salad- courtesy of my garden!

Oh, what a pleasure it is to pick vegetables from the garden and then bring them to the table to eat them. I suppose I am more excited than usual about the garden this year because the past two years we didn’t have one. The picture above is a salad I ate the other day with lettuce, cucumber and cherry tomatoes harvested from the garden. Sometimes I like my cucumbers sprinkled with salt, pepper and a drizzle of lemon or lime juice as in the picture above– just delicious. Instead of salad dressing for the salad above, I used a homemade yogurt dip made out of yogurt, grated cucumber, garlic, olive oil, rice vinegar, dill, mint, and salt– tasty, different, and healthy!

The first zucchini was also just harvested, and we’re still waiting on many more tomatoes, eggplant and raspberries. The zucchini plant is enormous. Last year we had enough raspberries to make a fresh batch of jam a couple of times.

We’ve got about a dozen tomato plants, and the goal is to freeze the tomatoes or make sauce or salsa. Honestly, if I think too much about making sauce or salsa… I get tired just thinking about it. I’ve never done it, even on a small-scale.  Why is this so? I think I need some vitamins. 🙂 Honestly. I’m lacking in Vitamin D, I found out recently. I mean, like as in 3 months ago recently. (So, why haven’t I bought the vitamin D supplement yet?) I can’t explain it, it doesn’t make sense! Anyone else do this to themselves?  I know I’d feel better if I did what I know I should do. Really, there is no valid, honest excuse I can offer for this one. (I’m not going to even talk about exercise. I was in a zumba class last summer… but since then, I’ve just flunked exercise motivation and gumption. I can’t explain that one, either.)

We’re settled in at home for a few days, since all three of my children have contracted chicken pox. It was quite the surprise, given the fact that two are immunized (one is allergic to eggs, so couldn’t have the vaccine– but he was not the one who contracted it first!).  One by one, 2-3 days apart, each is succumbing to the virus. My eldest is getting the bumps now, she is 13.  We’ll be staying put until all of this passes through the house.

My doctor didn’t have any literature to give me on chicken pox– because they don’t seem to stock it for chicken pox anymore! With the vaccine, it isn’t seen as much, but it is still around. Wasn’t it a rite of passage of childhood when we were kids? And for most of us, we got through it fine, though uncomfortable.

I’ll be searching for some activities to keep us occupied, and I thought maybe I’d look into some old movies or old-fashioned comedy shows that the kids haven’t seen, like “I Love Lucy” or “The Andy Griffith Show”… hopefully Netflix has them? I’ll have to check. We’ve got games, books, computers. My eldest was hoping to get some crafts done to sell in a friend’s craft rummage sale on Friday. We’ll see if we can pull anything together. Maybe if she can’t make it personally at least a few of her creations can. Ideas abound, but energy and feeling well enough are also required ingredients to producing!

My weekly thanksgiving list:

320. enjoying a homegrown salad of lettuce, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes

321. anticipating grilled zucchini or zucchini bread with the first harvest of zucchini

322. that the kids have chicken pox now, when young, instead of as adults… that they will finally be “immunized”!

323. that the kids had a fun week of a summer day camp last week, even though they had to miss 1-2 days at the end because of the signs of chicken pox appearing.

324. I always have grand plans when I know I have a few days at home like this… to organize, purge, clean, etc., and so much needs to be done I don’t know where to start, I could pick any room. Yet this is only a possibility, in between taking care of kids who need help. My 8-year-old is already complaining of stinging pain, my 10-year-old hasn’t complained so much of the sting or itch and his pox seems to be finally waning. He is on day 4 or 5; I’m not sure exactly when to start counting. So… I’m thankful for a few days of going nowhere, no matter if I get any of those projects done or not.

325. I read a book of poetry – Robert Frost: Early Poems. Enjoyable read!

326. an amazing outdoor concert with full orchestra, singers, dancers, and even a painter. What beauty on a summer evening! Thank you, God, for this… glorious music which lifted your praise high! Free for anyone who chose to come! A lovely gathering of musicians and spectators… and some worshipers. Organized by my church music director– full of musicians from our church, other churches, the local symphony, and professional musicians as well as amateurs (including my daughter on cello, she had the joy of participating!) If your city offers any musical concerts in the park– try to go if you can! It’s a wonderful place for all ages to enjoy a variety of music.

327. It’s finally hot here! Yes, I like that! It’s how I imagine summer to be. Summer isn’t supposed to be “cold” in my book. I’m fond of referencing Adam and Eve and the garden of Eden. In the beginning, they were unclothed, so it couldn’t have been cold; therefore, was cold weather part of God’s original plan?! (ha, I say it half-jokingly; of course, I don’t really know, but I love to joke about it since I have quite an aversion to very cold wintry, snowy weather… which is the climate I happen to be living in currently). 🙂 gotta joke about it, right?

328. Jokes. I like good, clean, funny jokes. But I am not able to ever remember any. I admire people who can remember good jokes and then know how to tell them. If I could remember a good joke to tell you right now, I would. In fact, I’m not sure why I’m thinking of this now. Anyone know any good jokes? 🙂 I can share them with the kids. They’d probably enjoy a good hearty laugh about now.

329. Viruses are some strange kind of organisms. I remember learning about them in biology class many years ago. Maybe all of that information I learned is obsolete now, how they work and such. I don’t know. I sure wouldn’t mind learning about them now. Is it too late to go back to school? (I jest). The truth is, I’m thankful there are vaccines for many viruses today.

330. Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
² Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
³ Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases

Thankful that God heals diseases! And watches over us, myself with the lack of Vitamin D, and my kids who have chicken pox. Thank you God, that you care about both the big and little bits of our lives!

Sharing with Ann for Multitudes on Mondays at A Holy Experience.  where many others link their own gratitude journals. If you’d like to start your own gratitude journal…you can do so, join in by clicking below. Or simply do it privately, on your own, in your own pen and paper notebook.