I’ve long appreciated the trees growing up around a yard. As a child, my own yards hosted pomegranate, avacado, orange and lemon trees, so I grew up privileged by fragrance and nourishment just beyond my patio. Since moving to the Southern portion of the United States, I’ve been struck by the visual splendor that a tree can reveal. One of my favorite meditative times is just at dusk. I take a walk around my block and let the various trees around the yards dazzle me. Magnolias glow with blooms larger than dinner plates. Crepe myrtles twist towards the sky like sculptures, their white top bark curling back in ringlets to reveal the deep auburn beneath. Nearly every tree is trellis to ivy, trumpet vine or wisteria, and sometimes branches drip with Spanish Moss. Fireflies flash warm white fairy lights among the canopies. The trees here are alive, in a way that science hasn’t yet understood.

What a beautiful story your daughter has, and you and your whole family share in! Congratulations to you all on the upcoming wedding! I completely understand your time of adjustment. I actually finally moved to a part of the state that my partner and I love. But we moved just before the pandemic hit, so it’s been rough going making many connections out here. But even when we lived 6 hours west of here, I felt like a total fish out of water. We lived there for over a decade and it was very difficult for me to make friends. But I love what you said about how things have a way of working out, we should believe it more. God’s love shines through everything, doesn’t it, we just need some time and perspective sometimes to realize it. Anyway, thank you for that reminder. I struggle with quite a bit of anxiety, so your words were a deeply needed reminder and encouragement. I’ve been trying to practice mindfulness more, which does help the anxiety. This site’s resources help a lot with that, I’m so thankful I stumbled across it

I absolutely love that you have such a historical house! Ours was built between 1900 and 1910–for some reason the records on it are kind of sloppy! It did have some basic updates on it when we bought it a couple years back, but it definitely has the old home quirks that make you want to do some remodeling. Like poor insulation! Nevertheless, we love our little home and our historical area. I actually grew up living in old houses and they made such an impression on me that I knew I wanted to live in one of my own one day. I never get bored of driving or walking around the historic district of my town and picking out every architectural quirk and detail of all the beautiful homes. But the maintenance and redesigning must be the real test of love! And I’m so inexperienced with power tools, I probably would have reached for the wood glue from the start, ha! I love how nourishing and established your garden sounds. I loved having a veggie garden here while we were able to keep it. I’d like to build a few raised beds and try for another. We just have so many mature trees here, it makes it very challenging to find enough sun for a garden. But the Summertime leaf canopy over the deck is such a blessing! I do miss working with the soil, though. Anyway, I do hope your kitchen project continues successfully, and that you get a ton of enjoyment and accomplishment out of each day you give a little of yourself to it

Thank you for the warm welcome, and best of luck on your kitchen reno!! That is definitely something I want to get working on over here, too. We have some other home improvement projects we’re prioritizing over the kitchen, though, but I’m very much looking forward to just diving in to all of it and seeing the transformations! So glad you’re getting to enjoy a break, I’m actually taking one today, as well. You said it well, we gotta be grateful for these times of rest!

Thanks for the tip to bring in the crows! I’ve been trying to put out shiny things once in a while, too, like little balls of foil. I think they might just think it’s trash, though! 😆 Oh, I wanted to answer your question on the last convo thread–for some reason that one wasn’t letting me reply. But yes, I do live on an estuary! Our river flows right into a sound. How wonderful that you got to live next to one as well, it’s been such an interesting experience. The ocean life comes right in to us, we even get pods of dolphins on our little river! The other day at a friend’s riverfront cottage we saw a beautiful jellyfish floating under her neighbor’s pier. Glad I didn’t get in the water at that point, ha! But it’s incredible seeing the sea life in and around the water. And you sound like you’ve had quite the run with farming/homesteading! I find that stuff so interesting. We had a little backyard farm with a couple goats and a few ducks and a veggie garden for about a year. It was a lot of work for so few animals! And the ducks were not friendly!😂 But it was a fun experience on the whole, I’m glad we made it happen

Wow, it sounds like you’re living the life!! What an adventurous move! It must be quite the experience to swim in those rock pools. I can’t blame you for staying out of the surf, that’d probably be the end of me, ha! I looked up some pictures of Blue Bottles, now are those the same as Man O’ War? They look so similar, absolutely beautiful to look at, but I cannot imagine getting stung once, let alone 3 times!!! I have to say, I’ve long romanticized the thought of moving off to an entirely different country. I admire that you actually did it, and I wonder, was it a long adjustment period? Did you instantly fall in love with your surroundings? I’m originally from Southern California, and a little over a decade ago made my move to the Southern United States. I instantly loved all the wilderness surrounding me that I realized I’d been deprived of in California. But talk about culture shock!!! I felt like I’d stepped back in time in some instances, and like I’d stepped onto another planet in others! And I swear I felt like I was learning a new language just in tuning my ear to the new accents! So I’m so curious as to what your experience was with your new surroundings, given that this was an entirely different country from where you were born and raised

Just wanted to thank you for this adorable story about the birds. Mr. and Ms. Hopeful, I love it!! My neighbors have a couple bird boxes mounted on their gate that I get to see right from my kitchen window. I think I’ve seen a couple cardinals warm up to them this Spring. I hope I get some awesome observations like yours! We actually feed the birds and squirrels from our back deck. I’m trying to keep the crows coming back, I really enjoy crows. For a while, several of the blue jays and cardinals, and even a few of the squirrels that showed up to our back deck were missing a leg (we have a lot of neighborhood cats!😬) so it was kinda cool that our little feed supply was keeping them alive and healthy!
Also wanted to thank you for the much needed reminder for self care. That is a hard lesson I’ve had to learn over the past few years. Our bodies are precious, and definitely not a renewable resource!

You gotta love those days that are so beautiful even hanging wash out is a joy!!
I do get to enjoy time outside, Holly, thanks for asking. I live near a tidal river, and I’m very blessed to get to take drives through town to see the water. Actually, even my evening walk allows for a water view. It’s one of my favorite times of day, at sunset and right afterwards. I get to watch the sky light up over the water in orange and pink, and then I stroll the neighborhood and watch for bunny rabbits on the riverfront and fireflies all through the canopies of the wisteria-wrapped trees. That’s about when the frogs start their evening chorus. It’s all so magical.
I admire your beekeeping work! I’d love to have a small farm out this way. It’s definitely a goal!!
Do you keep other animals at all?