Catching Up...

My meandering path has been strewn with distractions since the holidays.

My time whittled away with... life.

Let's catch up.  

We had an adoption in the family. An Australian Shepherd Christmas Eve Puppy.
Don't be deceived by this innocent looking picture... she is trouble and a half...
but we wouldn't trade our Shelby girl.

Cows have been fed, calves have been born, fences have been mended.

Husband and I ran away to Seattle... just for a week, and had a blast!

Traditions have been carried forward alongside cattle auction veterans... and a few newbies who were fascinated (as most city folk, including myself the first time) with the selling of the vials of semen.  Yes.  That's how they do it in the cow world. They're not shy about it either.

I was privileged to capture a small role in an epic love story.

(I got to make the cake and could not have accomplished the feat

 ~ a week before Christmas in Houston ~

without the help of farmer husband).

Thanks hon for being willing... being my chauffeur... being on "cake" assembly duty ...

and even having fun in the process!

Here are the lovely bride and handsome groom, Lindsey and Juan. 

It was a wedding filled to the brim with faith, hope and (of course) love.

Mom and I stealing a moment... despite Houston Dad giving us all a scare by passing out TWICE after the I Do's.  We were left with stories to tell (as usual).

Seasons are changing in our lives... and in the lives of those we love. 

Our farm matriarch is diminishing... and it is normal and expected, but grieves us all nonetheless.  Most especially her... after spending a life of filling her cup...

now her palms must open to let things go. 

I so hope that she finds pools of solace... and joy in the midst of this hard change. 

I hope it for husband as well... and for his sis and brother. 

 Boys are busy growing up... and stretching us all... and learning... and occasionally calling a truce.

Soil has been turned... fragrant and black.

Corn and maize seeds have been tucked in, all snug in their rows...

and are, this moment awakening from their dreams.

Nudged by the alarm clock of moisture and warmth... and Texas black land prairie.

We find ourselves on the precipice of Spring.

I've been pining for flip flop days... and alas... they are now upon us!

My Garden... the Time Machine

Any number of things can "take you back"... to a different time and place.

A song... a scent... a voice.

This past week... my garden caused the wrinkle in time. 

okra... yellow crook-neck squash... zucchini... tomatoes... black-eyed peas

I watched my "Nanny" (Colorado Dad's Mom) pull these same plump treasures from the ground, just a few miles South of where my little house sits. 

Followed behind as her apron pockets filled up and spilled over. 

I helped her hull black-eyed peas... our fingers forcing out the fresh green kernels.

Hers weathered and wise... mine small and nimble.

The thing that carried me away today were the sounds...

As I sat on my own porch hulling peas, I closed my eyes and listened.

I let my ears travel... tilted my head toward a different porch...  a different garden.

A two-story structure on Lee Street in Red Oak, Texas that my Nandaddy built.

Faintly at first... but the frequency quickly grew stronger.

...the aluminum screen door on the front porch ~ tension spring set just a little too tight ~ quickly popping closed with a hollow rattle... the drone of the window unit ~ the drip drip drip of condensation outside on the black soil... the scrape of the sliding glass door... the slowing down of a vehicle ~ tires changing surfaces from asphalt to gravel... the cuckoo clock ticking away seconds above the kitchen table... the internal whir right before the tiny door would click open and little bird would sing out... the startling ring of the baby blue rotary phone... the sound of The Price is Right on the television... her laughter... Nandaddy's voice from another room...
water running in the kitchen sink...

Do you have a place you'd like to visit again?  Close your eyes...
Listen.  Find the symphony where you thought there was only silence.

As sit on my front porch... pinching peas into one bowl... hulls and strings in another... I don't need my eyes to do this chore... my fingers work by touch alone...

I help Oldest Son study for his 7th-grade Texas History final...

I listen intently to this moment... the cadence of questions and answers... repetition of troublesome facts... wind blowing...

I hope he will remember the sounds of this day...

studying at a picnic table stacked with yellow and green...

dirt still clinging...

little brother popping in and out of doorway distracting...

the zipping by of an occasional hummingbird... his mother's voice asking and answering... wheat ready for harvest whispering sweet nothings in our ears.