Farmgirl Follies

Frosted flakes of patience

Posted by Farmgirl on February 16, 2010  |  5 Comments

 

I could have taken a photo of the snow … to show it now reaches above my knees.

But I didn’t. I couldn’t.

I needed some green. I needed something more than the black and white, slightly gray and crystalline world in which we’re living. I needed photos of something more luscious and cheerful than three feet of snow on the ground in eastern Ohio.

So here you go … photos from last summer. When the world was sunny and green and bright and colorful and seemingly happier than this cocoon of white that envelopes everything, including creativity.

Enjoy.

 

 

Luscious, intoxicating lavender.

 

 

Small-town parades.

 

 

Kids with frogs (or toads!) in their pockets and grass stains on bare feet.

 

 

The tempestuous beauty of a summer storm.

 

 

Saturday night ice cream cones.

 

 

Big, bright, beautiful blooms.

 

 

Free-range chickens!

 

 

Raspberry pickin’. And the poison ivy that followed.

 

 

Summer lovin’.

 

 

Lush green fields and dusty dirt roads … the road less traveled.

Very much less traveled at the moment.

Certainly not easily traveled.

 

 

But spring is coming. It is. Perhaps not soon enough for me … but …

“To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.” 
                                         ~Ecclestiastes 3:1

 

I just have to be patient. Enjoy my frosted flakes.

Three women. Three secrets.

Posted by Farmgirl on December 1, 2009  |  5 Comments

 

I love books. I love to get lost in someone else’s story. These two books just arrived. The first, The Jesse Tree, is a daily devotional of sorts for Advent. Each day the kids and I will read a short story and some Bible verses. Then we will cut out a paper ornament, bedazzle it with glitter and hang it on our Jesse tree (the ornaments are included in the book). I’m hoping it will help us maintain a focus on the true reason for the season.

The second book, Barefoot, is for pure reading pleasure. At least I intend for it to be a pleasurable read — haven’t started it yet. But let’s look at the title. I am all about going barefoot. Ding-ding-ding! Look at the artwork on the cover. I’m not much of an ocean person — more of a woodsy girl — but the sight of rolled up jeans just screams warm, summer sun to me. Ding-ding-ding!

It was the first sentence of the description on the back cover that made me select the book, however:

Three women, burdened with small children, unwieldy straw hats, and some obvious emotional issues …

Helloooooo. That just screams Farmgirl … the kids … the straw hats … my sisters and I … and our obvious emotional issues. I’m sure, after reading this blog, that you agree at least on the last point!

Need gift ideas for your loved ones? How about a great book — personal, practical, engaging and unique. I mean c’mon, a book about women with obvious emotional issues has to be just right for someone on your list! And if not, why not a straw hat?

Happy holiday shopping season and merry Christmas to you, your loved ones and your emotional issues!

Love,
Farmgirl and family

Just a swingin’

Posted by Farmgirl on September 3, 2009  |  1 Comment

 

It has taken me three decades and three kids to understand something I learned at age 3.

Forget Calgon and bubble baths and massages and chocolate. They don’t really solve the melancholy when life is overwhelming and the chaos begins to overshadow the joy. What you really need to do is kick off your shoes, head outside and hop on a swing.

Point your toes to the sky.

Feel the rush of the wind.

Revel in the warm sunshine on your face.

Before you know it, you’re smiling.

See … they know the secret to happiness.

 

 

And why should they be the only ones to enjoy the to and fro?

 

In 1917 …

Posted by Farmgirl on August 16, 2009  |  4 Comments

 

… this group of hooligans couldn’t be imagined.

No one had an inkling they’d some day come to be.  No one could have imagined so many blonde-haired (and a brunette!), blue-eyed ornery wonders.

It’s thanks to this lady that they’re here today.

 

 

 

Happy birthday, Grandma Sara.

Thanks for birthin’ my mama … thanks for keeping my siblings and I on a straight and narrow course, or at least trying to.

Thanks for the sleepovers and cinnamon applesauce and Nutter Butters and new dresses for piano recitals. Thanks for the notes of encouragement and wisdom that arrived regularly while I attended college … and for every important event and period in my life.

Thanks for loving me for 35 years.

And thank you for loving this barefoot brigade …

 

 

… even if you don’t always remember their names or know who they belong to, they can feel your love. It seeps out of the very ground on which we walk.

And they love you, too.

 

 

 

Especially when there’s cake!