Dear Sunday Letter Readers,
Thanks for being patient with me in my sporadic Sunday letter writing. Over the past week, I moved my blog to a new host which resulted in a smidgen of down time. Sometimes we need to take a time out to fix things, right?
All is well now. Yay for that!
Changing Color
Last weekend, I spent a few days on the farm with my Momma and sister. That’s the best sort of down time. I returned home to Fayetteville to find my irises blooming. Bearded iris always reminds me of the homeplace where Nana and Papa lived. In fact, they remind me of all the old farm houses around the county. When I was a child, everyone grew irises along front porches and in wide circles around the tallest and oldest trees. Mostly they were purple, yellow, and white. Nana’s friend, Lona Woodard, grew an exotic dark plum shade and a lacy variety, the color of fresh peaches.
Three years ago, my sister-in-law gave me a few purple and yellow ones from her garden. I planted them along our stone wall. Like soldiers they guard the flamingos who visit during spring and stay through summer. The odd thing this spring is that one of my purple irises bloomed violet. It’s like she changed her tune, changed her mind, her hair color, her entire outlook on life.
Maybe the reality is I planted a different variety and don’t remember? I consider this simply one more fun gardening mystery.
No Free Lunch
Sorry, squirrels. The 24-hour free buffet of black sunflower seeds is no longer open. We finally wised up and moved our bird feeders to a pole in the yard and attached a squirrel baffle to keep them from climbing. It works. They are mighty baffled by this new bird condo in the sky.
This small change has already resulted in an incredible change in the amount of birds feeding. I find myself watching for long stretches of time. We have finches, sparrows, wrens, cardinals, woodpeckers and bluejays. I’m planning to add another feeder to the pole this week and hope to attract even more varieties. The squirrels gather beneath and enjoy the spoils. We’re okay with that. Lucy and Annabelle chase them off, and everyone is keeping busy, busy.
One Fine Day
Thursday night we saw the musical Beautiful at Walton Arts Center. Beautiful is about the life of Carole King. Oh my goodness, if you have the opportunity to see it, GO. What a talent. What music! I never knew all the number one songs Carole King wrote for other singers. Songs we know and love, songs that provide soundtracks for our favorite movies and memories. For instance, she wrote You’ve Got a Friend (James Taylor), Up on the Roof (The Drifters), You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman (Aretha Franklin), Go Away Little Girl (Donny Osmond!—actually Steve Lawrence first but, you know…), The Locomotion (Little Ava), One Fine Day (The Chiffons), and many, many more.
It’s incredible to think how one woman continues to change the world with her music.
Fruit of the Spirit
You probably know the fruit of the Spirit attributes described in Galatians? They are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Certainly, we can all agree the world needs these attributes in bushel loads.
What I’m celebrating right now is real fruit. Ripe fruit with seeds that get stuck in my teeth. Fresh, fragrant fruit starting to appear again at the spring farmer’s market. I recently bought my first carton of strawberries. This small act is deserving of a large celebration. When strawberries arrive, watermelon is sure to follow. And watermelon is my all time favorite.
School Kitchen Tip
Today’s tip comes from Part I, Lesson I, Food. How to serve fresh fruit. (The School Kitchen Textbook, by Mary J. Lincoln, c. 1917).
I hope your Sunday is one fine day filled with lots of color and fresh fruit if that’s what you like:)
Your Sunday Letter friend,
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
[tweetthis]Today’s Sunday Letter includes spring color and fruit of the spirit. #sundaymorning[/tweetthis]
Musical Pairing:
One Fine Day, The Chiffons (music by Carole King)
I have Blueberries and Blackberries this morning. I’m all ready to go to the First Baptist Church in Keiser. (FYI ~ That was Lona Crews who had all the Irises.)
You have motivated me to put up a bird feeder! We always have hummingbird feeders but I think I will put out some seed. It’s on the list for the store this afternoon! Have a great week:)
I saw my first peony bloom this morning on the square. That can take me back to my childhood in Pawhuska Oklahoma faster than anything else. Irises come in a very close second.
I stopped at my local berry farm market yesterday and found some freshly picked strawberries. We have had a lot of rain lately, so they taste a little watery instead of that full on strawberry flavor. I’ll take it. The few that I tasted were great My neighbor is legally blind and so has had to give up driving. She and her hubby were gone when I left, so I took her half of my berries and the other half loaf of apple cherry bread that I also bought. I would have taken her with me just so she could get out. The Goode family is a local family that has provided fresh produce to our community since before we moved here in 1968. They also have the most fabulous floral hanging baskets……so I bought 3. One is for my daughter in law. I sincerely hope that we all have heavenly Sundays. My family is going to the old ball game today to celebrate our baby boys 38th birthday. I will buy peanuts and cracker jacks as the song suggests, but lunch first. Have a fabulous day everybody.
I have to say (again) I really enjoy your Sunday letters! I have several different irises some of which I don’t remember where I got them. I have some sweet little purple Siberian irises given to me by my Master Gardener niece. My husband’s aunt and his mom shared some of there’s and other friends and neighbors who were more than happy to share and swap. That’s the thing about gardeners, they seem to always like to share and trade. It’s hard to outsmart those determined squirrels! I’m glad you succeeded without taking away Annabel and Lucy’s entertainment. Haha Have a good week!
Nothing like looking-out-the-window time to watch the bird. Hummers will come soon!
I’ve had hummers for 2-3 weeks now. They showed up on a freezing cold day!