There’s a Season for Everything

4th of July, 2007

Our family has gone through a lot of changes lately.  Sometimes it’s hard to accept change, even when it’s a happy change.  My kids are getting older.  The youngest is now in middle school, the oldest boy is in high school and my daughter just left for college, freshman year.  As a family, we decided that it was time to bless someone else with our swing set.  That was tough!  My husband and I built it together, which is a great and funny memory.  The children and their friends had a wonderful time on it.  I watched them grow up on it.  However…my two sons who still live at home are not using that swing set.  The oldest boy is over 6 feet tall.  You know what though?  I know a little boy who would just LOVE IT!  My nephew.  So guess what?  We thrilled him by giving the set to him.  He lives three doors down and I can hear him enjoying it when I go outside.  That’s what I think of when I see this…

It looks sad now but who knows what this land’s future use will be? Hmmm….

Well…let me listen for peals of laughter coming from that set a few yards away.  Ahhh…much better.

This was a great, great car. I drove it for 10 years and 100,000 miles.

This photo was taken when we went to the U-Pick fields in May.  That was fun.

Last week, I also said goodbye to ye ole’ minivan.  That was tough too.  I bought it when my youngest was 2 years old.  He’ll be 13 next month.  I watched my kids grow up in this minivan.  It was such a great car, a 2003 Town & Country.  We took our 17 day road trip through New England to Canada in it.  I drove them to Washing DC for sites and museums.  We did all of our vacationing and staycationing in it.  Not only did I get rid of it, I said so long to minivans.  I bought a Dodge Durango.  I LOVE IT!  However, every time I see a minivan like the one I just traded, it tugs on my heartstrings.

In Our Yard – Growing Season Ending

If you read my mini uno day cation posts, you know I have a deep admiration for farming.  Here’s my “farm”…

Ahhh yeah, the next big farm right here! LOL!

This is year three of our raised bed gardening.  DH and the boys bought the first raised bed (on the right) as a kit from Lowe’s.  Last year they built the one on the left on their own.  We’ve grown all kinds of things but have given up on carrots, broccoli and spinach since I refuse to run rabbits off from stealing them…which they do.  Frankly, I think we should label the beds “OURS” and “THEIRS”.  Then the rabbits could just have at it without everyone freaking out.

We grew three kinds of tomatoes and these are still producing.

We are a tomato loving family, that’s for sure.  Thank goodness too because we’ve gotten about a thousand tomatoes from our plants over the past summer.

A family of tomatoes: Dad, Mom and baby.

This variety is still producing too.  Our cherry tomatoes have long since given up the ghost.  Oh well.  Also gone: carrots, cucumbers, broccoli and spinach.

Using one of our U Pick containers for…well, U Picking!

Nothing in the tomato world tastes better than one straight from the garden.

We plant herbs in these concrete planters.

Rosemary smells so good.  I love having fresh herbs.

Much success with growing rosemary!

It’s so pretty.

A crop of lemon thyme in our planter.

This photo looks great in a big size.  I just made it my background.  LOL!  Lemon thyme … my favorite kind so far.  Here’s some info about it.

I MINT to plant that but my son did it for me.

We grow 2 varieties of mint.  Of COURSE I grow mint!  I’m Southern!  LOL!  One terrific treat of the summer is fresh mint in iced tea.  I LOVE it!  BTW, when planting mint, I strongly suggest using a planter.  Growing it directly in the ground will work better than you’d like.  It will creep, grow, spread and takeover.  Just something to consider. 😉

So…change…it’s a tough thing.  It can be good or bad and still have a disorienting effect.  We grow; we change.  Sometimes there’s pain in that but there is also great beauty and a certain kind of exhausted perfection that comes just as each season draws to an end and yet we continue in expectation of a new day.

[clickToTweet tweet=”What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. ~ Richard Bach” quote=”What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. ~ Richard Bach” theme=”style1″]

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4 Comments

  1. barbara a. says:

    Yep Joy, I know exactly how you feel! My daughter wanted to get rid of her wooden swing set too and she’s only 12! But we felt pretty good that is went to a family that has 3 yr old triplet boys!!! In place of the bare ground where the swing was, is now a trampoline, which my daughter loves!!!!

    1. Awww, that’s nice Barbara! A trampoline is soooo much fun!
      ~Joy~

  2. Krafty Kim says:

    Thanks for sharing this story with us–makes me want to BAWL!!

    My 6 yr-old son just decided he was too big for Thomas the train, and it was sad to not buy any Thomas stuff for his birthday!! And recently my 11 yr-old daughter packed up her American Girl dolls! They are growing up, too!

    It is still fun to see the new stuff they are interested in, and I have a 2 yr-old daughter that will still be playing with “little” stuff, so I’m good for a while!

  3. meredeEnA says:

    So glad you had someone to give your swing set to. We received ours as a gift and now my youngest is 11 and the neighbor kids moved, although we do have a toddler on the other side…Thanks for sparking that idea for me!

    I know what you mean about change. We complain about wanting a bigger house, yet none of us really wants to give up the place we call home! I’m sure you did lots to document the time enjoying your swingset and van so at least you’ll have those to help you remember the good ole’ days!

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