Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pond Tips, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: 2023, 2023 Events List, Beach, Beach Life, Beach Therapy, Beautiful Sunset, Carters Nursery, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Family Business, Garden Planning, Garden Tour, Happy 2023, Maintenance Workshop, Photography, photos, Planning, plants, Pond Tour, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Gardening, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday Poem, Sunday Quote, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Songs, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sunrises, Sunsets
A new year and I have been busy planning for it! Business plan, events, pond tours, workshops, jobs, early buys, plant orders and more… I haven’t missed a sunrise or sunset in 2023 yet! No it’s not a resolution… But I do really enjoy watching both 🌞🌅 Here’s a little collage of some of 2023’s best from the Beach!
Now is when the real work begins…
“Sunrise looks spectacular in nature; sunrise looks spectacular in the photos; sunrise looks spectacular in our dreams; sunrise looks spectacular in the paintings, because it really is spectacular!”
~ Mehmet Murat Ildan
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Lake and Pond, Love, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Videos | Tags: #Bugwatchin, Beautiful Sunset, Bug Watching, Bugs, Easily Entertained, Entomology, Fun, Have Fun, laughing, Love, Love and Meaning, Night Sky, Nighttime World, Opacarophile, Spider, Spiders, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Gardening, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday on the River, Sunday Poem, Sunday Quote, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Songs, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sunset, Sunsets
What a week… Work, rain, storms, heat, shipping delays, out of stock, yada yada… The ‘New Normal’ they call it… But, all in all a good week! Lots to be Thankful for 🙏🏻
My reward was the weekend with my lovely wife on the river. Boat riding, swimming, photography, beautiful sunsets and then after dark… Bug Watching! (yes, we are both easily entertained 😊)
There are so many opportunities to watch bugs at the river! I mean, it’s kinda the only show in town 😊 #bugwatchin
We rode around giggling like a couple of kids, eating ice cream, cracking jokes and yes, watching bugs… I got her laughing pretty good 😊
Then we found this one, and watched for quite some time. She is pretty cool 🕷
What can I say, I’m a cheap date 😊
“Stood on the ledge of my sleepy blue sorrow
back from the edge, guess I’ll see you tomorrow
can’t lie, not the first time I’m thinking of you
but the night bugs are out, life’s distractions will do
I looked to the west as the day slowly fadyded
turned up the volume of cricket and katydid
rhythm rubs life in the darkness outside
steer clear of the blue light or get yourself fried
With the zapper you took out the skeeters and flies
while spiders and ants faced the raider’s demise
yellow jackets and wasps, you chased from their hives,
but these night bugs are here for the rest of our lives
bittersweet bugs for the rest of our lives
Back in the house now, I roll down the screen
protecting myself from the lurking unseen
from the critters, which drawn by the lure of the light
make feast in their famine on food, flesh and fright
we handle the things that intrude in our spaces
the bugs in the dark and the unwanted faces
we roll down the screens and we listen to voices
those sweet summer sounds, and this night bug rejoices
With the zapper you took out the skeeters and flies
while spiders and ants faced the raider’s demise
yellow jackets and wasps, you chased from their hives,
but these night bugs are here for the rest of our lives
too many months have passed without hearing
the music which blends with the night bugs I’m fearing
I nearly lost hope for those sounds in my life
but these night bugs revive good ol’ summertime strife
bittersweet bugs, for the rest of my life
Stood on the ledge of my sleepy blue sorrow
back from the edge, guess I’ll see you tomorrow”
~ G Clair
Have a great Sunday!
Mark C. ❤️
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Koi, Koi Ponds, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Beautiful Sunset, budding trees, Cabin Fever, Crazy Weather, Family Pictures, Family time, Family Traditions, Get Outside, I ❤️ Spring!, I Love My Family, If You Don’t Like The Weather, Outdoor Living, Spring, Spring Bulbs, Spring Fest., spring fever, Spring Flowering Bulbs, Spring Gardening, Spring is Almost Here!, Spring is Coming, Spring News, Spring Planting, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Gardening, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday Poem, Sunday Quote, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sunsets, Tennessee Weather
We are 2 weeks from the time change. We “Spring forward” Sunday March the 13th at 2am! Then only a week after that BOOM 💥 1st day of Spring! Rain and more rain 🌧 Wind 💨 Ice 🧊 Snow ❄️ – But still, Spring is Coming! This lingering winter weather and slow build up and transition is always what causes my Spring Fever 🌼 🤒 🌼
If nothing else, this energy for Spring gets me up and moving! Its Sunday and I’ve already done a full days work! 😊 The week ahead looks promising! I have a LOT of work to catch up on!
Even the Psalmist writes of a yearning in the scriptures – “I yearn for the Lord, more than watchmen do for the morning, yes, more than watchmen do for the morning.” ~ Psalm 130:6
Spring is Coming!
“Is the Spring coming?” he said. “What is it like?”… “It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine”…
~ Frances Hodgson Burnett
Have a great Sunday!
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Autumn Color, Autumn Leaves Falling on Water, Beautiful Day, Beautiful Sunset, Colorful Foliage, Fall Beauty, Fall Color, Fall Gardening, Family time, Family Traditions, I Love My Family, Indian Summer, Kentucky Lake, Lake, Love, Private Areas, River, River Life, Rivers, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday on the River, Sunday Poem, Sunday Quote, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sunrises, Sunsets, Tennessee River
This has been a beautiful Fall day… It started with a cold heavy fog 🌫 needing a long sleeved shirt and coat & ended with a light sunburn in short sleeves 👕 A wonderful Autumn Day 🍁
So Beautiful ❤️
It looks like a beautiful week ahead. I hope you can get out and enjoy this little “Indian Summer” we are about to experience this week. Sunny 😎 with highs in the mid and upper 70’s.
“There’s a crispness in the air that greets the morning sun, a feeling of anticipation, a new day has begun.
Harvest days are ending, winter is drawing near, yet in between is surely the most special time of year.
They call it Indian Summer, and it seems to fit the bill, for it’s as if the Lord took a feathered brush and painted all the hills.
Now as I sit contented, atop of one of these, a book in hand to pass the time, the sound of a gentle breeze,
I can almost imagine an Indian child upon this mountaintop, looking down at the land of her forefathers, lost within her thoughts
For in every persons lifetime some heartache may occur, but on these hills in quiet solitude, God helps us to endure.
So I say that the eyes are a window, beauty is found within the soul, and upon the hills of Autumn, that are strewn with red and gold.”
~ Julie L. O’Connor
Have a good night 🌙
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Hummingbirds, Lake and Pond, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Beautiful Sunset, Boat, Closed for the Holiday, Coffee, Colorful Sky, Day Off, Family, Family Dinner, Family Fun, Family Pictures, Family time, Family Traditions, Food, God, God Bless, God Bless America, Gods Country, Happy Labor Day, I Love My Family, Jet Ski, Labor Day, Labor Day Weekend, Morning Coffee, Old Sayings, Pontoon Boat, River, River Life, Rivers, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Gardening, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday on the River, Sunday Poem, Sunday Quote, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sunrises, Sunsets, Tennessee River, Waverunner, Weekend Off
Late nights slow down an early morning 😊 but this morning was perfect! A slow easy rain 🌧 was falling until around 8:30 and now it’s clear and cool. Perfect for the last big dust up of Summer ⛅️ Every year we talk about doing something different for Labor Day Weekend , but we always end up at the river 🚤
“Rest when you’re weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.”
~ Ralph Marston
Have a Happy Labor Day! 🇺🇸
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Hummingbirds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunsets | Tags: Beautiful Sunset, Boat, Day Off, Fun, Love, Pontoon Boat, Private Areas, River, River Life, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday on the River, Sunday Poem, Sunday Quote, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sunrises, Sunsets, Tennessee River
All I can say is ‘what a week’! Whew! But, we got it all done ✅ We said goodbye to 3 great employees who are going back to school ❤️ Their futures look bright! And Then my wife and I hit the river 🌊 I’m still trying to recover this morning… 😊 Here’s a little picture journal of a little slice of KY Lake, aka: The Tennessee River… aka: The Redneck Riviera…
If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe…”
~ Evelyn Waugh
A new week lies ahead… I hope you have a great one!
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Hummingbirds, Lake and Pond, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: 28th. Anniversary, Beautiful Sunset, Best Friend, Best Mom, Best Wife Award, Blessed, Blessings, Buck Moon, Count Your Blessings, Dancing In The Moonlight, Full Moon, God Bless, God Bless America, I ❤️ Summer, Love, Love and Meaning, Marriage, Moondance, mosquitoes, Summer Nights, Summer Time, Summertime, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday on the River, Sunday Poem, Sunday Quote, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sunrises, Sunsets
I’ve been up since early… Drinking coffee and thinking 🤔 Reflecting. Yesterday was a fun, long, laidback day. My wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary in grand fashion… At the river 😊 Floating, fishing, photography – Fun. The only thing I can complain about is we ran out of hours in the day, and the mosquitoes were out in force last night🦟
We want to thank everyone who called, messaged and texted to wish us a Happy Anniversary! ❤️ It was a fun, laid back, perfect day.
“Mosquito is out,
it’s the end of the day;
she’s humming and hunting
her evening away.
Who knows why such hunger
arrives on such wings
at sundown? I guess
it’s the nature of things.”
~ N. M. Boedecker
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunrises, Sunsets | Tags: Beautiful Sunset, Colorful Sunset, Enjoy a Sunset, I ❤️ Sunsets, Opacarophile, Perfect Sunset, River, River Life, Rivers, Sunday on the River, Sunday Sunrises, Sunset, Sunsets, Tennessee River
“A lover of sunsets is called an ‘opacarophile’. To understand its roots, the word opacarophile can be broken down into two parts: ‘opacare’ which is Latin for dusk or sunset, and ‘phile’ which is Greek for love.“
It stormed HARD this evening! We figured the day was over and forget about a sunset… BUT, all of a sudden, the rain stopped, the clouds parted and some of the last rays of sunshine for the day came bursting through the windows. So we grabbed our cameras and ran down to the boat before the light was gone. Needless to say,’the water was like glass and the sky was surreal. This was the last picture I took for the day.
Yes, I’m an Opacarophile! And I attend regular meetings 😊
Have a great night!!
Mark Carter
Filed under: Family time, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunrises, Sunsets, Videos, Waterfalls | Tags: Beautiful Sunset, Colorful Sunset, Moment of Zen, Monday, Monday Morning, Monday Morning Moment of Zen, Monday’s, Morning Zen, Place of Zen, River Life, Rivers, Sunday on the River, Sunset, Sunsets, Tennessee River, Time flies, Time Lapse Video, Zen, Zen Creek, Zen Feeling, Zen state of mind, Zen Stream, Zen Video, Zen Waterfall
Shuck them sheets and hit the streets, it’s Monday morning! Why does the weekend go by so fast? Maybe because we look forward to it? What if we looked forward to Monday 😊
Here’s a quick video (literally)… A time lapse of yesterday’s sunset. I filmed it for several minutes, but it only takes seconds to watch the sun disappear… There’s a little bit of Zen in that setting sun ⛅️
Enjoy your day!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
YouTube pg. –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dPkQiE04jcr385SOL0gkw
Facebook pg. – https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
Pinterest pg. – https://www.pinterest.com/cartersnursery/
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: 1st Day of Summer, Beautiful Sunset, Birdsong, Boat, I ❤️ Summer, Kentucky Lake, Memorial Day, Memorial Weekend, Pontoon Boat, River, Summer Gardening, Summer is Coming, Summer Nights, Summer Pond Tips, Summer Rain, Summer Time, Summertime, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Gardening, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday on the River, Sunday Poem, Sunday Quote, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Songs, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sunrises, Sunsets
Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend… 😳 Yes, it’s almost Summer! I’m not fussing now, I Love Summer!… But, Spring went by so fast 💨 I’m gonna try to slow it down a little and enjoy at least a little bit of Summer.
Summer “Unofficially” begins next weekend!
Are you ready?
“Morning’s soft air, touching everything with such care,
Caresses a young face in a quiet, secluded place.
Smile planted strong, heart beating on.
Only one thing is on her mind, and that is summertime.
A joy reckless and wild,
that’s been in the heart of every child,
now set within her,
for there is no cure.
Her spirit set free, soars higher than the trees.
The books that weighed her down,
now thrown on the ground.
The rivers cleansed from winter,
are now heated for splendor.
The happiness of knowing
no bedtimes are set,
and no schedules to be met.
The sun now beating within her veins
washes away all her pains.
Then without a sound,
the sun starts to sink down.
so she heads inside,
satisfied,
until the next time.
But her spirit is just too wild and decides to wait a while,
so it stays outside and watches the sun,
waiting for what is to come.
The birds fall asleep, the peepers start to peep,
and slowly the sunbeams caressing the mountains,
turn them into splendorous fountains.”
~ Abbey Silent (A Time Of Freedom).
Mark C.
Carter's Water Garden 