How Our Garden Grows and Other Things Too

May has flown. It's been full of surprises, some good, some not, but nonetheless, with many blessings! 

Michael built us a garden space over Easter holidays and we've been planting a few things, seeing what comes up, what doesn't. Note, many of our old seeds did not germinate, also some of the newer seeds. But the ones from St. Clare had a very high germination rate. We've also moved our jasmine down and the breeze wafts the lovely scent as I hang out my clothes or write on the back porch.

  

 

  

 

Michael saw a couple of deer a week or so ago by our driveway early in the morning so made sure to get the rest of the fence up! The last thing we need is for them to think our garden is a feeding place ... and look Ma, at the perfect height too!

 

 

The cucumber plants are growing so quickly and I love the little feelers they send out. As soon as they touch another surface they begin bending and make a tendril that's really a spring. And now I might even have a clue as to how that might be regulated, thanks to my time at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding in Cologne, Germany.

Plants always surprise me at how quickly they go from seed to a fully grown plant, or from what might look like dead sticks to a lush tree in the space of a month! Just look at the amount of structure that has to be produced and it's all from sunshine, air, water, and minerals. It's truly miraculous. Like the newest baby in our family!!! That's my sister, my nephew, and his first baby!!! Such a sweetie!!!


We had a beautiful Baccalaureate Mass at Blessed Sacrament and I will not forget what Fr. Babick said: remember to lay down your lives for others every once in a while. Sacrifice. That's what love is all about. Max made his first full fast this Ash Wed. and then again on Good Friday and I am confident he will grow in making voluntary sacrifices for those he loves. I'm writing this a day after Memorial Day and I can't help but think of all the men who've given their lives so that we might be free. And freedom is really about being free to do the right thing, not just anything.

I wish Dagny could've come to this Mass but she was quite sick, with a case of the pox -- we thought chicken pox at first because the blisters on her hands reminded me of them -- but it turned out to be hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD). It's in a completely different family of viruses. She had a very severe case of it, especially on her hands. Poor girl. She'd had a mild fever so I kept her home from school but then she insisted upon going to give her presentation for her English class. And I am so glad I allowed it because the next day I took her to the Dr. and we didn't know what in the heck the little bumps on her hand were, some which were beginning to blister. We had to assume she was contagious until we knew otherwise. She was already exempting all her exams (it pays to have good grades!) so all she missed was a week of school and a couple of parties. There was hardly any new material being taught so the teachers waived the last quizzes. All she had to complete was her digital art design project. 

But then Max caught it. Thud! He's been pretty much done with school after taking his AP exams so it wasn't a big deal to stay home but he couldn't wait to get started at his second job at Dashi ...  Patience. It's a difficult thing to cultivate. We had a lovely time at home together. I was grateful for this because he's going to be busy juggling his two jobs for the rest of the summer.

I've gone on and on (and I didn't even talk about the cats!), but May's been a month of tremendous growth. God is so good to us. All the time. And we can't wait for June!!! I hope it's beautiful for you too.