Sunday, May 18, 2008

Spring at Our Farm


I do not want our springtime to disappear before I muse a little on how much I love the Spring.
It is my favorite season of all. This spring in North Carolina has been a beautiful one. I think the flowers and trees that bloom here in our yard were the prettiest they have been in a few years. The temperature has been nice for a long time now and as June approaches, it has not even been hot yet.

As Briggs prepares our garden, I am working on the yard. I love to plant flowers and lay mulch, trim bushes and mow the lawn. My love of flowers and gardening comes from my Grandma Jennie and my Mommy. When I was growing up in Michigan, they always had lots of flowers and seemed to love working in their yards. As I work in the garden or walk around the yard I am reminded of those memories I have of them. I love the daffodils that grew in abundance down at my Grandma Jennie's yard. When I close my eyes and smell the scent of my new lilac bush it takes me back to those days. I have planted 4 lillacs in our yard so I can keep that memory alive. When I look at my roses blooming, I am reminded of all the roses my mother so lovingly tended in our yard on Hagar Shore Road near Lake Michigan. A few years ago, I planted a rose by the front porch called Don Juan. Mommy gave it to me and she and Joanne have one too. It will always remind me of her.

Unlike last year, the apple and peach trees bloomed without frost and were beautiful, along with the redbuds. We have various other bushes and flowers that have one by one, brought joy and memories to me as I watched them bloom this spring. Someday I hope that my children and grandchildren will be able to visit our yard and have a loving memory of Grammy Carol in their memories. Passing these memories on to our children is part of family love and connection. This year I am noticing that several of our children have been acting a little like their mom and dad. Adam and Robbie both are doing vegetable gardens like their dad always did and Jennie is getting really involved in her birds like mom. I notice that Aimee works hard in her yard and Kristen is not afraid to mow her yard, like mom. All of them seem to take pride in the creations that our Heavenly Father has given to us to enjoy and use and that is the bottom line, I guess. Keep those memories alive and pass them on to your children.