Wildflowers and Wiffle Ball

Well, it is the end of July and, yes, it is that time again.....saying goodbye to a wonderful summer full of "warm" memories. School will resume for many in the upcoming week, and I, too,  will say goodbye to this great summer as school teaching will become my new endeavor. With the late summer season approaching it also brings a "special" time and getting back into the swing of things. August brings the season of  routines, fall sports, deadlines, planning, but the best of it are the children, meeting and teaching new children. "While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about." (Schwindt)


Before I get busy with the hustle and bustle of new schedules. I took a stroll with my daughter, Hillary, into the pasture to inspect the new wildflowers that are blooming. As we approached this beautifully constructed wildflower, I told her of the story when I had first encountered it in my grandfather's feild as a child. The discovery took place when I was about six years old, and I had ran from the field all the way home...running and slamming the doors behind me in a rush....thinking I must have discovered a rare gem of a flower. (My grandmother and grandfather's house is the place I summered every year and made many memories with my childhood friends, Kara and Tucker Hobbs, in the loft of the barn....called The Barn Swallow Club- as of course it hosted many families of barn swallows that returned each summer as did we.) As I lashed open the door, with the flower dangling from my fingertips, "Look, look what I found out in the feild!" My grandmother, being the flower expert, grinned and said, "That's  a Wild Apricot." More or less, it killed my pumping excitement that I could have possibly stumbled upon a rarity. Nonetheless, the find was exciting for me and it still is when I see them every year.
Saying goodbye to summer also means a change in our surroundings and new mysteries in nature to be discovered.....seeing my first Golden Rod today on the roadside means fall isn't too far off.
Today also brings us a few days closer to our Little Fenway (South) ball field.....we are so excited! All the posts are in the ground and next week the wall goes up. Green Monster....I can almost see it now!


Wild Apricot (Passionflower)....official state wildflower of Tennessee! Did you know it is also a medicinal herb used in 19th century to treat anxiety and mental worry/ overwork. (Ummmm.....I may need to remember this....:):)



Add caption



posts are in concrete- wall goes up next week :)

Hillary and the goats. They kept getting out so she put a stop to that.....