is to force myself to edit and organize my photos daily, or at least several times a week, and not let them pile up.

These photos are some older images.  I just wanted to test the waters, so to speak. 

A Little Introduction...

Welcome to my blog.  I am writing this as a way to preserve and sort my thoughts and experiences, so that I can have something to "flip" through later.  Sort of a diary/photo album/creative journal/recipe book/garden journal/etc.   If there is anything in here that is interesting to anyone, so much the better.  I am warning you right now, my life is not terribly exciting or entertaining.  It can be downright boring at times.  But it is real, and it is good.  I am blessed, and I don't want to take any of this wonderful life for granted.  (That is where the blog comes in...)

I have a husband, two kids (a boy and a girl), a house on 6 acres in Missouri, two cats, two dogs, and two guinea pigs.  I am a SAHM, a photographer, and an avid (or obsessed, whatever) gardener.  My family has been diagnosed with Celiac disease, so I am continually trying to learn more about gluten free cooking and baking.  I have homesteader tendencies.  I have a large vegetable garden, and a fledgling strawberry and blackberry patch.  I love photography and photographs, and I never get tired of photographing my children and our daily life (or anything at all, for that matter). Thanks for reading...