WayfaringStrangers

Ok, so I'm a first-time gardener, right? Clearly I am. And since I'm honest about my garden endeavors on this blog, do I have a story for you I've been excited to see my radish plants growing well. I have a whole row of them, and can't wait to pull some up and add them to a fresh salad. That's me, the Radish Queen. After some research and my grandpa's advice, I decided that I should pull up a radish today and see if they're ready to harvest. After all, I didn't want the roots to get too fibrous and stringy. So out to the garden I went, with an audience of two (irritated) little boys. Up came the 'radish' plant. It came out too easily. And guess what? There was NO red bulb in the root. I sniffed the plant, and then suddenly it dawned on me that I am an idiot. The entire row of "radishes" is indeed a row of tomato plants. I must have mislabeled them on the trays when they were planted! To make matters worse, I also realize that I must hav

Since Seth left for his deployment, we've been praying for him and looking forward to his return. We finally got to celebrate his homecoming- praise the Lord for His faithfulness! Here's one of the pictures we couldn't wait to take: All these sweet babies. 4 babies born in less than 4 months! How does that even happen?? We couldn't have planned it if we wanted to. God made it happen. The weekend was full of baby adorableness. Here's Seth playing the mandolin that the siblings gave him as a home-coming gift. And a cigar my bro Tim gave him. He liked both gifts :) The weekend was really fun for Behn and I because Seth got to meet Graham (and all the other bebes) for the 1st time. Behn and I enjoyed 4 days spending time with family. My parents and brothers Tim and Stephen both got to be there for the family party/dinner too! We missed Isaac and Elizabeth, Olivia, and Aaron though. The next weekend- well, Friday night- Seth and Emmy stopped by here in VA on their way to

Is it Part 6? I've lost count. What is this I see??? A BEAN! My first produce from my garden. This is exciting! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with 1 bean though. The reason there's a stick and some twisty ties on the bean plant is because one night when there was a frost warning I laid a tarp on my garden and it snapped this bean plant in two. But I propped it up and it seems to have recovered!

*will post pic asap...Behn took the camera to work today* Graham turned 5 months old on Sunday! We were busy having a wonderful family weekend, so I'm a few days behind. At 5 months Graham: Rolls over front to back Giggles Plays with lots of different toys Scoots forward pretty well Splashes in his bath. He's done this for a while, but now it's getting serious :) Is getting more and more peach fuzz on top of his head "Blows raspberries" aka- spits Grabs his toes! (this just started this week) I'm sure there's more, which I'll add in later if I think of it. Trying to catch up on laundry and such today, after being gone 4 days...

One of the nice things about being married to the branch manager of a library is that I have access to lots of books and DVD resources. If there's a book I want, he can get it. If the library doesn't have it, he'll order it for me. When I was pregnant, Behn ordered a DVD of "A Baby Story." Both Behn and I think it's dumb when libraries use public money to purchase mindless blockbuster hits, but there are a lot of educational films out there that would do people good to see. So when Behn told me that a patron had requested that he order "Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People," I begged him to bring it home to me as soon as the patron returned it. It's a 3-part DVD series produced mostly by the National Science Foundation, with other grant contributors as well. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I admit I have a romantic nostalgia about these mountains. I figured the DVD's would discuss the natural beauty and the hardy mountain

There were just too many titles for this post, so I had to code it. R.S.= Rockbridge Symphony , which is where Behn and I were last night. I think Behn and I wore these same outfits to Isaac and Elizabeth's wedding...and to our friends Jeff and Rachel's wedding...what can I say, we don't have very diverse wardrobes :) Hannah's Mother's Day gift to me was to babysit G so Behn and I could go out. It was really fun! I was impressed, being that it's not a professional symphony and that it's made up of local talent. They played Bach (messed up a little on that one, but made a good recovery in the end), Tchaikovsky, and my favorite Ashokan Farewell by Unger. G was a good boy for Hannah, so everybody wins. M.D.= Mother's Day . Last Mother's Day I was preg, so technically that was my first Mother's Day. This one is fun though, because Graham is here and I don't feel nausious. He's such a little blessing, and I love being a mama. It's teachin

Graham started rolling over front-to-back a week or so ago. Behn decided he 'should be rolling over by now' so we spent a few minutes here and there on the floor with him, encouraging him to get those knees under him and roll over. Didn't take much time for him to get the hang of it and now he rolls over all the time. I'm going to admit, since Graham was about 10 weeks old, I've let him sleep on his belly. He's not been the best sleeper, and I was desperate to try anything. I have a great, underlying fear of SIDS, so I've been nervous about this and often wake during the night to check up on him. He's a strong little guy though and he's doing just fine. Anyway, I think Graham has taken his new-found independence of rolling over just a little too far. Now when he doesn't want to nap (though utterly exhausted), he immediately flips to his back and howls until someone comes to put him back on his belly. Then he does it again...and again. All while c

If anyone thinks Rockbridge County is boring and there's nothing to do here, they are quite mistaken. I love it here. Often, there are too many options to choose from. Sure, there's no shopping mall, Target, or Starbucks, but who needs all that? Appalachian Trail, Goshen Pass, a million small trails (Chessie, Brushy Hills, etc), plenty of camping, Boxerwood Nature Center, Virginia Horse Center, Rockbridge Symphony Orchestra, Lime Kiln Outdoor Theater, Hulls Drive-In Theater, Bluegrass Festivals, VMI sports, W&L Sports, Historic District (lots of tours available), various art galleries, Rockbridge Vineyard, Farmer's Market, community festivals. Besides all that and more, VMI and W&L often have plays and musical performances going on. I seriously wish I had the time to enjoy everything. Today we went to Boxerwood. It's an amazing nature center/preserve boasting hundreds of species of native plants and creatures. There's a creative kids play area and so many ar