The Mountain Thymes

 Six months on this date has passed since I kissed Cliff's face for the last time.  At first the time passes painfully slow yet now I look back and can't believe it's been six months.    Each summer he watched the blooms develop on his lilies waiting for them to open each morning.  The past couple of years though he didn't see the flowers because deer would eat the sweet blooms early in the morning. This year his lilies made it all the way to full open flowers.  I told him his lilies were open and beautiful.  About two hours later as I was making my bed in the little room I spotted one doe having his lilies for breakfast. Looks like another blossom trying to form. We've had so much rain this past week that the rivers are thick with clay runoff.  Yesterday stormed off and on all day with periods of heavy rain and close lightning.  The weather station was taken down when I had the shed moved and hasn't been put back up.  I miss see the bar...

 Green and yellow beans are almost ready for picking.    Cucumbers coming in slowly.  Red salvia (self-seeding) are growing everywhere between other vegetables and I allow them to.  Hummingbirds and other pollinators love them.    My first zucchini!  Didn't even know one was growing under those large leaves.  Also found a watermelon growing.  I've never planted melons.  The compost heap is full of seeds that grow voluntarily.  I shouldn't even plant seeds from a packet, just spread the compost and let nature go from there.   Fava beans.  I love fava beans.  They bring me back to when I walked from our home down the gravel road, past the bulls, which scared the daylights out of me because my older brother, Chip, used to tell me the bulls would charge at me so I had better run quickly past them, to the Portuguese Club where I bought their delicious fava beans during festivals.  This morning I enclosed the...

 I slept better last night, all night, but am still waking tired.  I added a 3 mg melatonin to my nighttime routine about three months ago, a suggestion from a retired nurse who thought it might help me drift into sleep and calm my mind.  So for the next week at least I'm dropping the melatonin to see how I feel when I wake.   Yesterday afternoon we had strong wild winds bring in thunderstorms.  Trees twisted and lost leaves and branches.  You understand their strength when wind looks like it's pulling them out of the ground yet they spring back straight up.  I thought Cliff was overboard with all the battery backups but after yesterday, I understand his madness.  There was a continuous flickering of power for about 15 minutes.  I turned off the A/C and the TV even though they are protected by battery backup. The generator does come on until it sense about ten seconds of power loss.  A friend just a few miles away was without power ...

 When the phone rang late this morning and Mark's name showed up, fear and anxiety took over my mind. Mark rarely calls and it's always in the evening if he does. Mark sends quick texts. Not a great one as his brother, John, for conversation.  My first question when I answered was are you okay? He gave a little chuckle and agreed it was out of character and his routine to call, especially during the day.  Mark has been driving package deliveries for Uber and Walmart while he's between jobs and was sitting in the Walmart loading zone for a twenty minute wait before he could pick up his next load and decided to call me. Somethings are just too much information to text so he called to ask how I was handling my issues.  Since the shed was moved almost two months ago, I've been waiting for the driveway to be graded and the hole filled in.  In order to have the shed moved a couple of volunteers moved all the huge container gardens to various places around the yard dam...

  "no words needed".............................. Went to Walmart yesterday morning after walking Konehete Park    and noticed the 3-burner grill I had looked at a couple of months ago for $149 was marked down to $96.  Into my cart it went and my neighbor on the north side of my house offered to assemble it for me.  Actually, his wife offered to assemble it until she saw how many directions and pieces it had and told Charlie he could do it.   It'll be so pleasant to do fish outside again and not splatter it all over the cook-stove (NC terminology). Also, bought a light lilac butterfly bush at Tractor Supply on the way home and with last night's pouring rain the ground was very workable for me.  This past winter the one degree temperatures we had around Christmas killed some of my established bushes and perennials. I'm still looking for the deep purple one.  After I planted the new bush I weed whacked the lower yard beyond the fenced garden, r...

 Some mornings are emotionally rough, especially with so many being cold and dreary and slow to see the sun.  We've had low 50s starts which makes the house cold, to me.  My mornings begin with a warm shower and 20 minute yin yoga slow stretches to get the kinks out.  As I type this at one o'clock, the temperature has reached 80.  Unexpected emotional ups and downs are draining, tiring some days and long dark dreary mornings trigger the blues.  I've also been overwhelmed with the state of clutter and unfinished projects for months that I have no control over. This week I began to feel some relief as a few tasks showed signs of completion.  Weeks ago the shed was moved exposing the sinkhole.  To move the shed a friend from station 25 disconnected the power and finally got time to come back, extend it and hook it back up.  So now I have lights in the shed again.  Also weeks ago before the shed was moved all the large plant containers were ...

  My wild daisies that grow along the side of the road and are seen popping up everywhere that isn't mowed or weed whacked to perfection.  They are creative and free spirits bending in a spring rain and waving to and fro with a breeze.  They are resilient as they straighten up after thunderstorms and each spring with their shallow roots grow in dry conditions along our dusty gravel roadside never disappointing me.  Our acreage is full of these wild beauties this year because I didn't keep up with the weed whacking so nature delighted me with her smiling daisies.  While I enjoy Mother Nature's gift my Tonka weed whacker remains quietly tucked away in the newly cleaned out shed.   I went to the gym this morning and walked the loop outside then did some gentle floor yoga with Mary Anne.  Worked in the garden pulling weeds, lots of weeds when I got home.  Tomorrow morning volunteers should be here around 8:30 to empty the truck bed and return the...