In the middle of this afternoon’s crazy weather look what I discovered. Hopefully it will survive these storms…
Monthly Archives: May 2014
hail
Ok Mother Nature, enough already. I did not sign up for another extreme garden makeover.
The hail in Chester County isn’t as big as it was in West Reading, but it was sizable. And now we are in the midst of the second band of violent thunderstorms…..
first strawberry!
When I was little I planted strawberries in the garden beds. As a child I delighted in picking the fresh berries that the birds didn’t get.
This year I decided to plant strawberries again. This morning I picked my first ripe berry. I have to admit it was just as much fun picking that berry this morning as it was when I did the same thing when I was about 10 years old!
Strawberries make an attractive plant, and they are an easy groundcover in flower beds. They like to grow among perennials and roses in particular.
I grow them mostly as a decorative ground cover. I don’t know how many berries I will get in the end every year because I have a lot of birds, but it’s fun to grow them.
When I want delicious fresh strawberries (as in more than one or two) I can either stop and visit Sugartown Strawberries on Sugartown Road, or pick them up at the East Goshen Farmers Market or West Chester Growers Market!
new life for an old barn
It used to be a big red barn. Marooned on the corner of Planebrook and Swedesford in Malvern. I have posted about it before.
Well look at it now. It has been completely restored and adapted to office space. I am not crazy about the brown siding, because I loved the big red barn of it all. but I applaud whomever bought it and gave it new life.
mmmm… roasted eggplant
So simple, so good.
Peel and slice up an eggplant into half moons. Good size chunks of about half of an inch thick, not slender slices.
Lay on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper – a jellyroll pan more specifically.
Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle a little sea salt, sweet paprika, garlic powder, basil, and oregano.
Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 50 to 60 minutes.
Eat warm as is, or drizzle with a good balsamic vinegar over a bed of arugula.
farm cat
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the goats of yellow springs farm
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real and really sad
“Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt
Cyber bullying is a real thing. A mom blogger in Texas is experiencing it first hand. A friend who is a blogger told a group I belong to about it. It has even made the news.
News KVUE.com by KRIS BETTS / KVUE News @KrisB_KVUE
Cyberbullying escalates to stalking, death threat Posted on May 12, 2014 at 10:42 PM
LEANDER — Like most pre-teens, 11-year-old Julia Young’s tan and purple room is usually covered with posters.
Now it’s empty because Julia, along with her best friend Melody Coffey, is staying somewhere private out of state while their families deal with a case of cyberbullying that has escalated into stalking and even death threats.
“All I want to do as a mother is protect my children, keep them from feeling that fear and feeling that invasion of privacy that they feel now that they will never feel safe again,” said Christine Young, Julia’s mother.
Young tells KVUE the cyberbullying began three months ago with a girl she says was once her daughter’s friend at Stiles Middle School in Leander ISD…..After that things began to escalate online and in school.
“Calling her names, saying I’m going to spread rumors that you’ve slept with all these guys and you’re a whore and a slut. Nobody will want to touch you,” Christine says, regarding the girl’s rumors started about her daughter.
The threats quickly escalated on Instagram and public messages that were going out to any of the kids at school following this account, said Young.
It is scary to think this can happen to our kids, isn’t it?
It doesn’t just happen to kids, it happens to adults. I know, because cyber bullying via social media is happening to me.
I had mentioned a parody of this blog had cropped up. It has unfortunately evolved into more of a case of adult cyber-bullying than parody. The suspected architects are those I believe used to be in my life. They haven’t been for years. Yes, years. And neither lives in Chester County. I have zero contact with them or desire for contact with them, and will continue to have no contact with them. Ironically and quite a shame to say, but they left my life (their choice). Apparently and unknown to me until now they keep tabs on me, which is truly so very sad that this is all they have to do all day. I never would have thought they were such empty and hollow people. I just figured when I went on with my life, so did they.
Every day they put an inordinate amount of time into scouring through anything I have written in the hopes that they can skew it or make it ugly and dirty. They pepper their writings with digs at others in my life and negativity about anything and everything. Unfortunately for them, every day it makes them look more sad, more stuck, and more twisted. They act as if I am a public figure, when in fact I am just a regular every day person.
Yes, cyber bullying is against the law, but some people feel that this is their God-given right, so it is not my job to dissuade them of that notion. The fact that adults older than I am can spend their days being eaten alive by envy, jealousy and anger is such a shame. Think of all the good they could do if they used their energy for good or anything positive, right?
Am I upset by all of this? No not really. I don’t need them for any self-validation and bullies of any age or stage of life are to be pitied. What they do is a cry for help in their own stagnant and stale lives. They should be pitied and prayed for. As should anyone dumb enough to buy into what they are desperately trying to peddle.
You see the biggest problem they have is that I am happy. And no amount of negativity can rob me of that. I choose to share my thoughts and photos and whatnot on this blog, and I will continue to do so. What is happening also makes me realize how very lucky I am and blessed.
So while I appreciate your concern my dear readers, I am fine. But you should pray for people who are so unhappy that they do these things. What is that quote about people who love themselves don’t feel the need to hurt others? Sad, but true.
Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the beautiful day.
nesting
How sweet is this? It’s a new nest a robin has been building.
fifty
Fifty.
How old that seemed when I was a kid, and now it is just a beginning.
I am a bundle of emotion today I find. It has been quite a journey getting here.
Well, that is what life is, right? It ebbs and flows, changes and evolves.
I am really fortunate and really blessed to have the friends and family I have. I find myself remembering other birthdays I have had. From when I was very little to a few years ago. A veritable potpourri of memories. Kind of cool.
I love where I am now.
In life, we grow and change, and we come full circle. I believe I have come full circle. My late grandmother had a saying – you always come back to what you are from.
How true.
I am where I am supposed to be and who I am supposed to be with. I am lucky enough share my life and birthday with the most amazing of men. I love and I am loved.
Life has many twists and turns and bends in the road. What you thought would be at fifteen or sixteen is completely different by the time you hit your twenties. Then there are the thirties and the forties. Every decade is different, but if you are lucky you have awesome people in your life who see you through every decade.
I have been lucky that way. I have amazing people in my life, and a lot have been there since I was the littlest of girls.
As we go through life people enter and leave our lives. You don’t get to be fifty without that happening. It’s ok and it is part of the cycle of life.
Being fifty is like standing on the edge of something new. You have everything that came before, and now you find yourself looking forward to what lies ahead.
Three years ago and a few weeks before my then birthday, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It made that birthday a little bittersweet and even a little scary. But dealing with that made me really value my life and those in it.
With age comes acceptance. Not that I consider myself old, because I don’t . You learn you can’t be responsible for the actions of others, only your own. You learn (sometimes with difficulty) that things are beyond your control and that you have to believe in God or whatever higher power you choose that it will come out all right in the end.
Today I dedicate my post to my friends and family. You are the ones who lift me up and I want you to know how much you all mean to me. Thank you for being on this journey with me. Cheers to the next phase of life and thank you so much for making my life special.