“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
Psalm 139:13-14 ESV
No, not every woman will become a mother. But, we are all here, without exception, because a young woman of childbearing age chose to bear within her, and give birth to, a life that God knew all about long, long before. No two circumstances being the same, the thought of “Mother” brings about a wide and endless range of emotions among us. Yet, by divine providence, you and I are here. Here, because God had a plan and purpose by which He brought each of us into the world…all fearfully and wonderfully made!
This is Pam’s all time favorite picture of her with her mom. We have both realized that neither of us have very many photos of just us and our moms during the years after we were married. There are those with family and others but very few of only the two. How we would love to have many, many more but it was not a time where everyone was walking around with a camera in hand, purse, or pocket! If you missed Pam’s sweet Mother’s Day post last week you can see it here!
Pam found a picture of my mom that I didn’t know we had. It did not have the exact date, but she was in her mid-to-late sixties at the time of this photo. Mom passed away in 2015.
Through the years with Pam and Seth. 40 of them have slipped away somewhere, somehow!
Our beautiful daughter-in-love with the 4 sweetest children (and grandchildren) in the world! These four little ones would no doubt select their mom as the bestest and wonderfulest mother on the planet..and Pam and I agree with them!
I saw this family group while on a walk in the wildlife park. There was only one little gosling. I wondered if the smaller looking goose in front was the mother? The little ones hang tight to their parents and often stay with the family group for a year. I guess after a year the parents might become sad “empty nesters”?
There may very well be some mothers in this group of white pelicans. White pelicans visit in the winter but I am not accustomed to seeing them in the spring. Another surprise while on a walk along the lake, I’m thinking these have taken up residence and may raise some little ones here? I can’t be sure, but will keep watch.
Being that a mother should never have to do the cooking in order to have a nice Mother’s Day meal, I took Seth’s Mother and our grands Grandmother to her favorite restaurant. I even said, “order whatever you’d like”, which is always understood, but it doesn’t hurt to confirm. How about crawfish and shrimp risotto with asparagus, sweet peas, sugar snaps, and leeks. I was given the special privilege of a tasting!
April/May is fresh strawberry season around these parts. Every mother and grandmother deserves a speciality dish that is in season and fresh from the farm. Strawberry semifreddo, with genoise cake and pistachios was the perfect choice…so perfect, I had one too!
Lizards are so versatile, from selling insurance, to checking the local weather statistics, and making weather predictions. After this Tuesday observation, we received 2 inches of needed rain Wednesday evening into Thursday morning!
Before dropping by Bottega for a pre-Mother’s Day delicious food encounter, we decided to spend a little time at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. We discovered a most interesting section, a spot in the gardens that we had not seen on a past visit. This sign caught my eye, so we decided to see what this was all about.
What is a stumpery? Good question, because we had no idea. This term was new to us, but perhaps not to some of you? Seems like a neat idea and a good use of the natural decaying things that are abundant in most woodlands.
We have used driftwood and a small log or two at times placed in the garden for an added feature of interest but nothing to this extent or in this manner!
It appears that a variety of ferns and other shade and moisture loving plants were finding a home among the various decaying stumps, logs, and limbs.
We do have a few places near our house where this could be accomplished, but a great deal of knowledge, hard work, and patience would be required. It won’t be happening since I certainly don’t possess the knowledge nor have the time and energy for any additional outdoor tasks. This was certainly an intriguing area to walk through. I did have ideas about not automatically discarding old things just because they could no longer function in their original manner. Adaptive reuse!
Near the stumpery I spotted this small tree that was in bloom. I had never seen this particular plant before, but told Pam it was dogwood-ish in its appearance. Research after returning home indicated it is in fact an Asian dogwood. As the name implies, it is not a native, but is cultivated here. Maybe some of you have grown this one?
Water has returned to cover the area that was once dry and showed turtle tracks in the mud. Floating Primrose Willow has found water temperatures that support growth after apparently sprouting in the moist soil while the water was at an extreme low earlier this spring. There are patches floating in these shallows and many, like this one, have unusual shapes and send out fingers in all directions.
After a wet start to our Thursday morning, skies began clearing late and it was noticeably cooler at sunset. It was to be another night with temps in the mid 40’s!
Note
We received notice from our web host that they will be performing maintenance and making some upgrades throughout today which could interrupt or cause some issues with our post. We are hopeful this will be minor or possibly be no issue at all.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Hebrews 13:8 ESV
Linking with:
Pieced Pastimes, Between Naps on the Porch, Katherines Corner, Follow The Yellow Brick Home,
Life and Linda
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