Garden Beauty

We get so much joy out of our 3 little garden boxes.  My husband and I both grew up in families who enjoyed summer garden produce by the bushel basket full.  Randy's grandmother was famous for her huge strawberry patch and the wonderful jellies and shortcakes that came from it.  In my home, summers were spent sitting on the porch swing snapping green beans and the smell of canning was always in the air.  Somehow, the ability to garden (and the desire to do so) skipped our generation.  It wasn't until a few years ago that we began to dabble in gardening.  I am pretty sure the motivation was to enrich our grandchildren's lives and let them experience the "ground to table" cycle.  For several years we have had 3 garden boxes off our back deck (about 2 and 1/2 feet high, 5 foot long and 3 foot wide) in which we grow tomatoes, zucchini and peppers.  The kids get such a kick out of watching the vegetables grow and mature.  They help water the garden and pull weeds.  Lately, I have noticed that Randy and I are the ones getting the most joy from these veggies.  I have noted in previous posts that we have added lots more veggies to our diet.  We eat zucchini at least twice a week now.  So, when we saw the beautiful blooms on our zucchinis last week we did a little happy dance (okay, maybe just a squeal of joy!).  The blooms were so gorgeous I had to get my camera out.  We now have some small squash on the vines and anticipate eating these straight from our garden in the next week or so.  I am almost embarrassed to tell you that, while living on 50 acres offers many opportunities to have a large garden, these little boxes are all we have.  Last year we attempted to plant cantaloupe, watermelon, potatoes and corn in our little creek bottom land but the animals and drought wiped the crops out.  So, for now, we are happy to step out our back deck and watch the cute little veggies grow.  We are anxiously awaiting the hundreds of cherry tomatoes to ripen on our one gigantic bush.  This plant is so big and heavy we have had to get fence posts to prop it up.  How is your garden growing this year?

Keeping it Real (maybe too real!)

I blogged last week about Randy blacking out.  As a follow up to his hospitalization, he had an MRI on his back done Monday.  Today he saw a specialist who basically told him that his back was shot and there wasn't anything that could be done to make it better.  Not good news to a man who has been suffering with back pain for close to a year.  Tomorrow he will see the Dr. about his bad knee.  I have been debating about blogging about this and some of the health issues Randy is facing.  And since the purpose of this blog is to record our life (good and bad) as a sort of written history for our children and grandchildren, I felt that this information should be included.
For the most part, we are positive people, so we are choosing to look at the bright side of this news.  It is not terminal.  He has been living with the pain for months, so the news that it is not getting better is really no news.  We have support to help us get through this.  We have each other, and, yes, it is a terrible cliché, but it is true. 
Our life in the past year has changed drastically.  Many of the traditional roles we have had in our marriage have reversed.  He has not been able to work since January.  He has taken on the role of family "worrier", which used to be my role.  He is learning to do things around the house that he has never done before because there was never a need. 
Life will go on.  We will find a way to enjoy life in spite of the challenges we face.  We will continue to enjoy each day and each loved one in our life.
There may be some regrets (mostly that he can't do what he used to do).  But mostly there will be opportunities. . . opportunities to find the joy in life, opportunities to share that joy, opportunities to become better people and be an example to others.  Today has been rough.  Being told that your chances of ever feeling better are slim, is not easy to hear.  Tomorrow is a new day and we will learn to move forward and find a way to make it better.  Mostly, we will remember to laugh again. . . Laughter has always been the best remedy for us and I am certain that this situation is no exception. . . really.

Falling!

On Monday afternoon my husband blacked out in a grocery store parking lot.  He fell all the way to the ground, injuring his knee and his pride.  Some good Samaritans helped him up and he finished some shopping and drove home.  I didn't know about this until I got home a couple hours later.  After two hours of harping and cajoling, I talked him into a trip to the ER.  When  we arrived at the ER, his pulse and blood pressure were very, very low.  He was lightheaded and dizzy. 
To make a long story short (er), he has spent the last two days in the hospital.  The doctors are not really sure what caused the problem, but they are running lots of tests and are changing some of his medications.  He has been xrayed, photographed, magnetized and poked.  He is ready to come home.  He wants his knee to stop hurting.  He is counting his blessings.
Nothing like a little jolt in the daily life to make you appreciate what you can sometimes take for granted.  I am fairly sure that I need to stop writing about this right now.  I think I need to get some much needed sleep so I can face the hospital again tomorrow.  I think it will eventually hit me that he had a very close call and that things could have been so much worse.  I hope it hits me when I am feeling stronger.  I hope it hits me when I am not exhausted and worried about him, our family and work.  I hope I can forget that this happened and go back to not worrying about this happening again.  The bliss of not imagining what my life would be like without him in it.  The bliss of life the way it was before Monday.

Blessings in Threes/ A Father's Day Tribute

I have many, many blessings in my life.  This weekend I am thinking of three blessings that have greatly influenced my life, past, present and future.
As luck would have it, I was born into a family where the duties of parenthood were taken very seriously.  As the second daughter of educators, I was taught to value education.  My mother taught second grade and was one of the sweetest, kindest women to ever walk the earth.  She gave me patience, love, compassion and friendship.  My father taught high school biology, and later became my high school principal.  He did not show affection easily, but he took his parenting responsibilities seriously.  Not only was he a good provider, but he took care of many of our physical needs.  He made sure we were bundled up in the winter, sat with us when we were ill and taught us how to fish and garden (neither took very well with me, but he tried!).  I even remember him drying my hair in the winter in front of our old gas stove.  We NEVER wanted to disappoint my dad and he made sure we knew that his expectations for us were high.  All three of his children completed college and have enjoyed professional careers.  I have a lot to thank my dad for.  I always knew he was there, I always knew he cared.
Thirty four years ago I married the man who would father my two children. I first fell in love with his humor, his passion and his kind nature.  God must have been watching out for me when he led me to Randy, because I could never have picked anyone so perfect, for me, on my own.  I loved Randy when we got married, but I fell completely in love with him when he became a father.  He certainly knew what his priorities were when we found ourselves with two small children only two years into the marriage.  He worked hard to make a living for us and to take care of our physical needs.  He worked a swing shift and hated to be away from home more than anything in the world.  Yet he would leave for work early in the morning, in the middle of the afternoon, or after we were in bed because he had a good job that kept our needs met.  But it was his passion for being a father that I admired most.  He loved to laugh and make the kids laugh.  We have shared hours and hours of belly aching laughter over the years.  He enjoyed sharing his knowledge with the kids and taught our son quite a bit about tools, sports and life in general.  He was a little more unsure about what to teach a girl, but somehow he managed because our daughter has the same quick wit and passion that her father has.  Jessica and her dad are more alike than either of them want to admit!  He continues to be an exemplary father and grandfather.  There is nothing he wouldn't do for his family.
Almost 32 years ago, Josh was born.  He was my baby, my tow headed energetic, ornery boy.  Josh has always made me proud.  He is a devoted son and a good friend.  My admiration for Josh took on a whole new dimension when he became a dad.  There is something so special about watching a child you raise become a parent.  If we ever doubted our parenting ability, seeing Josh with his children relieved those doubts.  Josh is an amazing husband and father.  He, too, works a job that keeps him away from his family.  I know that it is hard for him to pack his bags and say goodbye for 24 to 48 hours at a time.  Several years ago he took a job hundreds of miles away so he could provide a better future for his family.  He hated it, he missed them, but he did it because it was the right thing to do.  Josh is a patient and kind father.  He had a good role model, and he is being a good role model to his children. 
I am not sure why I have been so blessed with the people in my life.  I work with people every day who have very little family, negligent family or family who take advantage of them.  I know what I have is precious and rare.  I try to not take for granted that I am surrounded by people who love me and support me.  This weekend I will celebrate the men in my life.  I will say a little prayer of thanks that I have been blessed to have them!  I will feed them well and honor them and make sure they know how I feel.
Happy Father's Day!!

Tea for Four?

We have had a great deal of rain this spring and early summer.  This has really cut into the outside time the kids and I enjoy.  Last week when I got home from work, the kids had fixed up a "surprise" tea party for us.  They had a great time pulling this together and we enjoyed partaking in the feast.

The Midwest is experiencing floods and the farmers have had a difficult time getting into their fields to plant.  We had planned on putting a garden in our bottom field, but it has been so wet, we haven't been able to till the ground up.  I guess we will have to settle for tomatoes, peppers and squash which we planted in raised boxes by our back deck. 

Holy Cow!

I live in a rural area in the Midwest and have a cattle farm on two sides of my home.  I live with a man who loves meat.  Yet, recently, I decided to dabble in a vegetarian lifestyle.  Let me explain.  I love documentaries.  Last week before we left for Illinois, I watched, "Vegeducated."  This is a film about 6 adults who adopted a vegetarian lifestyle for a few weeks.  The film showed how animal confinement operations work and how animals raised for meat are treated by these big operations.  In spite of the fact that I have been raised around farms, the footage made me sick.  This was not the peaceful rural hillsides of rural America where cattle graze and chickens wander.
This movie got me thinking about trying a vegetarian diet.  In the past year Randy and I have drastically changed our eating habits.  This is mostly out of necessity, since he has been having lots of stomach problems as a result of his recovery from salmonella.  We have discovered lots of new vegetables and have tried new ways of preparing old standards.  Growing up we always had vegetables, primarily canned green beans, tomatoes and corn.  Pretty standard for middle income, Midwest people.  For 33 years I have prepared meals based around this plate:  meat, carb, vegetable.  However, recently, it has been less meat, rarely a carb and at least two vegetables.  A funny thing has happened to us lately, we now plan our meals around the vegetables we have.  Our refrigerator is stocked with kale, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and squash.  When we eat out, we scan the menu for vegetables.  For lunch today we ate at Wendy's and both had a baked potato with broccoli instead of fries.  It was delicious!  This may not seem odd to you, but it is quite a bit different diet than we used to eat.
So, back to my attempt at vegetarianism.  We left for Illinois on a Saturday morning and stopped at Hannibal, Mo for lunch.  The restaurant was called Fiddlestick and offered a wide menu, similar to an Applebee's.  They had a large selection of salads and sandwiches, non of which were free of meat.  I settled on a pasta meal with steamed vegetables.  It was incredibly good.  Steaming hot and perfectly cooked broccoli, carrots and cauliflower on top.  This is going to be easy, I thought.
We arrived in Springfield and after some shopping and relaxing, we decided to eat at Cheddars.  I knew that I would order their vegetable platter, which I enjoy even when I am not reducing my meat consumption.  The next morning for breakfast we had a bagel at a local bakery.  I was feeling really great and had not missed meat at all.  The morning was spent at the Lincoln Museum, which (handy for me) had a Subway within it's walls.  I convinced Randy to eat there, even though he does not like Subway, so I could have a veggie sandwich.  The rest of the afternoon was spent touring the Lincoln home and other area attractions.  That evening we headed to a Cracker Barrel.  I had enjoyed the vegetable platter there before and decided that would be my choice.   I asked for the pinto beans, broccoli and salad, without bacon bits.  When my food arrived, the beans had some kind of sausage in them (which I am pretty sure was not mentioned on the menu) and the salad was covered with tiny bacon bits.  In stead of sending these back I just picked the meat out and ate the food.  The waitress apologized and ended up comping my dessert (blackberry cobbler, my favorite!).
On the way back home, I began to wonder what restaurants I could visit in our local community and stay meat free.  Our chain restaurants are a Hardees (no meat substitutes there), Pizza Hut, McDonalds, KFC, Taco Bell and Subway.  A few local favorites have salads, but no vegetarian main meals.  We eat out one to two times a week, so keeping meatless seemed like it would require a major lifestyle change.
I began to read some about being a vegetarian, and happened to see a facebook post about flexitarianism.  This is a made up word (I think) and means to enjoy meat and other animal products in moderation and increase the consumption of plant based foods.  This idea seems so sensible to me, I decided to adopt it as my new eating guide.  I will continue to enjoy meat, on a smaller scale and keep my lifestyle intact.  Randy is fairly relieved that I decided to keep some meat in my life, as he enjoys meat, even though his body won't let him eat as much as he would like.
I have always considered myself fairly moderate, so this is not much of a stretch for me.  My little meatless weekend was enjoyable and proved to me that I can modify my diet with little or no suffering. 
Please share any vegetarian or vegetable based recipe you enjoy.  I am branching out!!