Smelling the Honeysuckle

Did you ever find one of these when you were young?

I found this nest and the egg separately the other day and it brought back all these memories of feeling young, summer and pure joy at having found such a treasure.

I wonder if it was just me or if there are other people who have found their peace in the things of nature?

When I was a girl, I found pure joy in these things, a nest and a bird's egg. Sunny flowers would make me smile, the summer sun and a water hose were the perfect combination. Who could ask for more?
Somewhere along the line, life got in the way of these simple things. I forgot to smell the flowers, to watch the birds, to feel the rain on my face.
After all, it was just life and it was hard and wasn't going the way I had planned.

I would cry out to God to change things and make it better. 
I would wonder why He didn't hear me. I would dwell even more on all my problems and seek Him harder. Thinking that I was doing something wrong for God to not hear me. I tried many ways to please Him. It all seemed to no avail.
Then one day, someone mentioned the following verses from the New Testament to me and felt they should be taken literally as an anecdote for depression and anxiety.
Let me share them with you.








~ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin,  yet I say to you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ~ 


These words were spoken by Jesus when he walked on this Earth. 

I remember reading a book written about life in Appalachia. I don't recall the name of the book or the author, but I do remember that they mentioned smelling the honeysuckle in the air. At the time I thought, "that's funny, I've never smelled it before. I wonder why?" I even went and intentionally smelled honeysuckle....but no, I just didn't remember ever smelling it before.

So, I began to implement "the Jesus cure for depression" into my life. First, Tim made a greenhouse and I began to grow flowers from seed. My daughter and I made flower beds that we planted all of these in. I bought field guides about birds, butterflies, wildflowers and herbs. I made and put up bird feeders in my yard and I started feeding the hummingbirds. I began to go for walks just for the purpose of searching out new plants and identifying them. I started making new friends through the internet that had the same interests. Slowly I discovered I was noticing things I never had before. Nature.... that had always been there, began to take on new appearances...or so it seemed to me.  The grass was simply greener wherever I looked, trees were so fascinating to me, I  was noticing flowers and herbs that I'd just never seen before. When I would look at these, I would thank God in my heart for creating them. I would think of Him "looking at all that He had made and saying It Was Good." Genesis 1

Then one day, it happened, I smelled the honeysuckle.... it was in the very air around me and what  a heavenly scent it was! It was surely there all along....At that moment I realized that I was getting better. I was healing from the hurts and disappointments that had destroyed my joy. The "Jesus Cure" was working. 

Have you smelled the honeysuckle today? 

Summer Days and Summer Nights

Hibiscus. Beautiful summer flower. It always begins to bloom when the heat turns up. I grew some from seed a few years ago and ended up with three different colors. You don't know what color you'll get, when you start from seed. They don't always remain true to the mother plant. Beautiful flower, very tropical looking. It's my daughter-in-laws favorite. But then, she loves the heat of summer too.

This is another color with some Purple Coneflower (echinacea) growing along the edge of it. You can also see part of a tomato cage. That's the way I garden. I like to call it Cottage Gardening. Some might just call it a jungle! I love the tangled, natural look of it.
This type of gardening has it's roots in Colonial times and before that, England. The pioneers of this country would often grow their flowers/ herbs/ medicine and to some extent, vegetables, all together. Usually right outside the kitchen door. This might inspire you to make your own. Myself, I just plant it and watch what happens.

Last night, after the sun went down, we sat in the backyard enjoying the cool night air. For my simple camera this is the best night picture I could come up with. Maybe I'll just try to write a word picture for you....

In this part of the country even on the hottest day, when the sun sets, the air begins to cool. The ever present humidity only adds to the coolness. Dampening your skin and cooling with the air. As the light fades, the temperature cools until you are most comfortable. Neither hot or cold.

The fireflies begin to light up the fields and forest edges. First, just a few, but gradually they increase their flickering. I watch the trees darken into soft shadowy mounds. The moon rises just above them.

Then, slowly the chorus begins....Tree frogs, Cicadas and of course the Mockingbirds and other mysterious sounds that I wonder about. Nature has so much to say here. I sit in my backyard and soak it all in. The sounds of summer. The day fades away and once again I sigh in pure gratitude  for His wonderful Creation.

Yeah, it's me again. I know it's been a while, I'll explain in a bit. This picture is just a lovely view from a customers house we worked at recently. It doesn't really do it justice but I did try.

We do love this part of country. It is abnormally dry and yet this place is greener than anywhere else I've ever lived. The wildflowers keep blooming, the birds keep singing and the beauty of it just flows on.

Now for the explanation......drum roll......not really. We have just been extremely busy and I've been making adjustments to that. I've been making a lot of them at this point in my life. Won't bore you with the details however.

When I started this blog I really just wanted a place to write. I love to write. I love to read. I love the way words can be so expressive. To try and describe a feeling or write a picture with words is just a challenge that I love.
Somewhere, I got the idea I should make this like an outdoor hiking blog. I love to hike and be in nature and so does Tim. So, it seemed only natural. However.....at this juncture in our lives the reality is, that hiking much is not fitting in. I have had to come to the realization of what is most important.
This is the list I've come up with ~ God....Tim.....family....work.....finishing our house. I found out by the time I'm done with those not much hiking fits in.
So.....anyone who would like to stop following me may do so completely free of guilt! (smiling) Really!

I intend to keep writing but it will mostly include things from the above list. Although...part of finishing our house will include landscaping "Beth style". If that interests anyone.
To be fair I must also let you know that yes, I'm a Christian, of the "Born-Again" variety. And that is such a big part of me that I will sometimes write about that. Just to let you know. (smiling once again)

Now, if anyone is left....This is my backyard. Or the woods directly behind the fenced in area we have for the grand kids and of course our very hyper active dog!

Another view. It really is a lovely and full of old growth trees. Not sure how old. It's old enough that just past the new growth coming up in the front, is a Woods that is pretty much free of the brush y under growth that is almost impossible to walk through (think jungle) and so common where forests have been logged.



This is the plan....since we can't get out hiking much. I will continue to read my favorite hiking blogs and enjoy it all vicariously. And since we are really blessed with this great little bit of nature in our back yard, I want to begin turning the backyard into a nice little haven. Where we can go and relax without ever leaving home. Hopefully, I'll post about that process.


One final warning. I will post about my faith and some do find that offensive. For what reason, I'm not really sure, but if you do I'm sorry to see you go. I have other thoughts I could add but, I'll leave it here for now. Maybe another time.
I appreciate any who stay and read. You are most welcome here. To be honest, I'm really just writing because I love it so much. It does something for me, to express things in words. I would write if no one ever read it. I don't do it for recognition. I do it because, I have a need to.

Overdue update!

It's been over two months since I've updated my blog. No explanations, just life. I haven't given up on writing here just been busy living. It happens. I thought I'd add a few random pictures to bring me up to date a bit. I work pretty much full time now with Tim. Which is cool! Harder than I thought but then, life is usually like that anyway. Aren't most things we do, that really matter, harder then we thought they'd be? The best usually are anyway.

In February we had a Tornado touch down less than a mile from our house. We watched from the front yard as a funnel cloud formed and came out of the sky. Tim watched longer than I did, I was busy getting supplies to take to the basement. Tim was mesmerized by it. He said he watched as the whole storm cloud was moving fast in our direction. Just as he finally decided he better come in the funnel cloud began to dissipate and what was left seemed to go back up.  But in the distance he could hear the 'freight train' sound of the Storm. He was surprised at the mechanical sound of it. He had always expected it would be more of just a loud wind.
We were blessed and did not receive any damage. Unfortunately, homes just around the corner from us were destroyed or severely damaged. No loss of life! Which was amazing when you see the damage. The above picture is of a lovely old barn that Tim and I had always admired. We felt bad when we saw this. Tim didn't like the idea of me taking pictures of the homes. He felt for the people and it just seemed wrong, at the time, to him.  The whole community has been pulling together and much has already been accomplished in the weeks since this happened.

We've had a very mild winter and spring came early. In fact the above picture was taken on the 30th of January!! We had some cold snaps after that but they survived and kept blooming. I'm sure we'll pay a price in the amount of bugs we'll have this summer. I did enjoy this winter, however and you'll not hear me complain about the bugs. Well, maybe about the ticks.....nasty things!

First Butterfly I've photographed so far this year. My Cherry tree bloomed profusely in March. I am hoping we have more time to get out for some time in nature, hiking, hunting for herbs and wildflowers and just generally relaxing. We are so busy working in our remodeling business and after that we work on our own house! Can't be helped, tis the season of our lives. Just thankful to have plenty of work right now.