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, 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, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Love, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Dougie Fresh, Family, Family History, Friends and Family, George, George Brinkley, George of the Jungle, I ❤️ my Family, I Love My Family, Koi Whisperer, Memories, Prayers for the family, Rest, Rest In Peace, RIP, Time, Time immemorial, Time in a bottle, Uncle, Uncle Doug, Uncles

and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning, nor crying,
nor pain anymore,
for the former things have passed away.”
– Revelation 21:4
I think about you every day Uncle Doug! You are Loved and missed by many. A year just flashed by without you in it… Been thinking about our old adventures together 😊 Much Love ❤️
Rest in Peace 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
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: Family time, Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, music, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Sunday Reflections, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Family time, Family Traditions, Get Outside, Get Ready, Getting It Done, Spring Gardening, Spring is Here!, Spring News, Sunday, 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, Sunsets, Time, Time flies, Time in a bottle, Time to Plant
Spring is my favorite season for many reasons. It’s also my busiest season for many of the same reasons. Coming out of Winter, everyone emerges from their hibernation and blossoms 🌺 The phone starts ringing, and I’m out designing Waterfalls and Landscapes 6 and maybe even 7 days a week… And, I love ❤️ it!
But, right about mid May every year, I look up and realize that Spring is running away… Keeping the work/life balance is tough sometimes 😊 Even on a Sunday Morning.
IF you haven’t, get out there now and grab some Spring before we transition to Summer… It’s right around the corner 🌞

“By the time one is eighty, it is said, there is no longer a tug of war in the garden with the May flowers hauling like mad against the claims of the other months. All is at last in balance and all is serene. The gardener is usually dead, of course.”
~ Henry Mitchell
Mark C.
Filed under: Family time, Food, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Love, music, Sunrises, Sunsets, Waterfalls | Tags: Best Friend, Birthdays, Covid 19, Family, Friendship, George, Happy Birthday, I Love My Family, Love, Memories, Memory s, Old Memories, Time immemorial, Time in a bottle, Uncle Doug, You are missed
April 1st. is April fools day to most… In fact, I had planned a funny post this morning myself… But my mind and emotions steered me in a different direction completely, and I had to start over…
Today was also my Uncle Doug’s birthday. He recently passed away from Covid 19 and has been heavy on my mind. I always took him out for his birthday to a place of his choosing. Sometimes it was as simple as his favorite place for Chinese food here in town, or a place in Memphis for BBQ or maybe he would say “Let’s get some steaks 🥩 and fix dinner for everyone. But since I can remember, I spent this day with him.

My blog title today was meant to express how I feel about the love I have for my Uncle.
Time immemorial (Latin: Ab immemorabili) is a phrase meaning time extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition, indefinitely ancient, “ancient beyond memory or record”. In law, it means that a property or benefit has been enjoyed for so long that its owner does not have to prove how they came to own it.
We were close from the day I was born, before my memory’s started! “beyond memory or record”…
He was a true blessing in my life. Happy Birthday in Heaven Uncle Doug! 🙏🏻 You are truly missed ❤️
“God will wipe away every tear from their eyes,
and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning, nor crying,
nor pain anymore,
for the former things have passed away.”
– Revelation 21:4
PS: If you have someone in your life that has been there for you “beyond memory or record”, be it family or a life long best friend, give them a hug today and tell them you Love them. Things happen in the blink of an eye and then all that’s left, is your memories… 🙏🏻
~ Mark Carter
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: Autumn Color, Autumn Leaves Falling on Water, Autumn Poem, Birds, Colorful Foliage, Fall Beauty, fall poem, Natural Beauty, River Life, Seasonal changes, Sunday Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Sunday Mornings, Sunday on the River, Sunday Poem, Sunday Reflections, Sunday with Family, Sundays, Time, Time flies, Time in a bottle
After work yesterday, we got out on the water to see how the Fall color show was progressing. I Love ❤️ Fall 🍁 I am blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world and I know it 😊 In a few shorts weeks we will be looking at Thanksgiving 🦃 And all the reds and oranges and golden color will be gone for the year… Get out and see it now because it won’t stay around long… Time flies by 💨
“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.“
~ Robert Frost


Breakfast 🍳 is calling me…
Have a wonderful Sunday!
Mark C.