When All You Want To Do Is Go Swimming

Ouch, it is the last day of August!

Marking the remaining beach days on the calendar.  The end of summertime fun is hard to bear.  Our warm summer days, lying on the sand and swimming in the big water, are in the rearview window until next season! 

Maybe we will get lucky and have a hot September to pile up the swims to last us through the winter. 

I finished another "freshwater" painting. A picture of a greenhouse I want Steve to build me. I have a floor to ceiling, east facing, window in the basement that I want him to bump out a couple of feet. I am tired of hanging the porch ferns over the bathtub, making a huge mess shedding their leaves. I want to be able to winter over my Geraniums and ferns for next summer.

A girl can dream on a Wednesday morning. 

 

How To Grow A Gardener

Once upon a time there was a baby in the womb. Her mother was designing a garden center. To and fro the mother carried her child around and around the plant materials. Giving the young infant a trowel instead of a rattle. Wheeling her around in Radio Flyers, leaving the stroller at home!

One day the young gardener bought an old house. To make it her own she hung a pot of flowers underneath the gutter that was happily sprouting plantings on it's own.

Filling her trusty wheelbarrow she dropped off plants here and there in the front yard, humming under her breath.

Planting a Western Red Cedar named Whipcord.

Tender Cyclamen nestled in the moss. 

The mushrooms were curious as to what this young lady was planting.

Up the stairs and out to the yard pots of plants, that had moved from her old home, were coming back to life.

And because she was a Lake Michigan baby she had to drop her rocks here and there amongst her ferns and Dandelions. 

The rich humus a dark background for all the greens.

 

I truly believe that your life's calling starts in the mother's womb. As the mother grows her seed the planting takes on a character of it's own. Here we sprouted a latent gardener.

Whether it is music, art or literature what the mama is doing while the baby is growing affects the child. This is just my philosophy! But I swear by it!

I Am A Lake Michigan Baby!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a Lake Michigan baby. I live in Northern Michigan year round just to swim in the big water six weeks out of the year! Yes, it is that wonderful!

Sometimes I take the back roads through the woods and over the hills just to look at the views.

The land masses just roll on and on...

...until you reach the water.

Every color of blue...

...from the heavens to the earth.

Through the trees...

...beyond the sandy beaches. 

In the middle of the day when the light is flat...

...the view is still an amazing photo to take.

I jump out of the truck...

...and make my way down to the beach toting my paints and my beach chair. Watching the waves is like watching the flames in the fireplace. Mesmerizing, I can't stop looking at the movement, the rocking of the big body of water.

 I walk the beach and skip the stones across the tops of the waves. Then jump in and dive under feeling the cold waters below. I swim this humongous whirlpool until every muscle is soothed every bone is chilled. Shaking off the water and lying in the sand to warm back up and then I do it again. Can't get enough of the beautiful blue sky and water in this part of heaven.