It is 2025. This garden picture was taken by me in my garden in 2010. It looks nothing like this today. Now I have family priorities that take most of my time.
I look back and I am thankful that at one time I had the luxury of playing in my garden for hours upon hours. I am thankful that I took enough pictures to look back at and be grateful for that time. I am grateful that my family allowed me this time.
This coming Tuesday 12/02/2025 is Giving Tuesday. Some of you, including myself, have already given to organizations or missions that speak to the heart. Though it is nice to have a day set aside to make sure in this season of giving that you remember others, especially those organizations that serve people who need help.
Count your blessings, and be grateful by giving to others that need your help.
All these pictures were taken by me years ago at a road-side market in Berryville, Virginia.
Yesterday I was visiting several places in my community taking advantage of some rare time away from home and work. Most places I went I saw pumpkins and various other members of the gourd family.
Did you know that cucumbers were in the gourd family? I did not know this until today.
As I was walking into one of the stores I was visiting, I heard a little boy behind me ask whether he could have a pumpkin. I heard his father respond that pumpkins were for October. Without thinking, I responded, “Pumpkins are already in the stores.” Then as I slowed to get a shopping cart, the father smiled at me, and I realized that it was his lame excuse for not buying his son a pumpkin. I smiled back, and went on my way knowing my words could not be taken back. I hope the little boy will get his pumpkin, and I hope that he can draw faces on it or have his dad carve a friendly face on it.
I love the beauty and versatility of gourds. They are one of the reasons I love the fall season, and of course all the pumpkin breads, muffins, pies, and cookies that are available at this time of year. I saw my husband had a carton of a pumpkin spice high protein drink, and I winced at the thought of it. Is this carrying it too far?
Anyways, I went looking for my pumpkin pictures, and I was reminded of my husband’s Uncle Buddy and his llama farm. He is no longer with us, nor is the llama farm still there. All was sold off, and I believe the land was sold to a neighboring horse training farm. Time moves on and things can change. I will post a picture in honor of Buddy and his llamas. I am not sure whether his wife Cheryl is still alive. She left to be closer to some of her children.
I still have some llama wool items I purchased to help support the cause. I will have to pull out the llama wool blanket that I have never used for fear of ruining it. I might as well use it at this point since their is no good reason to ‘save it’.
Some of Uncle Buddy’s llamas near Berryville, Virginia. His property was a stone’s throw from the West Virginia and Virginia border. He was on the West Virginia side.
These pictures were taken today with my old Nikon D300. It still works, though my skills need a refresh course. The surprise is the clematis I planted in a pot. This is the only new plant I planted this year. I have spent very little time in the garden for many reasons, not the least was the fact that the weather was miserable for most of the summer. Though, the real reason is my lack of motivation and my indoor care-giving responsibilities. So, when I walked outside onto the patio and looked to the left, I was pleasantly surprised to see the clematis blooming. This one’s name is Diana’s Delight. I bought it simply because its name is close to Diane, a family name.
I did plant a few vegetables on my deck several months ago. I have harvested a few cucumbers, a few tomatoes, and now a few peppers are ready to be picked. I did not care for them very well, though, I did manage to water them when they looked too dry. Back when I devoted lots of time to my garden, I never grew vegetables. Even though I have farmers on my family tree, I think I would be a poor one. I enjoy the beauty of flowers, birds, butterflies, and various other insects. My philosophy has always been to leave vegetable growing to those who are good at it, and buy from them. Though I must say I ate one of my home grown tomatoes today and it was good. Several summers ago I had one tomato plant out in the garden and it produced prolifically and my husband enjoyed most of them. So maybe, I will try again in the future. The season is not over yet, and the vegetable production is picking up with the few plants that I have on my deck.
One advantage of growing older is that I have gotten better at prioritizing the things in my life that are most important to me, and that is my family. My garden can wait until my life allows me the luxury of spending more time at it.
I have been watching the Corn moon all this week. Last night it was clouded over, and I did not see it. The sky has mostly cleared, so I am hoping to see it full tonight. Yesterday I made a chicken enchilada casserole and put lots of corn in it as a tribute to the moon tonight.
Since I am avoiding the heat, I did some more looking in the same folder where I had found the other pictures in my last post. When I focused in on the katydid pictures I noticed the backside of its abdomen was dark brown. My first question to myself was “is it depositing eggs? I did a little research and learned of the word “ovipositor”. I found this word here on this video https://youtu.be/IRG-zCDS9iI?si=Djgo13btr1ugw24q . Since my katydid from my garden did not have an extended ovipositor, it must not have been laying eggs. Still I learned this new word today! Thank you to Bug of the Week.
I was curious about the man who posted this video, and I was curious whether he had any new 2025 videos. I saw that he had a Fireflies 2025 video posted. This reminded me that I have seen a few in my garden recently, and last night I saw several of them lighting up. Fireflies always remind me of my grandparents that lived on a farm in Plattsburg, MO. My grandfather once took the glowing spot off of one and stuck it on my ring finger. I still have this memory 50+ years later. It was a magical memory in my childhood brain.
This Memorial Day I decided to see if I could research the history of my husband’s uncle that died in World War II. In the past when I asked my husband about his middle name, Ludwig, he told me he was given this name in honor of his father’s brother that had died in World War II. After doing a little research I discovered that several men in my husband’s family had the name Ludwig, including his grandfather Ludwig Jacob Krein. I was surprised to see that his country of birth was Moldova which is between Ukraine and Romania. This brought home the current conflict to my mind.
Ludwig Jacob Krein obviously had immigrated to the United States long ago, and he married a German woman, Magdalena Schoepp, and they lived in South Dakota and raised a large family.
Ludwig Otto Krein was the second to the youngest of their children. He was born in 1925 and died in 1945 in a battle in France. I was surprised to see that he was buried at Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial –Epinal, Department Des Vosges, Lorraine France. Later I discovered that there are many cemeteries and memorials around the world, outside of the United States, where our American soldiers have been buried.
Ludwig Otto Krein was only 19 years old when he died in a bloody battle. My husband never got to know him since he died before my husband was born.
Five thousand two hundred and fifty-two of our military dead are buried here. Many were probably just as young as Ludwig was.
Here is a old colorized photo of Ludwig Jacob Krein and Magdalena Schoepp Krein. Notice the blue eyes of Ludwig J. Krein born in Maldova. These are Ludwig Otto Krein’s parents, and my husband’s paternal grandparents.
Grandmother & Grandfather Hartell’s churchDisciples of Christ
I recently received some old family pictures from my stepmother Marilyn. She is my father’s widow. Most all of the pictures were from a Hartell family reunion that took place in Plattsburgh, Missouri back in 1993. I had forgotten the exact date, and the pictures did not help with this. Then I remembered the quilt square my cousin Pam had made for all of Florence Hartell’s grandchildren. Fortunately, she had written the date of the reunion on the back. I have taken good care of my square.
I was surprised to see the picture of my husband, Jim, holding our daughter Laura. She was 3 years old at that time. He is dressed up and smiling. I had never seen this picture before I received this recent package. I had to post this to show what a handsome man I married.
I was raised a Disciples of Christ. My grandparents Hartell attended the First Christian church in Plattsburg, Missouri. My parents, siblings, and I attended the First Christian church in 7-Corners, Virginia. I posted a screen shot of the Plattsburg church, and a screen shot about the Disciples of Christ faith. I was baptized in the First Christian church in 7-Corners, Virginia (Falls Church) I posted my grandparents church because several reunion pictures were taken there, and I remember attending this church from time to time when we were visiting them. The picture of my husband and daughter was taken in the general vicinity of this church.
This picture was taken from the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park Alliance website
My fascination with Palm trees continues. With Palm Sunday arriving this weekend, I have been exploring the Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera). There are many of these trees on the property owned by the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park in California. One of my fondest memories is taking my daughter on a Safari drive through this park when she was young. We were visiting my sister who lived in Los Angeles at the time. My daughter was thrilled and a little scared to feed the giraffes carrots. They would come up to the safari truck and with their prehensile tongues they would scoop them out of our hands.
The fruit of the Date Palm tree are called Medjool dates. I bought some the other day at one of our local grocery stores. I have eaten them in salads at restaurants, but I have never bought a box of them to consume at home. We have been eating them today, and I can definitely say that they are delicious. My plan is to chop some of them up to put into a pound cake I hope to make this weekend. I enjoy experimenting. One of my recent goals this year is to try new foods and experiment with different recipes. I am currently focused on the Medjool date.
The dates I bought were grown in the Bard Valley of California. I had to research the name Bard since I attended an elementary school in California in 3rd and 4th grade by the name of Richard Bard. Curiously I don’t ever remember eating whole dates when I was young and lived in California. This is a shame since I could have discovered them long ago.
If I end up making the cake this weekend, I will post a picture. It would be a nice addition to a Palm Sunday brunch.
Medjool Date Cake glazed Medjool Date Cake right out of oven
I made the Vanilla Sour Creme Pound Cake and added chopped medjool dates. I baked it this morning. Now all I need to do is make the brunch tomorrow morning to go with it. It will be simple.
I found a picture (08/09/25) of Ivan the giraffe that would use his tongue to scoop the carrots out of your hand.
My dad was born December 30, 1930. He passed away in 2013. I was inspired for several reasons to find the picture of him climbing a palm tree in Hawaii when he was stationed there with the Navy. My brother was born there.
The background picture today on a new family computer was full of needle palms, and I recently purchased a new shower curtain with a palm tree and beach scene. The ponytail palm I purchased within the past 12 months is doing well. In any case, all these connections to palms, and the fact that today was my dad’s birthday, made me remember the picture of him climbing a palm tree. Happy Birthday Dad– you are remembered fondly!
I also added the picture of myself, my dad, and my brother pictured next to the Lincoln bust located at the Gettysburg, PA cemetery. My brother was the family comedian and always had us laughing as we were growing up. My brother and dad were about the same height around 6’1″-6’3″. In this picture my brother looks much taller because (if you notice his feet) he is standing on his toes with his heels resting on the back wall. He is pranking my dad.
Another funny thing I remember fondly about my dad was his sense of fashion. Being a farm boy he was always early to rise in the morning. I have several memories of him getting ready to head out to the hardware store early on a Saturday morning wearing a combination of clashing colors all connected to the red color family. It turns out he was partially color blind, and he could not distinguish the difference between colors in the red, orange and maroon family. When going out to an important event he needed to rely on others to help him coordinate his colors.
Today I found a good graphic which tries to illustrate how different people can perceive or not perceive colors. There are several different types of color blindness, not just the total absence of color. This problem is apparently more common in men than women.
There is much more available information about this topic today than when I was growing up. I did not include it here because it can be easily researched now.
I received a mustard seed necklace from my grandmother Florence when I was a young girl. I was reminded of this today when I saw a modern version of it for sale. The mustard seed can hold powerful symbolism depending on one’s faith. Jesus uses the mustard seed to represent how the smallest grain of faith can grow and grow into something big and powerful.
I cannot say that I have always been faithful. However a small seed was planted in me long ago when I was a young girl. It was pushed into the back of my mind as I grew. As an adult and a mother my faith has been remembered and nurtured again. I cannot say that I am the most pious person, however, I have never sought to harm others. I try to live by a creed of kindness, and by acceptance of others different from myself. During the past decade my faith has come to my rescue many times as I struggled with depression and the illness of family.
Seeing the mustard seed necklace recently reminded me how this symbol can be a great gift for someone. It serves as a reminder to them that through faith they can thrive, and become a force for good. Life can be long and tiresome at times, but faith will hold your hand, and God’s love is unconditional.
This is the AI image generator’s version of a mustard seed necklace. It made me laugh, however, I like the idea of showing some growth. The common version is simply a lone seed.
movingforwardslowly 