garden update

i wanted to have a before picture of my herb garden... it tends to get pretty wild during the summer and it's so hard to remember it's tame winter self. i have added much more mulch this year with great hopes of taming some of the weeds that attack it. i have also made a new fence around it with branches from our crepe myrtle. i haven't tied it together yet... so it looks a little messy.
i cut the lemon balm back to the ground as well as the mint, back in january. it is already coming back in full force. perhaps i should have listened to the wise gardener's advice and put them both in pots, as they are very invasive. at least i love mint!
the chives have held up well since i started this garden in april 2006. i split off a few pieces and planted them about 6 in. out.
the lavender is going strong as well. the first year it didn't bloom... but last year it did and it was wonderful! i remember my mother bringing a vase of oakleaf hydrangea, gardenia, and lavender blooms when i first got home from the hospital with elisha. it smelled so good! i cut it back this winter b/c it was leggy. now i'm afraid it won't bloom this summer... i'm crossing my fingers! i rooted some cuttings and planted them 6-8 in. out. i am rooting some more cuttings-- so if you are in the area and would like one, drop by.
the oregano is still there as well as the lemon thyme.

i assume the bee balm and salvia will come back again as it did last year. i will be planting more basil for sure... maybe two varieties. i'm not sure what else.
the sculptures in the back of the garden are from my senior thesis show in college. they are abstract pieces informed by nature. a little odd. very organic. i certainly have no room for them in my house!
during all the yard work we have been doing the past few weeks we have discovered that otis has a favorite spot beside the house. he has made a little burrow under the azalea bushes next to the fence. it must be cool and i think he likes to spy on the neighbors through the fence! it is so cute! it warms my heart and i think it is b/c we had a play house-- well, i think we actually played like it was a hotel-- in the azalea bushes growing up. i spent countless hours sitting in the bushes making mud pies and decorating them with the blossoms from the bushes.
here is a picture of elb for the fan club... he crawling into one of his own little hideouts under the chair. he kind of blends in with his wagon since he wearing red pjs.

belated family wedding post

here is the groom (andrew's brother thomas) before the wedding.
elisha is wearing a cute outfit that my grandmother helped me pick. she said to get something that will show off his cute knees (she had knee replacement surgery this year, so i think she has a special attraction to young healthy knees ;-).

e and his cousin in their cute matching outfits!

it takes a lot to even get everyone in the same picture frame! -- this is nana ann and papa john with their two grandsons

here is katie -andrew's sister- w/ her husband, kris and her son micah

here are the prophet cousins playing at the front before the wedding started....
here is micah-the ring bearer- shortly after the service. he fell asleep just as the wedding got started... he may not have walked down the aisle, but he sure did look cute!

this is me with andrew's grandmother. i'm wearing the dress and shoes her husband picked out for her about 40 years ago!

it's official

if you have been reading this blog and have a good memory, you may recall that i said months ago that i thought elisha was getting his first tooth. i was wrong. but today is the day! it is pretty wild(and oddly exciting) to watch a little bulge on your baby's gum split open and the little tooth start to peek through. i may have grossed you out. sorry. it is kind of gross. but it does make a parent proud!

--ps. andrew saw my blog today and made fun of me b/c i had spelled blog 'bolg' in the title of my other post. i have corrected it now. i promise, i'm not a big idiot-- just a busy/distracted mother.
(and maybe a little bit of an idiot too)

*i'm trying to post pics w/ each post to appease elisha's fan club -- this is one taken at my college roomie's house w/ her dog elle. they were fast friends

a few randoms

i tend to post in clusters... things have been crazy busy and full of travel and sickness. now that we are home and on the mend i have time to think and blog... and andrew is away for a couple days on business, so with evenings alone... i should definately be going to bed early instead! this is a funny one of the two prophets (elisha w/ his cousin micah). i am going to post more of the pictures from andrew's brother's wedding weekend soon. this is just a teaser. you will get a better view of the cute matching outfits that nana made them.

here is a pic from our beach trip

this is my little egg carton with billions of tiny poppy seeds sprouting! it is so amazing to see the smallest dot fluff out and have little hair-like stems grow out. i have great hopes for summer flowers... we'll see

blog etiquette???

well, i guess it is not just blog etiquette that puzzles me, but most all techno communication...

take text messaging for instance-- all the tricky abbreviated lingo aside... how does a conversation end? do you answer the question asked and thats that... or do they send a thank you text... do you then send a bye talk to you later text.... it could go on forever. so i generally don't respond unless specifically asked for. but i wonder if i am being rude?

back to blogs--- i guess my main question for the blogging world is this- what is the comment section etiquette? do you respond to comments on your blog? which ones? what should you put in the comment section and what should you email instead?

and another issue-- blog stalking. you know you have done it... and you probably wonder who maybe doing it to you. i've been mulling over this issue of blog socializing for a while and this is what i have come up w/ (feel free to add your own input in the comment section... especially you blogstalkers). if you happen upon someone's blog (usually by following the links off of someone else's blog) -you may know this person, you may kind of know this person, you may not know this person at all... but if you only stumble on it once or very rarely, i think it is ok to just go on about your merry way... but if it is a blog you begin to read regularly i think it is probably good etiquette to leave a comment(it can be about anything). it just lets the blogger know that you are out there... a part of their little storytelling circle around the campfire/computer. it is nice to know who is out there... after all alot of us (the mother bloggers out there) find blogging to be a way to connect w/ people other than the little person pulling at your leg as you type. maybe it is something we do to make up for the fact that we can't walk next door and share mommy stories and other odd tidbits over cheez-its with our neighbor mommies. there really aren't all that many of us out there it feels like... when you look out your window.... but when you look at your friend's friend's list of favorite blogs you start to realize that you life is not so nuts after all... or if it is you aren't the only one... you aren't the only one who thinks a 20 month old's vocab list is fascinating... or a puddle splash worth documenting.
so, now that i'm going for with a late night dramatic tone (i'm thinking of "delila").... thank you all you 'mother bloggers' out there who make up my neighborhood pack.

swirl

this is one of my most treasured things in all of the world!

so much potenial

we are tree people. for so many reasons we love trees. what a well of a symbol... along those same lines... it amuses me that i became so drawn to acorns when i became pregnant....
i have realized that this time of year is no longer miserable for me (well, maybe some of january still is) andrew and i got married during my most dreaded time of year.... late winter. but now i have an appreciation for it and i like the symbolism of it for our marriage. late winter of all times of year is a time of so much potential. everything is at a pause of potential energy until -boom- the kinetic energy of spring washes over everything and stirs up a frenzy.

andrew and i went on our mini getaway trip sat. night to serenbe... it was such a treat, and less than an hour outside of atl! we enjoyed a long uninterrupted conversation on a deep porch swing as the sun set (reminded us of the deep porch swing at greyfield on cumberland island where we honeymooned). we took a 2 1/2 hour walk in the woods ... a couple of deer went tearing through the woods right by us. andrew stopped them in their tracks by making some deer noises and i told him that probably less than 5 % of the people that come to serenbe could do that (everyone was from some part of the atl area). ...mmm...so manly, that husband of mine ;-)

all in all the trip seemed like it was sooo much longer than 24 hrs. it was so great for us. and it has been so great to be home w/ our darling. big mama told us that he said mamamama and dadaaadadada some when he woke up sunday morning and looked around the house for us... but on the whole it sounds like he did just fine w/ out us (but the milk was running out so he would've started missing me soon -- big time). it's a good feeling to know that your child can be ok without you... but you also want to be missed... such a funny complexity!