Katrina's Space: June 2015

Tuesday, June 02, 2015

Herb Garden stones and a Chilly start to Spring!

The kiddos helped me paint some awesome rocks for the herb garden. The boys and I hiked down into the ravine creek to find them. (An AWESOME hike that included a daring climb thru a new water drain under Niles Avenue... I think the boys thought I was crazy and I'm sure SOMEONE thought we all were when Asher slipped and started screaming halfway underneath Niles Avenue....EPIC! ... but we all made it out just fine, with only a few tiny leaches and quite a story to tell...) We painted each herb's name on a small stone and placed it in the herb garden. It looks quite cheerful and colorful! The last photo was taken a few days after I planted the garden and the temps plummeted back down into the 30s for the night. So I covered the plants with bed sheets to keep them from freezing overnight. Ahhhh, Michigan! :)

Window Watcher: May

Miss Roubi is enjoying the start of her very first Spring. She likes to sit at the window, near the desk, while I work, and look out at the world.

Planting the Garden: May

We planted our garden this year, and decided to take OUT the raised garden beds and just till under the whole area behind the garage. We have a LOT more room that way! The kiddos helped me plant all the veggies. We had a blast!

Herb Garden: May

My two littlest littles helped me build a brick border around my herb garden. We dug a trench to put it in and then used some caulk to help the bricks stay together. They LOVED spreading the caulk and sticking it all together.

Feathered Friends: May

We've had lots of feathery friends at the bird feeders this season. They seem to really like sunflower seeds. I've had a Goldfinch, several rosy red House Finches and my first EVER Oriole!

Great Horned Owl: April

The kids and I were sitting in the kitchen and happened to see some crows chasing something large out of the tree next door. It flew down by our house and into the big old pine tree next to our kitchen window....a GREAT HORNED OWL! I nearly had a heart attack! We all ran outside and watched the crows chase it down the street. It dropped these feathers. I've ALWAYS wanted to see an owl in the wild! I've always maintained some of the best "shout-outs" from God come from nature. And I certainly enjoyed this little "hello" from my creator today!!

April 28, 2015

36 years, 2 months and 4 days. That's how old I am today. Incidentally, that's also how old Marilyn Monroe was on the day she died. People who know me well, know that I’m a HUGE fan. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve loved old movies since high school, or that we’re both blond, or that I could always identify with some lonely quality in her face or because she always seemed to be in the process of “becoming” herself … and 20 years ago, so was I. Regardless, it feels strange ... to reach this age. To mark the occasion, I decided to LEAP out of my comfort zone. Nathan (my love, and a GENIUS with a camera) and I decided to recreate the Milton Greene/Marilyn Monroe Red Sweater sitting. (which you can Google, although, unlike Marilyn, I DID wear a 2-piece swimsuit underneath). This was nerve-wracking for me. (I won’t say there wasn’t a bottle of wine involved…) But also so, so FUN! It’s always fun to remember our “icons” of old: the singers, writers, actors or artists that shaped our consciousness as we matured into the people we would become. We may not admire everything about them, but, in point of fact, we don’t have to. So here is my salute to the passing of a phase in my life … as I move forward into a middle age that Marilyn never knew. It made me feel goofy, and self-conscious, and weird, and yet wonderful. All of which was good for me. “After all, we should all start to live, before we get old.” (M. Monroe) photos ©Nathan B. Harrmann