Summer Challenge: Green vs. black

Okay, so those who know me know that my thumb is ANYthing but green when it comes to keeping plants alive.  If it is green, I’ll kill it.  But I come from a line of ladies who could grow just about anything.  Both of my Grandmamas have a thing for all things green.  My Grandmama N. has always had some sort of flowers around the house and my Grandmama L. had a garden in her backyard where she grew eggplants, cucumbers, and a whole lot of other things that I apparently didn’t care too much for since I don’t remember anything but those.  Her favorite flower was the Geranium and I apparently inherited her love for those flowers and will always associate those flowers with her memory.  This year, something tickled my fancy and I decided I was tired of having a black thumb.  I am determined to keep a few pots of flowers alive through their season and hope to even put a few veggies on the table as well.  I decided to start small….two pots of Geraniums/Begonias for the front porch (which I gotta remember to get a picture of eventually….once I finally clean the porch so it looks somewhat presentable), and then a pepper, Roma tomato, and zucchini pot on the back porch. 

The blue pot has the bell pepper plant, the middle red one is the tomato, and the end red pot is the zucchini.  I have to toot my own horn here because I actually have TWO little tomatoes growing and both the pepper and the zucchini have major bulbs and flowers on both which have to mean they’ll sprout veggies…right?!

So, that’s my challenge I’ve taken on this summer.  Here’s hoping that in the next month or so I’ll be posting pictures of my plate with the veggies I’ve grown myself! :o)

What's in a name?

So, I had toyed with the thought of starting a blog and Etsy shop for quite some time and finally talked myself into starting this here blog (nothing like jumping on the band-wagon’s band-wagon).  But, before one can do either of the above, a name must be decided.  What will you call your "shop?"  What will you call your blog?  Deciding on a name is of upmost importance.  After all, that's what people will remember you by, right?  So, I thought....and thought....and thought some more.  Nothing.  Nada.  Not even an inkling of something that sounded both catchy and memorable....not to mention meaningful to me.  I dabbled at a few suggestions, discovered that half of all word combinations that I remotely liked were already taken, and then settled on something less than perfect.  I wrote my “Welcome aboard!” posting and haven't touched my blog since.....until now.  So, why the change of heart?  The sudden clarity?  It's a story I don't think I'll ever get tired of telling.

It all started with a Disney movie I had watched a while ago, The Princess and the Frog, and continues with a book I just read called Firefly Lane by Kristen Hannah.  The movie was a cute, rather touching movie (like all Disney movies...to which I'm completely addicted), but after watching it then it hasn’t seen any air time…until the other night.  The book on the other hand touched me.  Big time.  (If you're looking for a tear-jerkingly great story about friendship, I highly recommend!) I thought about the story for days; wondered if I could do something “firefly” related.  Yeah, it had that much of an effect on me.  But nothing I came up with made sense.  Nothing sounded right.  After a rather rough week attitude wise with the dear daughter (she's 4 going on 14), for some reason she asked to come outside and water the plants with me.  I rolled my eyes and said sure.  After drowning watering the few plants I've been able to keep alive, we stood out on our deck just looking at the yard.  That's when she asked me about lightening bugs.  I told her the "they only come out at night to play" and the "I don't know if we'd be able to see one or not" but she kept persisting.  I gave in since she had actually been rather decent that afternoon and let her stay up a little longer.  We stood out on the deck for maybe another 10 minutes or so, looking in the dark areas of the woods when suddenly, she noticed one.  Her excitement grew as she saw another, then another.  We rustled the hubby up off the couch and he headed down to the yard to attempt to catch one.  About 5 minutes later, we had a dear little firefly to torture play with.  R wanted to catch and hold it soooo bad, but wouldn't bring herself to actually touch it.  We finally let the poor thing fly away, but R's excitement about the event was absolutely precious.  We ventured back inside (for fear of being carried off by the mosquitos) and the whole time R was peppering us with questions about the poor bug.  All of a sudden, I remembered that cute Disney movie and the lightening bug who was in love with Evangeline.  I couldn't, however, remember that bug's name.  So we made it our mission to watch the movie in the morning, and that we did.  Raymond.  Or Ray for short would be that bug's name.  Also happens to be my daddy's middle name too (coincidence? maybe).  I was hooked.  R, not so much…but what do you expect from a 4 year old with the attention span of a gnat?!  That's when it finally hit me.  A name that finally registered.  A name that had meaning.  A touching book about a road called Firefly Lane and the story that went with it, a movie with a courageous bug named Ray that has now become my favorite Disney movie (for the moment at least), and an evening spent with my daughter that I will never forget....that is what's in a name.

The moonlight is when the fireflies come out to play....