Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Videos, Waterfalls | Tags: Best Mom, Cookout, Cookout by the Pond, Great Mother, Guys Cook Too, Happy Mother’s Day!, I ❤️ Mom!, I Love My Mother, Mom, Mom is Special, Moment of Zen, Mother’s Day, Mother’s Day Breakfast, Mother’s Day Gifts, Mother’s Day Ideas, Mother’s Day Lunch, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Songs, Sunday with Family, Sundays
Today started early… Straiten up the house, spray off the porch and food prep for lunch… Not just any lunch mind you – Its Mothers Day! 💥
I’m gonna keep it short today, because lunch is coming quick! Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there! I hope you all have a very special day!
“There ought to be a hall of fame for mamas
Creation’s most unique and precious pearls
And heaven help us always to remember
That the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”
~ Glen Campbell & Steve Wariner
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, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pondless Waterfalls, Sunday Reflections, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Aquatic Plant Fertilizer, Aquatic Plants, Butterfly Plants, Garden Maintenance, Gardening, Greenhouse, Greenhouse Report, Hydrangeas, Limelight Hydrangeas, Oakleaf Hydrangeas, plants, Spring Gardening, 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, watering, Watering Plants
What a BEAUTIFUL Day!!! 🌞🌼 What do you do on an Sunday in the Spring, when you own a nursery, with limited help and beau·coup plants 🪴? You water 🚿 and then you water 🚿 some more… And in between, you clean and cut back and fertilize, ad infinitum… But, on a day like today, its not an awful deal…
“Spring drew on…and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily suggested the thought that hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.”
~ Charlotte Bronte’
I’m going inside… Been a long day 😊
Mark C.
Filed under: Boutique, Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: 1st Day of Spring, Aquatic Plants, Art, Art in the Garden, Art Show, Artistic Waterfalls, Flowers, I ❤️ Aquatic Plants, I ❤️ My Art, Love, Love and Meaning, Love Thy Neighbor, Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself, plants, Spring is Here!, 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, Sunsets, Vernal Equinox, Water Garden Maintenance
Good Morning! And, ”Happy Vernal Equinox! I’ve been hollering ’Spring is Coming’ since February, and finally – here we are 🌼 SPRING!
Yesterday we held our annual Spring Workshop and Customer Appreciation Day and so many people came out! We talked gardening, water gardening, Koi, and more. We ate some Wonderful Craft-made Pizzas 🍕 and saw some beautiful Art Displayed by a wonderful local artist – Matt Brown.
The Sun finally popped out late in the day and we saw the Full Moon after dark 🌝
Now that Spring is here, its time to go to work!
“Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.
~ Robert Frost, A Prayer in Spring.
Y’all Have a Beautiful Sunday!
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Daffodils, Flowers, Late Winter, Magnolia X soulangeana, SaucerMagnolia, Spring, Spring Gardening, Spring is Coming, Spring Pond Maintenance, 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, Trees
Crazy weather… It was supposed to have rained all day, but it didn’t rain a drop 💧So in essence we got a free day! 😊 So nice and so warm, it turned out to be a wonderful Spring day! Walking around the Landscape, so much is blooming 🌼 Daffodils, Magnolias, Forsythia and the Maples, birch and willow are coming out like gangbusters – don’t forget the Privet 🤧 can you say Pollen…
Did I mention crazy weather? Rain tonight. Freezing temps tomorrow night, followed by more rain and a chance of snow by weeks end… “If you don’t like the weather”…
Have a wonderful evening! 1 week from today we will have a much longer evening 😊
“Come with me into the woods. Where spring is advancing, as it does, no matter what, not being singular or particular, but one of the forever gifts, and certainly visible.”
~ Mary Oliver
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Waterfalls | Tags: AOG Grill, Burning Leaves, charcoal grills, Cookout, Family Fun, Family time, Family Traditions, Garden Chores, Gardening, Gas Grills, Grilling, Grilling Station, grills, Leaf cleanup, Leaves, Outdoor Lifestyle Area, outdoor lifestyles, Outdoor Living, Outdoor Room, Saffire Grill, Spring Cleaning, Sunday, 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 Reflections, Sunday Songs, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sunsets
What a gorgeous morning! We started around 30 degrees with full Sun ☀️ and it has steadily warmed… It will be mid 60’s soon and it sure is nice 😊
We are gonna work in our yard a bit today, burn some leaves and maybe some steaks 🥩 on the grill as well! A little glimpse of Spring is pretty sweet on a Sunday! 🙏🏻
“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
Enjoy your day!
Spring is Coming!
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi Ponds, Love, music, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: A New Year, Christmas is Over, Christmas Season, Christmas Spirit, Christmas with Family, Closed for the Holiday, Family time, Holiday Season, Home For The Holidays, I Love My Family, I Love My Mother, Love, Love and Meaning, Love Thy Neighbor, Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself, New Years is Coming!, New Years Resolutions, New Years Traditions, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Poem, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Songs, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Weekend Off
The morning after Christmas has now come and gone… Why does it always feel like Christmas is so far away, then you blink and its gone for another year? Hard to grasp… But we had a good family get together and dinner, saw some beautiful lights and decorations, and tried to remember and stay true to the real meaning of Christmas.
Now we have to take all the decorations down, clean everything up and get ready for a new year… Ready or not, here comes 2022!
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.
~ Howard Thurman
Have a great last evening of Christmas weekend! 🎄🎅🏻❤️🙏🏻
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Charlie Brown, Christmas, Christmas Gifts, Christmas is Coming, Christmas Love, Christmas Magic, Christmas Season, Christmas Songs, Christmas Spirit, Christmas with Family, Christmas Zen, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas Y'all, Short Days, Shortest day of the year, Sunday, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Gardening, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Naps, Sunday Poem, Sunday Quote, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Songs, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, The Longest Night, What is Christmas All About, Winter Is Coming, Winter Solstice
I got up a little late this morning… We were up late watching Christmas movies 🎅🏻 Just a few more days till Christmas 🎄 Only 2 days till the Winter Solstice, which make me happy as well! After Tuesday the days start getting longer again 🙏🏻 Come on Spring! Don’t let me get ahead of myself… The real next stop is Sunday brunch!
So much to do this week! Cooking, shopping, wrapping, cleaning, work work work… Sometimes I have to remind myself to slow down, and focus on what this season is really all about – Who its all about 🙏🏻
This has and always will be one of my favorIte Christmas shows ❤️ Its as relevant and meaningful as the day it was released in 1965.
Have a great day and a VERY Merry Christmas!
“Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.”
~ Harlan Miller
Peace,
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Herbs, Love, music, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Family, Family time, Family Traditions, Food, Good food, Ham, Happy Thanksgiving, Menu, Pecan Pie, Pecan Trees, 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, Sweet Potato, Sweet Potato Bar, Thanks, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Decorations, Thanksgiving is Coming
It’s Thanksgiving week! 🦃 And Thanksgiving Dinner is at my house! I’ve been thinking about all the work I have to do this week to prepare… Making a list… But, at least the menu is set… I got ham again
I also got the sweet potatoes 🍠 But I’m putting a different spin on it this year … Instead of the regular ”Sweet Potato Casserole” you may expect… I’m Doing a Sweet Potato Bar instead! You get a whole, baked Sweet Potato & you top it yourself! Brown sugar, butter, marsh-mellows, candied pecans, fresh cinnamon, whipped cream, etc!
And I always fix several pecan pies from my MiMi’s recipe…
Everyone else is bringing something as well, can you say Feast! There will be Family and friends and LOTS of good food! I have a LOT to be Thankful for! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I am also very aware of the men and women who serve our country 🇺🇸 and will be unable to return home for the holidays. We owe them a very special Thank you and prayer ❤️🙏🏻
And there are so many around that don’t have as much to be thankful for… Many that even dread the holidays. I know I need to do my part to help others as well…
Well, with all that being said, I better get started…
Have a Thankful week 🙏🏻
“Give me the end of the year an’ its fun
When most of the plannin’ an’ toilin’ is done;
Bring all the wanderers home to the nest,
Let me sit down with the ones I love best,
Hear the old voices still ringin’ with song,
See the old faces unblemished by wrong,
See the old table with all of its chairs
An’ I’ll put soul in my Thanksgivin’ prayers.”
~ Edgar A. Guest
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Autumn, Autumn Color, Autumn Leaves Falling on Water, Autumn Poem, Autumnal Equinox, Breakfast, Burning Leaves, Colorful Foliage, Fall Color, Family, Family Fun, Family History, Family Pictures, Family time, Family Traditions, Leaves, October, Pancakes, 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
What a beautiful morning! A quick, early walk this morning was perfect! Leaves are really showing color now 🍁 and many are falling in good number… Its about time for a good early Fall clean-up and burn 🔥 It really helps clear the way for later in the season.
Then its back in the house for breakfast 🥞 🍳 No brunch today! Too much to do and see outside on this gorgeous Fall Day! 🍁🍁🍁
Only 1 week from today is Halloween 🎃… Get out and look around before the show is over!
“October is the month for painted leaves. Their rich glow now flashes round the world. As fruits and leaves and the day itself acquire a bright tint just before they fall so the year near its setting. October is its sunset sky; November the later twilight.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
Mark C.
Carter's Water Garden 