Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Hummingbirds, Koi, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Videos, Waterfalls | Tags: Autumn, Autumn Color, Autumn Leaves Falling on Water, Autumn Poem, Autumnal Equinox, Colorful Foliage, Cooler Weather is Coming, Crazy Weather, Fall Color, Fall Gardening, I Love My Family, If You Don’t Like The Weather, Love, Love and Meaning, Love Thy Neighbor, Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself, Predicting Weather, Seasonal changes, Seasonal Interest, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, 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, Tennessee Weather, Waterfall, Weather Lore, Weather Signs, Woolly Bear Caterpillars
Good Morning! ☀️ What a storm we had last night! ⛈ ⚡️ 💥 Here we are changing seasons… Bye bye Summer, Hello Fall 🍁🍂 We have literally been on a West TN weather seesaw… It was 100 degrees on the last day of summer, So Hot 🥵 Then the next day a 51 degree morning… Then back up close to 90 today, but guess what – down into the 40’s tonight😮

Oh well, again the old saying holds true, “If you don’t like the weather, just you wait”…
Now it’s on to breakfast and then a little work in the Garden! I Love ❤️ Fall!
“In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil.
And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb color effects as from August to November.”
~ Rose G. Kingsley
Watch this short for the cutest puppy ever 👇🏻
Have a great Sunday!
~ Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Love, music, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls | Tags: Biscuits and Gravy, Breakfast, Breakfast Tomatoes, Bring Your Friends, Eggs, Family Breakfast, Family Dinner, Family time, Fried Rice, Friends and Family, Friendship, Good Friends, Good Times, I Love My Family, Japanese Art, Koi = Love, Love and Meaning, Love Thy Neighbor, Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself, Old Friends, Sake, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Reflections, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sushi, Time, Time flies, Time in a bottle
I got a late start on my blog this morning… We ate out with great friends last night and we were up fairly late ⏰ But to my defense I did do several things outside this morning and I fixed breakfast for everyone. Last night we dined in Japan with sushi 🍣, Sake , edamame and rice 🍚
But this morning I went old school with Coffee Sliced tomatoes, eggs, and biscuits w/gravy. Like my grandma used to fix 😊 A world away from Japan 🇯🇵

It sure is nice catching up with good friends! Eating and visiting with friends is one of the great pleasures in life! 🙏🏻 And it’s always a blessing to have breakfast with my family on Sunday morning 🌞
“Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o’clock in a mostly empty bar. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you. Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a negroni. Have two. Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check in on your friends. Check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride.”
~ Anthony Bourdain
Have a wonderful Sunday! 🙏🏻
~ 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, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Videos | Tags: Agricultural Pursuit, Agriculturalist, Agriculture, Be Prepared, canning, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Feeding the Soul, Gardening, gardening 101, Gardening Ideas, Growing, Growing Tomatoes, Guy Clark, GuyClark, Homegrown Tomatoes, I ❤️Tomatoes, Love and Meaning, Seasonal Tomatoes, Sliced Tomato’s, Songs, The Perfect Sandwich, Tomato Sandwich, Tomato varieties, Tomatoes
Do you grow your own Tomatoes? If you do, you know the joys, rewards, and discomforts (work) of growing them. If you don’t grow your own tomatoes, well, it’s not to late to make something of your life…

I have grown so many different varieties over the years… Jet Star and Better Boy’s are always a safe bet with their hybrid vigor and disease resistance! Great for canning and preserving for Winter too! But, when it comes to a good slicing tomato or a delicious Tomato Sandwich, give me a Cherokee Purple!


Guy Clark said it best! Theres 2 things that money CAN’T buy – True Love! and Homegrown Tomatoes!
PS: When your ready to get started on your ’Better Life’ by growing your own tomatoes, I’ll be here to help 😉
Have a great evening!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
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Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: 29th. Anniversary, Best Friend, Best Wife Award, Breakfast, Family time, Free Breakfast!, Friends and Family, Good Times, Happy Anniversary, Love, Love and Meaning, Marriage, Partner, 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, Time, Time flies, Time in a bottle, Time Off, Wonder Woman
Sitting on the porch swing with my girl this Sunday morning 😊 It’s 29 years today… 29 years in the blink of an eye 👁 Time is a funny thing… When we sit together time stands still. When we are apart or waiting on one another to get back, it sometimes drags on… Time is an illusion…

Im fixing breakfast for Jo this morning. She wants fresh tomatoes, biscuits, milk gravy and eggs… Another reason we get along so well 😊 Great minds think alike!
After breakfast, who knows what will happen!
Y’all have a great day!
“Love grows more tremendously full, swift, poignant, as the years multiply.”
~ Zane Grey
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Beautiful Bride, Bond, Bring Your Friends, Friends and Family, Friendship, Fun, Good Friends, Harp, Harpist, I ❤️ My Friends!, Life is Good, Live Music, Living the Life Abundant, Love, Love and Meaning, Love Thy Neighbor, Memories, music, Natural Beauty, Old Friends, Old Memories, Outdoor Wedding, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Poem, Sunday Reflections, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Wedding
What a beautiful morning! I have been looking through pictures of this last week and really reflecting on all the good things that happened. There is and will always be bad things that happen in life, but I try to focus and reflect on the good ones… Business is good, our gardens are flourishing, and one of my oldest friends just got married to the girl of his dreams ❤️ I was his best man to boot 😊 Darn good week!





I LOVE outdoor weddings! And this one stole the show ❤️ Perfect weather, music, food, friends and family… Thats what its all about!
Congratulations Matt & Esther Brown!❤️
“Understand, I’ll slip quietly
Away from the noisy crowd
When I see the pale
Stars rising, blooming over the oaks.
I’ll pursue solitary pathways
Through the pale twilit meadows,
With only this one dream:
You come too.”
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Lake and Pond, Love, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Lightning, Love, Love and Meaning, Petrichor, Rain, Rainy Days, Rainy Morning, Sound of Rain, stormy night, Stormy Weather, 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, The Smell Of Rain, There will come soft rains, Thunder
What a storm last night! the power went out around dark and shortly after a big storm hit ⛈ ⚡️ What a light show 😯 We were sleeping in a cabin with a tin roof… ie; We got some Good Sleep!

“Here in the deep tangled forest
All is quiet and still,
While far to the west the thunder,
Re-echoes from hill to hill.
And the lightning’s flash, ever vivid,
In great gashes knives the air;
The rain comes down in torrents,
A deluge everywhere!
Bathing the heat-sick flowers
That they may bloom once more;
Painting the grass a greener hue,
That grows by our cabin door;”
~ James W. Whilt
Enjoy this day ❤️
Mark C.
Filed under: Boutique, Family time, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles | Tags: Best Mom, Carters Nursery, Carters Nursery Pond & Patio, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Family, Family Pictures, Family time, Fertilizer, Love and Meaning, Mom, Mom is Special, Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day Gifts, Mother’s Day Ideas, Mother’s Day Lunch, Mulch, Plant a Flower, Plant Sale, Present, Roses, Stop and smell the Roses
The Rolling Stones guitarist Kieth Richards famously wrote in a song ”Send me Dead Flowers” 🎶… I say don’t send dead ones! Say it with LIVE Roses 🌹



A bouquet 💐 of dead roses for Mom? Or a couple of LIVE roses bushes that will make memories for years!💥
Come by and get a rose bush for Mom! Help her plant it, you will both enjoy it for years to come…
PS: You can thank me later 😉
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
YouTube pg. –
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Facebook pg. – https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
Pinterest pg. – https://www.pinterest.com/cartersnursery/
Filed under: Family time, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pondless Waterfalls, Sunday Reflections, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: 7 Days a Week, Best Wife Award, Garden Chores, Gardening, God, God Bless, God Bless America, Gods Classroom, Gods Country, Love, Love and Meaning, Love Your Pets, Nursery, Nursery Work, Plant care, short handed, 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 with Family, Sundays, Taking Care of Business, Together, watering
I got up with the sun, fixed coffee, put on my garden shoes on the porch and haven’t been back inside yet… Again, short handed at the nursery and so many chores to do… even on the sabbath 🙏🏻 But I feel good with it, (see Luke 14), when Jesus demonstrates to the Pharisees that some emergencies must be dealt with immediately, even if it means breaking the sabbath to do so… Ox in the ditch… Or in our case, watering to keep plant stock alive… And to beautify the landscape❤️






Even tho we are working 7 days a week right now, I know at the end of the day that I’m a very lucky and a very blessed man! 🙏🏻
“Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly–and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.”
~ Omar Khayyám
Have a wonderful Sunday Afternoon!
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pond Tips, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Best Local Nursery and Garden Center, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Changing Seasons, Cover Plants, Crazy Weather, Feeding the Soul, Frosty Morning, Gardening, If You Don’t Like The Weather, Life is Good, Love, Love and Meaning, Moment of Zen, Morning Zen, outdoor lifestyles, Outdoor Living, Place of Zen, Predicting Weather, Quality Of Life, Robert Frost, Seasonal changes, Seasonal Interest, Seasonal Water Garden, Spring, Spring Gardening, Tennessee Weather, Weather Signs, Zen, Zen state of mind, Zen Waterfall
If you are like many Gardeners and live by the ”Last Frost Date” given in the Almanac or in your local paper, you may be very disappointed this morning… I’m getting ready to go out and uncover the hundreds of plants that I have under blankets, sheets and in a big cold frame greenhouse.

Why does it ’sneak up’ on us so often?
With me its all about staying in tune with the particular season. Spring here in West TN fluctuates from sweaty 80’s weather to 60 mile an hour winds with frost and snow ❄️ BUT, that relationship you form with the seasons and the changes is where the Zen lies…
But, its tough to wait! As soon as the forsythia and the daffodil 🌼 blooms I’m already setting up my planters and pots 🪴 And, I try to be ready for people coming in to my Nursery early, which means we spend a month or more moving plants in and out of the greenhouse… 😊

Finding balance and Zen within ourselves is found within our own Gardens…
PS: The good news is, I think we are past Frost now for real!
“The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.”
~ Henry Van Dyke
Have a great Tuesday!
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