Give It a Rest

In typical Montana fashion, we've gone from nice and warm to suddenly cold.  Hello, Winter! For once, the weather guy was actually correct in his predictions. We spent the start of our week outside, enjoying the beautiful fall temps and getting things ready for the coming freeze.

It was a lovely season of growing and harvesting for us.  There isn't anything quite as wonderful as picking your dinner out of your very own gardens!  Here are a few pictures from spring to fall.

Got lots of kale and chard. I will miss going out every morning to pick greens for my smoothies!

New strawberry patch.  It did really well.

Tying up the raspberries

Ready for the compost bin :)

Our tomatoes did well, but I think I will plant cherry tomatoes next year.

Beets!!!  

We had an abundance of lettuce and greens. Daily salads during the summer.  Lovely!

Fresh carrots are the best!

Kyra's radishes. :)

New little plants.  Had to cover them with a net. Birds love berries, too.

My herb garden did so well! I was able to have fresh herbs all summer and still have lots to dry or freeze for winter.

Little carrots

Buttercrunch lettuce.  Sooooo good!!!!

Freezing rosemary in olive oil.  Great way to preserve your herbs for winter!

Putting the gardens to bed...

Got the garlic all planted and mulched

In the process of cleaning out the beds

Straw for mulch and compost bin

And so the gardens are all ready for their long winter sleep. Vegetable beds are cleaned out, garlic is planted.  Our herbs and fruit, in another garden on the side of the house, are looking rather sad and cold.  I admit that I cried a little when it was all done.  Thank you, Father, for blessing our little gardens with such a bountiful harvest. 

Goodnight, Garden.  Until next spring...

Thawing Out

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a fan of winter.  I would be happy if winter only hung around for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  There is something about Christmas and snow, we all know that.  Once the holidays are over, however, bring on the sun and spring!  One problem, though...I live in Montana. My solution?  Head on down to South Texas to visit the family.

Last year we went down for my brother's wedding and ended up staying for 5 weeks. It was a wonderful break from the cold and gloom of a Montana winter. I decided that it was a must-do for this winter as well and called up my Aunt Sherrie to see if the little white house on their property was empty.  It was, so the girls and I stayed down there from February to April. We were blessed...lots of sunshine, big Texas thunderstorms and absolutely amazing weather.  It was lovely!

Not only was the weather lovely, but we had a wonderful time with my family.  Beebo and Pappa, aunts, uncles, and cousins...we spent time with them all. I am so thankful to have been able to make the trip.  Here are pics from our time there. (Thanks to Kyra for taking so many beautiful photos of our trip.  I love you, my talented girl! Any not so great pics were taken by me, probably on my phone.)

   My daddy...in his 60's and still  handsome.

My mamma...so pretty inside and out.  We spent almost every single day with her.

My brother, Mike.  Shelby is working with him, learning welding/fabrication.

Maddy and I.  Love my girl. :-)

Jay and Shelby at a riding area called Mud Buddies.

We were lucky to be able to enjoy the amazing Texas wildflowers during our stay.  So, so beautiful!
Rubber boots are a must around there.  Lotsa snakes and other creepy crawlies.

Riding the property with Wayne and Sherrie

Uncle Wayne's milk cow. (Ok, maybe not...)

One of our day trips was to Blessing and Port Lavaca. The pic with that sweet little lady is from the Blessing Hotel where she has cooked and served good ole Southern home cookin' for several decades. We enjoyed seeing the hotel and having lunch. Fun little piece of history.  After leaving Blessing, we went to Port Lavaca to go to a quilt shop and to the beach for a while. 

Another day trip, this one to Galveston where we met Uncle Bill, Aunt Jo and Naomi.  We had a yummy lunch downtown, shopped a while and spent some time at the beach.

Kyra's favorite movie is "Hope Floats" so we took a day to visit Smithville, where the movie was filmed.

Misc pics of the family

A few pictures from our little home-away-from-home.
My mamaw and papaw are buried in this little cemetery on the property.

Jay turned 40 while we were away so we had a party for him when he got down to Texas in April. We had amazing BBQ courtesy of Wayne, complete with all the usual trimmings--potato salad, beans, cornbread and pie. Kyra made Jay a chocolate beet cake, which is our new favorite. We were glad we had a chance to celebrate with him.

We are so blessed to have been able to spend this time with family. Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to make our stay so fantastic, always making us feel so loved and welcome.