Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Love, music, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Best Mom, Coffee, Mom, Mom is Special, Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day Breakfast, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Chores, Sunday Coffee, Sunday Lunch, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Poem, Sunday Reflection’s, Sunday Reflections, Sunday with Family
Up early this Sunday morning. Lots to get done before we go out to lunch for Mothers Day… A big pot of Coffee ☕️ is job #1…
“Moms are like buttons. They hold it all together.” ~ Unknown.
“I love my mother as trees love water and sunshine. She helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights.” ~ Terri Guillemets
Happy Mother’s Day to ALL the Moms out there! What in the world would we have done without you! ❤️
~ Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Waterfalls | Tags: Artistic Waterfalls, Beautiful Waterfall, Cascading Waterfall, Gentle Sounds, Haiku, Poem, Poems, Soothing Sounds, Sound Therapy, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Chores, Sunday Coffee, Sunday Gardening, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Reflection’s, Sunday Reflections, Sunrise, Zen, Zen Feeling, Zen state of mind
A Sunday morning Haiku is my offering today-
“Sun rise glory,
Song birds glee,
Sound of the waterfalls.”
Have a blessed day 🙏🏻
~ Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls | Tags: Blackberry Winter, Bring Your Plants Inside, Coffee, Coffee Mug, Cover Plants, Damaged Plants, Dogwood Winter, Family, Family Business, famul, Frost Warning, Frosty Morning, I Love My Family, Late Frost, Morning Coffee, Protect Tender Plants, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Chores, Sunday Coffee, Sunday Gardening, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Lunch, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Reflection’s, Sunday Reflections, Unseasonably Cold
Isn’t it funny how things change and turn on a dime… Last week was warm (HOT a couple days…) and we passed our normal final frost date… My mother in law was is bad shape in the hospital, Jo was with her, and I was all alone 🤔 Cut to this week… We will be waking Monday morning to a Late Frost 🥶- On Earth 🌍 Day to boot! It’s been almost cold the last couple of days🥶… But tolerable, arguably nice compared to last weeks heat wave. Now it’s break out the sheets and pillow cases to cover tender plants 🪴 And bring in what you can! You gotta love West TN Weather!
Now the good news! Kathy is doing much better! She’s out of the hospital and going through physical therapy ❤️ Many prayers 🙏🏻 answered for Kathy 🙏🏻 Thank you to the many who called or sent message with hopes and prayers for her healing ❤️🩹
For me, it’s moving a LOT of plants and covering a LOT more… But first, more Coffee ☕️
”If Spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake, and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change! But now the silent succession suggests nothing but necessity. To most men only the cessation of the miracle would be miraculous and the perpetual exercise of God’s power seems less wonderful than its withdrawal would be.”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Have a Great Sunday!
~ Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Chickens, Family, Free Range Chickens, Garden Chores, Healing Garden, Love, Nursery, Nursery Work, Poem, Poems, Prayer Garden, Prayer in the Garden, Prayers, Prayers for the family, Sunday, Sunday At The Beach, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Chores, Sunday Coffee, Sunday Gardening, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Reflection’s, Sunday Reflections, watering, Watering Plants
To say it’s been a busy week would be an understatement… Busy Sunday morning too! I just looked up and it was 1pm 😮 Where did the morning go? Taking care of our little nursery/farm is a big part! Watering has gone back to hours of work daily now… But today is a bit different. My normal partner in crime/Sunday helper 😊 (Jo), is sitting with her mom in the hospital 🏥 🙏🏻❤️ She has been for the last week and thank the Lord she has been there, on more than a few occasions! 🙏🏻 We are all praying for Kathy 🙏🏻 and if your the praying kind, she can use all she can get…
In other news, the whole world has budded out and is blooming! We had a successful Spring fest last weekend and it already feels like early Summer ❤️🌺
The whole Garden is in bloom 🌺
”In the garden’s heart, where secrets lie,
Every flower blooms, under the same sky.
In nature’s embrace, let your worries cease,
Find your peace, in its quiet release.”
~ Unknown
Have a great Sunday afternoon 🙏🏻
Prayers for Kathy’s total healing and return home 🙏🏻
~ Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls | Tags: Coffee, Family Dinner, Family Fun, Garden Chores, Leprechaun, Luck Of The Irish, Morning Coffee, Rainbow, St. Patrick’s Day, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Chores, Sunday Coffee, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Lunch, Sunday Naps, Sunday Reflection’s, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls
Happy St. Patrick’s Day ☘️
Lots to do today…
- Coffee
- Chickens
- Breakfast
- Move in plants (frost coming)
- Lunch/Dinner with Family
- Catch a Leprechaun 🍀 💰 🤞🏻
Then maybe catch a nap 😴
“I’m Irish! When I feel well I feel better than anyone, when I am in pain I yell at the top of my lungs, and when I am dead I shall be deader than anybody.”
~ Morgan Llywelyn
Happy St. Paddy’s Day 🙏🏻🍀
~ Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls | Tags: Carters Nursery Pond & Patio, Coffee, Coffee Mug, cold morning, Cool Morning, Daily Routine, Day Off, Design Ideas, Eggs, Family Breakfast, Garden, Garden Chores, Garden Design, Garden Planning, Garden Structures, Jackson TN, Mark C., Mark Carter, Morning Coffee, Planning, Planning Your Nap, Spring is Coming, Stewardship, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Gardening, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday Reflection’s, Sunday Reflections, Water Gardens
Cold morning 🥶 Low 20’s with frost and some ice 🧊 I’m already 2 pots of coffee ☕️ in today… BUT, things are looking up! Tonight is the last Low freezing temperature of the month! That’s right 😮 Highs in the 60’s and 70’s as we roll into March! 💥
We have already past several milestones that say “Spring is Coming”!
- Super Bowl ✔️
- Fat Tuesday ✔️
- Ash Wednesday ✔️
- Valentines Day ✔️
- And Presidents Day is tomorrow! ✔️
3 weeks from Today is daylight savings ☀️ Our time will “Spring Forward” as we gain a longer day and approach the Vernal Equinox.
Me? – I’ve been out around the place all morning. Moving a few things, doing chores and getting ready for the season… Planning some new Gardens and Garden structures too 😊 Nothing satisfies my soul like it… “Spring is Coming”!
“He knows no winter, he who loves the soil,
For, stormy days, when he is free from toil,
He plans his summer crops, selects his seeds
From bright-paged catalogues for garden needs.
When looking out upon frost-silvered fields,
He visualizes autumn’s golden yields;
He sees in snow and sleet and icy rain
Precious moisture for his early grain;
He hears spring-heralds in the storm’s ‘ turmoil
He knows no winter, he who loves the soil.”
~ Sudie Stuart Hager
Enjoy this beautiful, cool day!
~ Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Coffee, Coffee Mug, Early Spring, Groundhog Day, I Love My Family, Late Winter, Mark C., Mark Carter, Morning Coffee, Post Groundhog Day, Spring is Coming, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Gardening, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday Poem, Sunday Reflection’s, Sunday Reflections
What a difference a weekend makes! The last couple of days have made me feel like Spring is here… I’m even drinking my coffee ☕️ on the porch again these last few days. We are post Groundhog Day, and Old Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow Friday morning… prognosticating that Spring is coming early! But, don’t pack away your Winter clothes just yet 💨 You will still need your jacket a little longer…
We are past the halfway point of Winters time… Let’s enjoy the rollout, the slow unfurling of the coming of Spring 🍃 To me, that’s where the magic lives…
“It won’t be long until the springtime, when we may open the windows and breathe God’s fresh air… Soon will the birds come back… How cheerfully Nature greets them. She puts out her leaves to hide their homes, and kisses them with the wind, the warm wind… Ah, Spring, we wait for you; for as the sap mounts the limbs of the tree so hope rises and we become bright again.”
~Charles F. Raymond
Have a Great Sunday!
PS: 1 week to the Super Bowl 🏈
~ Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi Ponds, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls | Tags: Chickens, Coffee, Coffee Mug, Cold, cold morning, Cold Water, Don’t Break The Ice, Excellent Service, Floating Pond De-icer, Frozen, Frozen pipes, Ice, Ice Day, Ice Melt, Ice Waterfall, Icy Waterfall, Morning Coffee, Poem, poetry, Snow Damage, Snowed In, Snowy waterfall, Spring, Spring is Coming, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Gardening, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday Reflection’s, Sunday Reflections, weather, Winter
Cold 🥶 Frozen ground, frozen doors, frozen troughs, frozen ponds, frozen roads, frozen pipes, frozen hands… BUT, soon… Spring will come! Next Friday is Groundhog Day! The halfway point of Winter… Usually, it’s a downhill roll into Spring… I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed 🤞🏻
I tell you who else is ready for a thaw… My chickens 🐓 They don’t like the cold and snow. Their egg production goes down, they can’t get out and free range like they want to, it puts a damper on everything. They are definitely ready for Spring 🌼
“No matter how long the cold, bleak days of winter may continue, winter always turns to spring. This is the law of the universe and the law of life. As long as we hold on to hope, spring is sure to come.”
~ Daisaku Ikeda
PS: Happy Birthday to my son Jacob! I’m a very proud papa!❤️
Have a great Sunday!
~ Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi Ponds, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls | Tags: Bad Weather, Be Prepared, Be Ready, Chilly Willy, cold morning, Cold Water, Drip Faucets, Football, Frozen, Frozen pipes, Get Ready, Ice, Playoff Sunday, Snow, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Reflection’s, Sunday Reflections
Sunny start to a Cold 🥶 Sunday Morning… HOT Coffee ☕️ Feed the Chickens 🐓… Cold and getting colder! Snow coming they say ❄️ High winds and wet snow can = Power outage. When you live on a well for your water… Be Prepared! So, things to do.
Even though I’m taking up water and dripping faucets, I can’t help but look at this time of the season as what it really is! ‘Just a prequel to Spring’! ❄️ = 🌼
“Bare branches of each tree
on this chilly January morn
look so cold so forlorn.
Gray skies dip ever so low
left from yesterday’s dusting of snow.
Yet in the heart of each tree
waiting for each who wait to see
new life as warm sun and breeze will blow,
like magic, unlock springs sap to flow,
buds, new leaves, then blooms will grow.”
~ Nelda Hartmann
Enjoy the “Snow Day”! 😉
PS: Go Packers! 🏈
PPS: Spring is Coming! 😊
~ Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls | Tags: ‘Twas’ The Night Before Christmas, Christmas 2023, Christmas Eve, Christmas Gifts, Family, Family Dinner, Family Fun, Feast, God Bless, God Bless America, Holiday Season, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Reflection’s, Sunday Reflections
Ready or not, It’s finally here 🎅🏼 It’s Christmas Eve! 😮 This is the day my family gets together for Christmas lunch 🥗 We listen to music 🎶 we talk & visit, cut up & carry on 😊 We eat a LOT! Of good food 🥘 including deserts 🥧 🍰 and coffee ☕️ Boiled Custard (with a little “flavoring” for the adults… It’s always a wonderful day! And I for one, am so very thankful for it! Not just the food and fun, presents and such… We can’t forget the Real meaning of Christmas 🌟 “Christmas is the time to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
There is no better video summation of the meaning than this beloved video 👇🏻
A few Christmas pictures…
“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Merry Christmas everybody!🎅🏼🎄🌟🙏🏻❤️
~ Mark C.
Carter's Water Garden 