Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Hummingbirds, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pondless Waterfalls, Sunday Reflections, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Celebration, Coffee, Daily Blog, Daily Enjoyment, Daily Ritual, Daily Routine, Day Off, Family, Family time, Family Traditions, Feeding Birds, Feeding Koi, Feeding the Soul, Feeding Time, Fish Feeding, Friday Off, Garden Chores, Happy Labor Day, Holiday, Labor Day, Labor Day Weekend, Life is Good, Living the Life Abundant, Morning Coffee, Nursery Work, Saturday off, 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, Time Off, Watering Plants, Weekend Off, Work Life Balance
Labor Day Weekend… It’s definitely nice to enjoy a few days off! There are still things that we have to do of course, but since we live at the Nursery & Gardens we also work for a living… It’s just another day in our routine…
Or is it?
I was reflecting on my labor in life, and In many ways my labor is my life… I mean, I literally live at the Nursery/Farm that I work for a living… There are no days off when there are plants to water (or they die!) and animals to feed & water (or they suffer &/or die)! So I have done what anyone in my situation has to do, I have embraced it wholeheartedly! And I LOVE my Family! My ‘everyday’ Lifestyle! And I LOVE MY Job! ❤️
“He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”
~ Saint Francis of Assisi
Happy Labor Day 🇺🇸 to everyone that Labor’s out there! I hope you love your job too! 🙏🏻
Mark C.
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, Pond Tips, Pondless Waterfalls, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Videos, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: CAC, Certified Aquascape Contractor, Chicagoland, educational workshop, Extended Family, Family Traditions, Greg Wittstock, Master CAC, Master Certified Aquascape Contractor, 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, There’s No Place Like Home
This Summer has just flown by for me… I must be having fun right 😊 Most Sundays are family days. Eat breakfast together, spend time together, etc… Today is both different and the same 💭 Today my wife and I are at a work conference that we attend yearly for training and CEU points for our certification as Pond/Water Garden Specialist. We have been working and training with some of these folks for well over 20 years… So many of these folks are like an extended family!
An extended family I have
I am so glad
To have you all
I feel ten feet tall
And I give you my all
If you need
You will not have to plead
I will feel glee
If I can give you what you need
There is no need
For you plead
My love for you all is a guarantee
Let me know you are in need
And I will be there in lightning speed
To help you all in your time of need
So remember there is no need
To plea
I will help you in time of need
~ Keith Wells
~ 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, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pond Tips, Pondless Waterfalls, Sunday Reflections, Sunsets, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Full Harvest Moon, Full Moon, Harvest Moon, Landscape Lighting, Lighting, Moonlight Pond, Moonlight Pond Party, Moonlight Pond Tour, Moonlight Tour, Moonlighting effects, Nightscaping, Nighttime Pond, Nighttime World, Poem, Poems, Pond Lighting, Saturday Night, Spot lights, Summer Nights, 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, Sunrises, Sunsets, Underwater Lighting, Waterfall at Night
We finally had some much needed rain! My lawn and gardens certainly appreciated it… Looking at the weeks forecast, there is a chance of rain almost daily, but temps are gonna settle into the 80’s for what appears to be a mostly normal August! It’s a very pleasant morning 🌞 Locust in the background, partly sunny and mild. The birds are singing, my oven is preheating, & I’m drinking coffee ☕️ trying to capture a thought 💭
Last night I started getting serious with my Moonlight Pond Tour preparation… Checking lights, adjusting things, trying a few new things out… Please let me know what you think so far 😊
It was HOT last night though! 92 degrees and super humid at 11pm 😯 When we got through Jo and I were both soaked and exhausted 🥱 It’s a good feeling to me 😊
Great end to a great week! It’s been hot, but it’s about to change…
“Seen from above, the canopy of oak and make and pine is pierced by the pond, which looks back at you like some green eye, knowing and ancient. The air above the pond dives into clefts of coolness, then rises up at the warmth of the margins. Down the path, filigrees of blackflies and mosquitos dance in the heat waves given off by men and women and their domestic fires. Joyous bats dart about.”
~ Grace Dane Mazur
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Hummingbirds, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls | Tags: Cooling Down, Crickets, Dry Weather, Dryflies, Enjoy The Evening, Evening by the Pond, Evening Zen, Frogs, Hot Weather, Lazy Day, Locust, Love, North Wind, Summer Nights, Summertime, Summertime in Tennessee, 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
Last nights blowing cool front that came in from the North felt like such a blessing! It went from high humidity and HOT to breezy and cool in a moment! Wow! It literally felt like a gift from heaven 🙏🏻 After that we took a walk around the property and admired the Gardens ❤️ Then we sat on the swing, drank coffee and listened to the dryflies, frogs & crickets 🎶
This morning is so nice as well! Coffee and the promise of a little cooler weather… I will take it!
Enjoy this day that the lord has made 🙏🏻
“The steady buzzzzzzz of the Katydid chorus,
the bass solo of the croaking Frog,
the steady woof-woof-woof a barking Dog –
a summer night’s serenade.”
~ Michael P. Garofalo
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls | Tags: Family, Family Fun, Family time, July 4th., June, Love, Summer Nights, Summer Pond Tour, Summer Season, Summer Time, Summertime, Summertime in Tennessee, 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, Time, Time flies, Time in a bottle, Time Off
What a week it was! 1st day of Summer ✔️ record high heat ✔️ My iPhone self destructed ✔️ Pond Tour ✔️ But, We got it all done! ✔️ And now this coming weekend is the 4th of July! 💥🇺🇸 Time… Its flying by… Pay attention or you’ll blink and bam, its Labor Day and Summer will be gone…
Just a few pics form yesterdays Pond Tour/Fund Raiser. Hopefully we can all enjoy a little Summer this next week, after all its almost Independence Day!
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.”
~ John Lubbock
Enjoy this Summer Day!
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls | Tags: Balance, Cat Rescue, Catmint, catnip, Cats, Gardening, Herbs, Irish Sayings, Landscape, Love Your Pets, Nursery Cat, Pets, plants, 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, Yin Yang
Its a mild, beautiful, overcast morning. A perfect morning to get out and enjoy the air, check on plants, listen to the birds and the Waterfalls. I’m drinking my coffee this morning from the Hemingway House cup we got down in Key West earlier this year 😊 Like Earnest, I love cats 🐈 too…
Our cat isn’t a ”polydactyl type”, but shes a heck of a mouser 🐁 And she LOVES mint! Not just catmint, most any mint will do 😊
Balance is so important in life. All the hard work we have been doing to keep the Nursery up and to prepare for the upcoming Pond Tour is balanced by the beauty of the Landscape that I enjoy every time I stop to admire a flower or feed a Koi 🐠 Or even to watch my cat working through every one of my plants to see which ones she likes the best 🌺
Have a blessed Sunday 🙏🏻
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Family, Family time, Family Traditions, Freedom, Freedom isn’t Free, I Love My Family, Love, Memorial Day, Memorial Weekend, Peace, Peace on Earth, Ragged Old Flag, Rest In Peace, 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, Thankful, USA
Early morning sunshine… Watering, feeding the birds and animals, feeling thankful 🙏🏻 Reflection on the reasons for our peace and freedom… Its a beautiful day!
Remember
Someone’s child, left long ago,
A strange land,
Someone’s foe.
An unmarked grave, fields of green,
Resting quiet,
Just eighteen.
Winds of freedom, wash us now,
Remember him,
This I vow
~ Victor C. Kleinschmit
God Bless America! 🇺🇸
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Beautiful Day, bird call, Birds, Birds and ponds, Breakfast, Coffee, Coffee Mug, Feeding Birds, Flowers, Fresh Lemonade, Get Outside, Homemade Lemonade, Lemon Trees, Lemonade, Love, Morning Coffee, nesting birds, Pottery, Potting Containers, Spring, Spring Gardening, Spring is Here!, 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 Songs, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sunrises, watering, Watering Plants
All I can say is ”What a beautiful morning”! I think every bird in the world is singing the song of Spring! Ive been up and out since early… Coffee ☕️ ✔️ Breakfast ✔️ Watering ✔️ … We have moved pottery a bit and potted some things up as well. Its mid-morning break time, so I thought I would write this little blog and fix some homemade Lemonade 🍋 Nothing tastes as good as a fresh glass of sweet lemonade on a spring morning.
I just Love Spring!
“It’s lemonade in a cardboard cup between the legs of a freshly tanned, sunglass wearing, brown eyed girl. It’s a white Jeep, blaring Enrique loud.
It’s the sweat beneath the dark curls. It’s the country song that brings tears to your eyes. It’s the lessons learned, the mistakes made. It’s the future ahead, bright and beautiful. It’s the laughter, memories. It’s the good things in life.
It’s Spring.
~ Alixis Russell
I’ll see y’all in the house about dark:30…
Mark C.
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.
Carter's Water Garden 