Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Love, music, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: 21st. Birthday, Birthdays, Birthdays Are Special, Dad, Family, Family Pictures, Family time, Family Traditions, Good Times, Happy Birthday, Passage of Time, Proud American, Proud Father, Son, 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 with Family, Sundays, Time, Time flies, Time in a bottle
2023 is definitely off to a quick start for me. Back to work is an understatement… But certain things slow you down to pay homage and reflect on. Like my son turning 21 this past week ❤️ Milestones like this really make you reflect. Saying “time flies” just doesn’t tell the story, but in a way it does sum it up… Time is such an illusion. It slips right through our grasp and pours through our fingers, and we can never get it back. We have had a lot of time well spent together! I’ve made a point to spend as much time as possible with my family and with my son over the past 21 years! And the only regrets I can think of are the few things we didn’t get to do… YET! I feel very blessed to have him in my life and I look forward to what the future may bring.
The future looks bright for my little (6’3”) 21 year old son. What an impressive man he has become. 🙏🏻❤️
Sunday brunch and coffee are forthcoming ☕️ 🍳
“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend” ~ Theophrastus
Have a great Sunday!
~ 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, Friends and Family, God Bless, Grateful, Gratitude, Happy Thanksgiving, Love, 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 Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Sunsets, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Decorations, Thanksgiving is Coming, The Presence of God, Time, Time flies, Time in a bottle, Time Off
Time is so funny… Sometimes it drags on & other times it goes by so fast that you miss things. I say it all the time, but it seems like this year has gone by quicker than any year before 💨 Turn around and boom 💥 it’s Thanksgiving! We are hosting our family dinner here in a few days, so we have been busy straitening up, decorating and basically getting ready 🦃
After all these years of living and working and doing, the one thing I have figured out is, you have to be grateful for your blessings 🙏🏻 (Ps: I’m still working on it 😊)
With my hectic schedule it’s easy to push on and take things for granted just to get through this day and to the next… But you miss so many things in that process, the most important things. God, family, friends, rest, health & happiness can be glossed over and left in your wake… Maybe it’s like the spirit that comes over you at Christmas 🎅🏼 you want everyday to feel like that. ⭐️ Thanksgiving can be the same. I’m going to try to let my Gratitude exceed my expectations everyday and see what happens ❤️
“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”
~ William Arthur Ward
Happy Thanksgiving 🦃 to Everyone!
~ Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections | Tags: Australian Shepherd, Biscuits, Biscuits and Gravy, Chicken, chicken Coop, Chickens, Coffee, Coffee Mug, Dark Winter, Daylight Savings Time, Fall Back, Feeding Birds, Feeding Time, Free Range Chickens, Hen House, Instagram, Morning Coffee, Pets, Sunday, Sunday in the Garden, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday Poem, Sunday Quote, Sunday Reflections, Sunday Sunrises, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Time flies
It’s always easy to “Fall back”! My personal clock didn’t change though… I was wide awake shortly after 4am this morning. My iPhone had already updated, so I changed all the clocks ⏰, reset the oven and microwave clocks… Straitened up, made coffee, made biscuits and waited for the sunrise.
Shortly after breakfast, I let the chickens 🐓 out to free range a bit, then came back to drink some coffee ☕️
In the short time that I was in the house a couple of things happened. My sons Australian Shepherd got out of the fence and not only scattered my flock of chickens that were outside, she went into the hen house & ran ALL of my chickens out and scattered them to the wind 💨
You know what comes next… Trying to locate and round up chickens isn’t easy, in fact I’m still in the process… Y’all have a wonderful Sunday afternoon 🌞
“I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Autumn, Autumn Color, Autumn Leaves Falling on Water, Autumn Poem, Cookout by the Pond, Fall, Family time, Fire Pit, Football, Love, Now, Seasonal Interest, 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
What a beautiful morning! The sun is out and it’s so warm I was able to sit outside in my shorts and a T-shirt this morning 😊 We are past our 1st frost and freeze now, so I guess you can call this an Indian Summer… And I’ll take it! In 8 days we will celebrate Halloween 🎃 Then we enter the Holiday Season 🦃 🎄It all comes so fast 💨 I’m still trying to enjoy the Fall Color before it disappears… Here are a few pictures of some Fall Color that I have captured on film over time. Enjoy the season at hand, it’s the best one, and the only one that’s real right Now ❤️
Colorful foliage, almost no bugs, beautiful weather, football, fire pits… I Love Fall 🍁🏈🎃🔥
“Looking out my window
In October’s golden light,
I see a beauty unsurpassed,
A truly lovely sight.
Leaves are saying soft good-byes
As they come floating down
To make a nature’s carpet
Of yellow, red, and brown.
Mountain tops, now turned to white,
Forewarn of winter chills,
While trees, like golden rivers,
Wind their way up through the hills.
Throughout our world’s creation
You will ever find it thus,
Kaleidoscopes of color,
In God’s hand, the artist’s brush.”
~ Alora M. Knight
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, 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, 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, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi Ponds, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: #throwbackthursday, #waterfallthursday, Christmas is Coming, Christmas Magic, Christmas Season, Christmas Spirit, Family time, Family Traditions, Love, Memories, Throwback Thursday, Time, Time flies, Time in a bottle, Time Off, Waterfall Thursday
Its the last Throwback Thursday before Christmas 🎄 So here’s to looking back at Christmas past.
Have a very Merry Christmas! #throwbackthursday!
“God gave us our memories so that we might have roses in December.”
~ J.M. Barrie
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
Filed under: Boutique, Butterfly House, 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, Videos, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Best Local Nursery and Garden Center, Boutique, Carter Country Boutique & Gifts, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Christmas is Coming, Christmas Magic, Christmas Pond Package, Christmas Season, Financing Available, Garden Center, Gift Certificates, Gifts, Gifts With Meaning, Guy Shopping, Holiday Pond Package, Pondless Waterfall, Saturday Shoppers, Shop Local, Shopping, Showroom, Special Gift, Time flies, Unique Boutique, Unique Gifts, What is Christmas All About
Yep, it has kinda snuck up on me again too… I’m always so busy busy, “get er’ done“ that I sometimes loose track of time… Reality sets in quick when you realize that it’s less than 2 weeks until Christmas and you still have shopping to do… Usually, its for the most important people in your life that you still have to pick a gift for too…
Well, my advice –
- keep it simple
- go 1st class
- And – Shop Local!
Heres a few ideas…
Merry Christmas! 🎄 🎅🏻
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: Boutique, Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Love, music, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Christmas, Christmas Countdown, Christmas decorations, Christmas Gifts, Christmas is Coming, Christmas List, Christmas Love, Christmas Magic, Christmas Music, Christmas Season, Christmas Songs, Christmas Spirit, Christmas with Family, Family time, Good Times, Holiday, Holiday Season, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas Y'all, Quality Time, Time, Time flies
Thanksgiving is over… Black Friday is behind us! We started putting up our Thanksgiving decorations this morning and pulling old things out to get ready for Christmas. It really hit me like a ton of bricks 🧱 Christmas is less than 1 month away!
So it begins… Christmas is coming! 🎄
Have a great Holiday weekend!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
Carter's Water Garden 