My New Blog: Dragonfly Ranch

Two years ago, in the midst of our grieving, my husband had a desperate need to get out of the city. He kinda dragged me to this broken down house in the country. I didn't want to go, being very content in my nice little house in my nice little neighborhood, with my nice sidewalks and friendly neighbors. Eleven acres with no neighbors really held no attraction. But he needed a project, and being a good wife, I went along. Project is the understatement. We bought our own little money pit, but it's been so good for us, mentally, physically and spiritually. I started reluctantly, and still resist occasionally, but mostly it's opened a new chapter in my life. I decided I needed a new blog to chronicle this interesting journey. I am leaving the sad stuff here on this blog, and devoting the new blog to the charms and challenges of country living. I hope you can join me there, too.

Dragonflyranchgirl.blogspot.com

Hurricane Sandy

 

This is the worst of it for us...flooding all  around the house, and the road leading to our house was flooded like a river. It is receding today. We had to pump water out of our crawl space under the house, and  my husband's office in the barn also got flooded from rain collecting outside, then pouring in at the floor board level. He's ripped out his floor and is drying the place out. Water in the barn is a whole lot easier to deal with than water in the house, so we are thankful for our dry house. After seeing what those north of us are dealing with, we have utterly no complaints.
We are very glad it's over.

Thanks for the support and prayers. Hope you are all warm, dry and cozy on the day after the Superstorm. 

Big Birthday in the Barn

Barn preps underway. Big moment coming.

Izzy turned 13. She and 19 of her friends  took over our farm for 24 hours.  

With pizza on pretty plates,

and sweets and Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast. A junk food festival.

An amazing centerpiece made by Aunty Crystal.

 Sparkly mirror balls to go with the beat from the ipods.

All theirs for the night.

Picture time, and here they are, trying to give us a Rockette's arm roll.

Enjoying posing for the cameras.

For Izzy, it's been a long wait to become a teenager. When you have the late birthday and all your friends have already passed over the line from childhood to "all grown up now", it deserves a big celebration.

Cute as kittens.

 
Darling girls.
All 19 of them eventually showed up and stayed.
Maybe the largest sleepover I've ever been party to.

Savoring the moment, another pic of them surrounding the Birthday Girl.

One more pose and then to the pond and jacuzzi.
They sort of acted like they were college girls--- but with soda and bedtimes and numerous chaperones.

I have such mixed feelings about them growing up. But I can't stop time, so on it rolls, taking my grandchildren with it.

Walk to the Back Bay

Papa and Aidan and Cody (and me) take a walk down the street.

They are so cute! We live next door to a National Wildlife Refuge and frequently make the walk to the end of the road to check things out.

Parts of it are not open to the public, just to the critters. Apparently the critters won't make babies if too many people are poking their heads in. We are glad to cooperate and stay out of their way.

But if you walk down our road, there are beautiful things to see. It changes with the seasons.
These grasses are called phragmites and they are everywhere in the marshes by the end of the summer, weighted down by their heavy heads.

Pickerel Rush grows in the marshes, too, and blooms in the summer.

The butterflies love these flowers. 

This black swallowtail is  flitting from flower to flower. 

It's a beautiful creature. 

I love the purple flowers. 

This is the Back Bay. It's a large body of water edged by a narrow strip of land across from us that keeps out the Atlantic ocean. The land on the other shore is the northernmost portion of the famous strip of land known as the Outer Banks. It looks like a line in these pictures. 

If you were to drive South on that little strip of land you would be in North Carolina. They don't let you do that, though. It's a bird sanctuary. 

I guess a spider sanctuary too. 

See that line on the horizon. Yup, the northern Outer Banks. We call it Sandbridge.  

They close the Back Bay in winter, but we pedestrians who live on this street are able to slide in beside the poles and stay a while. 

And then walk home again. 

Back in the house, I sit in my chair and take a shot of my gorgeous roses. These are the dribs and drabs of my summer roses. So gorgeous on my cluttered table next to my favorite leather chair.  My spot. 

The Back Bay is beautiful and all, but nothing thrills me like fresh flowers. Nothing.  

Psalm 24:1
 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.

End of Summer at the Farm

The grass is still a beautiful emerald green, but the trees are starting to turn red and gold.

The rockers on the porch are waiting for visitors.

The garden is fading. I am only getting a few roses a day now, and even fewer tomatoes. 

The pond is quiet. The turtles are not sunbathing anymore. 

The potted plants are blooming less.

The dragonflies are disappearing. 

The barn is quiet. 

The coke planter is getting ready for bulbs so we can have blooms in spring. 

The screen porch is vacant. 

The front door is getting decorated for Fall. 

The summer flowers will be replaced with mums.  

The entry will be full of pumpkins, orange wreaths and autumn flowers.  

No one is swimming in the pond. 

No one is climbing on the fort. 

All the kids are back in school and the farm is quiet at the end of summer. We turn our energies toward preparing for the cool days that are coming.
Nothing is as beautiful and cozy as Fall.

Eccles 1:3
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.