Time

Photo by Pixabay at Pexels

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Around the farmhouse this week

• Robert's Bookstore, Lincoln City
  • A break in our routine
• Mother's Birthday!
• Planting
  • Bush beans, beats, more radishes
• Chicken plans
  • Not going to happen
• Quilting bee
  • what a nice way to visit with friends
• Rain, rain, rain
  

Quote for the week

"When I walk into a garden I can embrace the present moment by pondering a single flower. The more beautiful and effervescent the flower, the more elusive and fragile is its life. Beauty by its very nature is fragile. Touch it too roughly and it's gone, grasp it to firmly and its petals fall away. It must be held onto lightly and gazed on attentively or it slips away. You cannot analyze it or pull it apart to see what it's made of or how it got there, if you want to experience the flower in the field. So, too, are our lives.
Concrete yet so elusive."
Father John Eudes

I feel the passing of time is a bit like trying to grasp olive oil in your hands - impossible to hold on to it, but the little bit which clings to your skin smells warm and rich, sun-washed. Even if you wipe the oil off your hands, you can feel the difference its presence makes. Father Eudes quote is longish, but it's stuck with me all week. Our lives are concrete, elusive, and available only moment-by-moment.

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Dear Farmhouse Diary,

We took a day to visit the Oregon coast and one of our favorite bookstores: Robert's in Lincoln City. It's been quite some time since we last visited Robert's and in that time a number of changes have taken place. In addition to the ubiquitous mask requirement, we had to make an appointment to browse -- thank you, Covid19 -- which worked out beautifully for our schedule and allowed us to browse alone throughout the shop.  But the bookstore itself had undergone a few changes, as well.  Robert's is cozy and well-stocked with current, vintage and rare children's books. The Boss always looks for P.G.Wodehouse. But their ever-expanding stock of used books needed pruning and I noticed fewer children's picture books. Sigh.  All-in-all it was a perfect break from our routine -- our favorite bookstore and the unpredictability of Oregon's blustery weather at the beach.

My mother celebrates her 78th birthday this week! Wow. I'm glad we were able to visit with her earlier in the year -- she lives about 2,200 miles away -- but wish I could see her on her birthday. A phone call is good, but not quite the same. I did know the perfect gift -- a family portrait!  The portraits taken as my Mother's Day present are BEAUTIFUL -- especially the final shot of a family dance party! Mom sent a text to let me know she had to redo her make-up after opening the gift  -- I knew it! Perfect.

Not much progress on gardening or planting around the new fence, but I did manage to sow bush beans and beats in one of the newer garden boxes. Also, planted more radishes -- they grow so quickly and are quite delicious on their own or chopped in tuna fish or chicken salad.  Our rain this last week reminds me of wet Rose Festival parades growing up. Seems like the second weekend in June is historically wet but I don't remember the last few years being this wet. 

I have decided we won't do the chicken thing. Yep. They are right out. A few weeks ago we had the privilege of watching the Little Guy and the Donasaurus overnight. It was the first weekend for my daughter's chickens to be outside; thus it was important we make sure they were in the coop to stay warm after dark. Do you know you need to encourage chickens to enter the coop -- okay, chase the chickens to catch them and put them in the coop without letting the others out! -- while they are learning new habits outside?  The Boss was far better at the task than I.  But this last Nonna Duty visit included the chickens escaping from their fenced area during the day -- repeatedly. Again, the Boss was far better than I at getting those three little chickens back into their yard.  It's time to admit I am not a chicken girl -- they are quite a bit of work and I can totally understand why the Boss would not want to have chickens if he is stuck with chicken-duty.

Always good to know your limits!