The Gloaming hour

Yesterday we worked in our yard getting it ready for the winter months. I bought some rose bushes because they go on sale this month, and we ripped out old annuals that had looked beautiful during the hot months, but were now getting leggy and over grown. We also trimmed back the flowers, ripped out the border beds to plant winter pansies, and weeded everything. I moved some plants to better locations, and gave the beds lots of "breathing" room. We went from overgrown to lots of dirt again. The thing about gardening, is that a full bed after a season looks like an overgrown dying bed. It must be replanted for the new season's growth. I hated pulling out things that were still flowering, but I knew that they had to go because they were on their way out and I had to make room for new growth. The new growth is tiny and it looks pretty bare for a month or so, but it pays off with a riot of colors and beauty later. A gardener must be a patient person, and one who must be willing to rip out. God must be a lot like a gardener. How I hate it when He rips things out of my life that I want to hold on to, that need to go, to make way for better things. Bare times are times when God is planting seeds of promise.

We worked in our yard in the two hours before dark. In literature, this is called the gloaming hour and it happens to be my favorite time of the day to spend outdoors. The days is done, colors are softened, it's not as hot out any more, and the sun sends the sky all golden. It was also a happy family time yesterday. We were all happily working. Hunter, Ainsley, and Hunter's best friend who lives next door, Emma, were all playing happily in the dirt while we worked. Tone trimmed back our huge lavender bush, so the air was filled with the smell.

After we were done working, Daddy and the kids played a kind of chasing game with the rubber balls. I'm not sure that anyone knew the actual way to play, but it they just ran around screaming and chasing and throwing balls. It was delightful to watch them laughing their heads off and enjoying each other.

We left the door open while we worked so the kids could go in and out, and that was a big mistake! I came in after working and the ceiling was absolutely covered in flies! It looked like the inside of a barn. GROSS! I will never do that again! I know this trick though. If you put a cup of soapy water under a sleepy fly that is hanging in the ceiling, it will drop in and die. So after we got cleaned up and came in, we spent the next hour catching flies. Tone on a stool with his cup of soapy water, and me on the ground with a fly swatter killing the more rigorous ones. I am still killing tons of flies today, but I think we are down to the last of them. The following picture is a small sampling of what we caught!

In other news: Here is an update on Hunter's birthday on Sunday: We had a family party Sunday afternoon and evening, with extended family over for pizza, cake and presents. Low key and simple. That's the way I do parties. Nothing fancy, and Hunter still feels so special and loved.

I can't believe he is FOUR!

One of his presents was new roller blades. What do you think? I think he'll get it in the next day or so......or NOT. He was laughing so hard, that it was too hard to even teach him. The present he has enjoyed the most is his Lincoln Logs.