Home Grown Tomatoes and my Southern Roots

There is nothing better than eating home grown vegetables; especially the ones grown in your own backyard under tender love and care.  Tomatoes are my favorite.  I guess this story should start with my southern roots.  I grew up in Moore County, North Carolina where every year we had a garden.  We grew everything from tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, corn, every kind of bean, potatoes, onions, to well…you name it, and we probably grew it.  And if we didn’t grow it, we knew someone who did.  For example, we didn’t have peach trees, but it was nothing for my Mother to show up with a couple of bushels of peaches and say, “Guess what we are doing tonight?!?!?”  Over a summer we spent countless hours preparing home grown foods to be canned, frozen and/or pickled.  On occasion, my sisters and I would complain about all the work, but I can tell you my Mother had no sympathy for us when it came to gardening.  If she told you to weed the garden on Saturday morning, and it didn’t get done, she would send you right out to the garden in your Saturday night attire, including heels, to weed the garden before you would dare take that car sitting in the driveway anywhere!!!  It didn’t matter that your friends were already there waiting for you, she would just send them out to help you!  And no, I’m not kidding!  Ahhh, but then cold weather would arrive and we would eat our summer vegetables and fruits all winter long. Man oh man, they were the BEST!!!  Then over a hot bowl of homemade vegetable soup, or perhaps a dessert of peach cobbler, we would thank my mother for all the hard work she bestowed upon us.

So even though I now live in a subdivision 32 miles from Washington, DC that will build out to be approximately 3000 homes/townhomes that all look identical, except for the brick “fronts” and shutter colors, and have yards the size of postage stamps, you will still find tomatoes and peppers growing in my backyard. My husband enjoys doing the most of the gardening, but do I still know how to can tomatoes?  You betcha!!!  You can take the girl out of the south, but you can never take the south out of the girl. I will always be a southern girl at heart.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIFT I HAVE EVER RECEIVED!!

Thank you Robin Red Breast for the most amazing gift ever!!! You allowed my family an up close glimpse of nature at its best. Your most  unexpected gift and perfect timing had a profound and lasting impact on our family that will not be forgotten.

                                                                  As you built your nest in the flower pot of geraniums right outside our window, we watched. As you laid your eggs and kept them warm we eagerly awaited until all had hatched. With great sadness, we tried to understand beauty along with the cruelty of nature when two of your babies were found tossed from the nest. Nonetheless, we continued to watch with great anticipation as the two remaining babies were nurtured by both the mother and father Robins. We watched as the hatchlings grew from what looked like butterbeans with sprouts into baby birds with eyes that eventually opened. Downy fur turned into feathers and wings grew and began to flutter. 

Our family was on constant bird watch for weeks until the day arrived that I noticed the babies were on the edge of the nest spreading their wings. I grabbed my camera and went out to take pictures. The parent Robins were perched on the chairs chirping like crazy, and flying back and forth to the nest. Shortly thereafter, one baby bird fluttered from the nest, landed in a chair, then onto the deck floor. The other one soon followed.  The baby birds hopped and fluttered all around, eventually fluttering to the grass
below.  Felicia came out to observe and we stood on the deck and watched with worry as the babies sat in the grass.  The parent Robins were all around, but we desperately wanted to go get the baby birds and put them back in the nest.  However, each of us understood we had to leave it to nature. The next morning the birds seemed to be gone, and I must admit I felt quite sad.  Then a couple of days later, much to our surprise, Luis came running in to announce he had found them. We were all ecstatic to find they were alive and well.

                                                                                  What an amazing experience this has been. As I have tried to process my thoughts around this beautiful gift of nature, I can describe it as a roller coaster of emotion. From excitement when the nest was being built; a perfectly woven work of art, to great joy as the eggs appeared one by one, to awaited anticipation of the hatching, to euphoric elation as each egg opened and a baby bird popped out, to total devastation as two of them died, to an enchanted fascination watching them grow, to an apprehensive worry as they flew from the nest. A circle of emotion, sort of like life, don’t you agree?

As my youngest child (Felicia) is getting ready to leave the nest, I am about to become and “empty nester” myself.  My gratitude to this Robin family is beyond words. They have shared the most beautiful gift one could ever imagine…and WOW, what perfect timing.  A gift of understanding that your babies will leave the nest; this is part of the plan, part of life.  A gift of knowing this is not an ending, but a beginning for our children to spread their wings, grow as individuals, and travel their own journeys through life.  This up close and personal view of nature has been a greatly appreciated gift of awareness and personal enlightenment; as my children move forward, I am not left behind. My own path is simply taking a turn, and I am moving along my journey as well; a bittersweet ending to a new beginning.

…and so I say, THANK YOU Robin Red Breast, for the most beautiful gift I have ever received!!!

 

I'M HOT...

And I mean REALLY HOT!!! Oh how I wish I was talking about my looks, but if that day had ever arrived, it has dawned and gone long ago, haha. Just as I am getting ready to go down a new road on my journey through life as an "empty nester", my body decides it must go on a journey all its own. Oh yes, I am talking about menopause! The “change of life.” It’s a change all right!!!

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary’s definition:
meno·pause
Pronunciation: /ˈmen-ə-ˌpȯz, ˈmēn-/
Function: n
1 a (1) : the natural cessation of menstruation occurring usually between the ages of 45 and 55 with a mean in Western cultures of approximately 51
(2) : the physiological period in the life of a woman in which such cessation and the accompanying regression of ovarian function occurs called also climacteric compare perimenopause
b : cessation of menstruation from other than natural causes (as from surgical removal of the ovaries)
**Non-technical name “change of life”. 

Well yippie-yi-yeah, I'm right on target...in the mean of the Western Culture - 51 I am. That's contrary to any rumors going around that I'm 39. OK, so I admit it, I started a little rumor, haha. Seriously, the simple definition could read - Goodbye Periods, Hello Heat Wave. Add in temperatures well over 100 degrees over the past few days and well…I’m HOT people, REALLY HOT!!! This heat wave I'm riding comes and goes. I am just hoping it goes really fast, so I can keep moving forward and leave my “hotness” in the dust.

My life as a TWEETER! 9 days and counting…well maybe!

My life as a TWEETER! 9 days and counting…well maybe!

I am “Living and Learning” about life as a tweeter. My Twitter site consists of 23 Tweets, Following 19, 5 Followers, 8 @Mentions, and 1 Re-Tweet.  I am really on a roll, LOL!!!  Oh, and who knew there is Twitter Etiquette? Well evidently there is!!! Of my 23 tweets, 2 of them were sent to ask my daughter and a friend to please follow me.  My daughter promptly informed me it is not proper to send tweets asking people to follow you.  She said, “Mom, if people want to follow you, they will find you!”  I was like, "WHAT?!?!? You are my daughter and I can’t ask my daughter to follow me?!?!?!"  She said, "Well of course you can ask me, but don’t ask anyone else." I was thinking, (1) well heck, 2 days in and I’ve already broken twitter rules, (2) WOW, I’m glad I only ask one other person, and (3) man, I guess I have a lot to learn about this Twitter and Tweeting thing. I almost deleted my Twitter account right on the spot.  I was only in it for the fun and it quickly seemed like this was going to be more than I bargained for. However, I decided to stick it out a few more days and I have actually started to enjoy it.  I am following The Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Museums, all of our local Theatres, Washington DC, NYC, along with a few friends and family. I am beginning to see where life in the Twitter world can be beneficial. So not that I’m asking, because good heavens, that would be improper Twitter Etiquette, but in case anybody really cares my twitter name is DebbieWLobo. 

Update May 2015 - …still on Twitter and still breaking all the rules, haha!

THOUGHTS ABOUT THINKING, OR SHOULD I SAY "THINKERS"!
I mentioned to my husband, Luis G. Lobo, that I have never taken a Philosophy class and I am thinking about doing a "Study of Philosophy".  I, of course, know who many of the "Great Thinkers" are; Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Galen, to name a few, and have some knowledge of their philosophies, as well. However, I was thinking I might like to build upon my somewhat limited knowledge of the "Great Thinkers" and broaden my mind and perspective from an adult frame of mind. I barely got the words out of my mouth, and my husband hops up, runs...not walks, to his Library (yes, he has one) and brings out this 2 1/2 inch thick/1011 page book and tells me,  "You must start here". Then he leads me by the hand to his Library and shows me 15-20 more books to guide me in my study.  Oh, and if I have any questions or would like to discuss, just let him know.  OK, I wasn't exactly thinking about pursuing a PhD, but thank you Honey.  No dinner or laundry for you for the next few years, I'll be too busy reading, and THINKING!!!