Bounteous Blessings

Sunday nights are cozy, but Sunday nights can also be bittersweet. I love that "settled in" feeling that comes on Sundays, usually right as we are sitting down to dinner. We eat together, we get in our jammies and we snuggle in for an episode of Nature on PBS. Since this is our "routine" on the weekends that we are home, it feels familiar and good and it is something the kids look forward to each week. After the show, they hop off to bed and fall asleep with just a story or two. Then J and I settle in with Masterpiece Mystery. (yes, we do. I especially love Poirot. Oooo and Ms. Marple. :) I read those books as a kid, and I loved them then and I love them now too!) Unfortunately, as we snuggle on the couch, that slightly stressful feeling of "Oh no tomorrow is a workday for J" creeps in. It can't really be avoided. Oh yes, we survive the work week just fine. And yes, I know it's not like he isn't here morning and evening. I do have it so easy compared to some mums that really are parenting much more alone than I. It's just that we like him so much and we want him to be here all the time! And that is what I mean by bittersweet.

Last night we enjoyed our usual routine and just as J was falling asleep a show on PBS about World War II came on. And for some reason I watched it. And I learned that during the war there were American Civilians that were captured in a prisoner of war camp in the Philippines. Now maybe you knew this, but I had no idea about it! I was shocked and horrified. The worst part about it besides being captured of course was that they were starving. Literally starving. Little children died of hunger. The whole show was really eye opening actually. (Thank you Ken Burns.) I went to bed upset, and woke up today thinking about how very blessed I was to be able to make carrot cake pancakes for my family this morning without having to go through hardly any trouble at all. We are so blessed. So very, very blessed.

The rest of the morning was spent working in the gardens, because I felt a deep need to tend to the things I've been given. Here was the bounty from today.

See the green pepper? I was excited about that delicious critter. I've never been too successful with peppers, but this year they're doing great. It looks like there'll be some sweet red peppers soon! Wahoo! There was also a giant bowl of basil that was harvested this morn, and promptly made into pesto. Yum!

Those little grey beauties are garlic. It is small I know, but I hadn't even planted any this year so I'm happy about it! It must've grown from some small bulbs that I hadn't found when digging up last year's harvest. It smells soooo good.

Have I told you about Badger's onions? He planted 100 of them. :) We haven't had to buy onions since early spring. They are getting big now and I'm looking forward to digging them up! I hope we have enough to last through the winter.

Badger helped so much in the garden this spring. He planted the onions, spinach, lettuce, corn, and kohlrabi. And the best part is he wanted to do it! I love that the boys are learning to grow things to eat. Oh, and he also planted the sunflowers and morning glories for the Sunflower House! As soon as it blooms I'll take a picture so you can see it. It's starting to be tall enough to feel like a house now. Fun times. We've so many reasons to be thankful.