Something yummy this way comes...

Jul 22, 2023

Yippee! It's closing in on grape season! If you've ever been here you know we have a huge grape arbor in front of our parking area, what I like to call the Leaning Tower of Grapes. It's a 30'x20' area that the previous owners built using natural cedar posts but, maybe, not sinking them in concrete first? Not sure. All I know is that these old vines are slowly but surely pulling the whole structure to the west. Yikes. We think we've come up with a way to put new posts in, maybe in the fall once everything has died back again.

These are Muscadine and Scuppernong grapes and some are starting to pink up! I was talking about these on Nextdoor this week and someone said they were the "grapiest grapes" they had ever tasted—exactly! And the sweetest too! They are great to show to kids because what's more fun than picking your own food, rubbing it off on your shirt, and eating it? But wait, there's more! You get to spit out the sour skin and seeds too! LOL Maybe they'll be ready in a few weeks:

Can you see the spiderweb in the grapes? I love the way it's lit it up like a rainbow:

In other news, this weekend was crazy. I went out to see Dad and Delores's house they just bought and when we came back inside from looking at the yard, Dad was touching his chest and sitting quietly. Uhhhh... When I asked if he was okay he said that his chest hurt a little and it seemed to come on out in the heat. We went back to his house and it wasn't getting any better.

They ended up going to the hospital and after a bunch of tests found out that he was probably going to need a stint! Jeez! I met them at the hospital after he was admitted and we hung out for a few hours. He didn't need anyone there so Delores and I went to our separate homes about 11:30pm. I asked her to text when she got home. Instead she called and said in a wavery and surprised voice, "Julie? I was just in an accident!"

OMG! I got back in my car and drove over to spend the night. Apparently the guy blew a .4 and was hauled away in handcuffs. She was hit in the back, driver's side quarter panel, which had the car shooting out multiple airbags on that side. She did a 360 in the intersection but no one else hit her thank God. We went the next day to empty out the car and it was scary to see the damage and interesting to see how the airbags explode out of the headliner and the side of the seat. She is okay!

And! Dad had one stint put in and he's okay too!

My aunt and uncle went to the Outer Banks earlier this week and texted this pic that she took. I can't wait for my alien hunting friend Mary to see it! LOL I assume it was taken from inside a restaurant and those are reflections. I hope so... ;-)

THE RANCH:

The Teen and the Twins are doing well:

The Twins are still in the fuzzy baby stage:

I was out doing chores Thursday morning with James, a teen who volunteers here. We were walking up to get the horses out of the upper pasture and just as I was thinking, "Wow, look at..." He said, "Look at all those dragonflies!" There must have been 50 flying around the upper pasture!

So of course I had to go look them up :-) A little "hello!" from the spirit side is one explanation and another is "transformation." So I like to think, "Hi Mom!"

But also, as I sit here writing this on Friday afternoon, I'm worrying about upcoming health tests Saturday at 10am and 3pm (send good thoughts.) I Love Lucy has come over to me maybe...20 times in the past hour. I've taken her out. I gave her a snack. I played with her. But she continues. So I tuned in to see what she was saying. Her words were, "This moment. This moment. This moment." To pay attention to THIS MOMENT and let those worries go. :-)

I searched my my favorite site and she repeats the transformation theme but also there was a little quote among her words:

"Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life." -Omar Khayyam, Persian mathematician

She also says: Further symbolic meaning of dragonfly comes into play when we observe the dragonfly's mode of transportation as it skitters across the top of water surfaces. This implies that our deeper thoughts are surfacing and we must be mindful of the outcome we wish to have. The dragonfly is a reminder that when our deeper thoughts rise to the surface we must pay attention—there are lessons to be learned, and we are also reminded that what we think is directly proportionate to what we "see on the surface." ...In short, our thoughts (even the deeper ones that we might not be as in-touch with as we are our conscious thoughts) are responsible for what we see in our lives—in our physical surroundings. ❤️

I took this photo Friday morning, because they were still dancing around me:

And then I remembered that I had a dragonfly give me a message back in 2020 and I created this watercolor from it:

It's been fun for me to watch the changes around the 4 fairy houses in my front garden. The moss has matured into a nice front lawn for this one but also there is an impermanence about them as well. This was the first one I made, I've learned a lot since then, mostly how to make them stronger and to sand the wet hot glue areas so those areas look like the chinking between logs:

This is the second one and it isn't faring so well. Making a roof with lightweight and flimsy lichen probably wasn't such a good idea but it sure was cute to start:

The third one is for a very modern fairy lol. Kind of a strange shape with a lean-to roof and glass but she does have a very cottage-like swing on the right just above the mushroom:

My brother found those little ceramic mushrooms for me, aren't they cute?

And finally the triangle fairy house has grown some mushrooms around and in it and, amazingly, that frog (the same frog??) is still there! Toward the bottom right of the photo. I'm beginning to think that she has taken up residence in that fairy house!

The callas are in full bloom and if you're local and wanting some for your yard, set an alarm in your phone to contact me in the fall:

Some pretty weed:

And Trumpet Vine:

And I was at Lowe's with my Aunt Katy last weekend, found these and couldn't resist. I seem to have a knack with African Violets:

THINGS I SAW AND WANTED TO SHARE:

I saw this on facebook and thought, wow, if every parent could do this with their children, imagine the world in 20 years:

How many of us in our 40s, 50s and beyond are JUST NOW learning to say NO? Learning that it's okay if we do? I'd say there is almost always a piece of my coaching work that is about that!

Speaking of coaching, a fellow Equine Gestalt Coach wrote this—I thought it was beautiful and I wanted to share: