the weekend : soul provisions

Do you ever sit,
when the day is done,
in whatever blessed spot that beckons you -
and just think...
Wow.  This.
This Peace,
this calm,
this light,
this melding
this...
Perfect.


There are a few things that have brought us to this particular point-
and first is the driveway.
While we love our home, and it suits our needs very well,
there are some things that we have to deal with - one being very large trees that provide lots of wonderful shade -
but that also limits our garden space.
Something less desirable than beautiful trees is our second driveway - it's a roughly fifty-foot long, ten foot wide piece of asphalt that we've been trying to banish from our sight and thoughts for six or seven years.  The thought evolved over this last week that we could try to chip out a bit of it.  So we bought a pick-ax.
Which cuts into that driveway like a dream.
So we are in the process of tearing up and removing forty-two feet of an unwanted driveway.  (We're leaving a few feet up by the garage.)
I can't begin to express how happy this makes us.
I mentioned the other day the possibilities of this are a wonderful thing... this year we are having dreams of the apple tree we've just planted....
And we're planting rows of corn.  And we have extra space for more tomatoes. And we're considering a little patio area...

So abundance and blessings show themselves to us by way of an idea.  Instead of a not particularly-liked space that heats up tremendously under summer's sun, we'll have the west side of our home be cooled by beautiful, living, green things.  Like apple trees and holly hocks....

Saturday we spent much of our day visiting three local nurseries.  My favorite perennial place, a local organic and heirloom nursery, and then another favorite garden shop of mine that has lots of natives.

We're planting our onions,
and we're putting up the teepee for beans and cucumbers.
I've finished the medicine garden.

 (heart's ease, mullein, poppies, catnip, foxglove, lamb's ears, peppermint, spearmint, chives, garlic chives, chamomilie, thyme, nicotiana, cinquefoil, delphinium, yarrow, sweet basil, hollyhock, lettuce, st. john's wort, phlox, calendula, lavender.)

And the (kitchen) herb garden is beautiful...

(roses and phlox, peppermint, sunflowers, lavender, lemonbalm, rosemary, st. john's wort, sage, chives, bergamot mint, bee balm, oregano, green onions, yarrow.)

...even though most things are just tiny, still.

We've hacked
and turned

and hauled

and loved

and dug.

Yesterday we heard Boys.  In our neighborhood.   
 Four of them.
We got to meet them.  And play.

That's pretty much how Trev spent his day.

 
It is odd to me that sometimes I forget - 
After just one day of sunshine
and hard, hard physical labor
and Warmth
and having my toes and fingers in delicious soil
and knees caked with dirt
and seeing regular visits by the hummingbirds
and bare feet -
that this, all of This
is so perfectly nourishing.

When the day is done
I sit and listen to the birds, and feel the warm air
-blessed warm air-
I feel connected
and at peace
and sustained.
Like I've been filled up
with all the goodliness Mother Earth has to offer.
It's like I've been reminded
of who I truly Am.

So, yes.
One can go from
"Is there enough?"
to
"Thank You.
"Thank You.
"Thank You."

And now...
One more day of sunshine, today,
and how many reasons to be grateful?