Lesson 857: Labor of Love

 

Happy weekend, Readers.

Looks to be a beauty!

The work I put into my flowers

from all that I learned in Master Gardener

is starting to pay off.

I'm seeing some beautiful blooms

as the result of my labor--

the milkweed came up

and we have some good bee activity!

I learned something about labor

from Dr. Gladys McGarey.

She's the 103 year old woman

who has been offering up advice 

about a well-lived life.

Her book,

and her interviews found on podcasts

and YouTube within the last year

are excellent.

Her well-lived life

has a set of easy to remember 

words to live by,

as they all begin with L.

Being a teacher,

and encouraging you to do your own reading,

you can find them on your own,

but here are my two favorites:

laughter

and

labor.

“Laughter without love is cruel. It's mean [and] cold,” McGarey says. 

“But laughter with love is joy and happiness.” 

"Labor without love is drudgery."

Yet labor with love is pure bliss!

Just like me fussing over my seeds.

I could easily buy a cheap zucchini

at a local farm stand.

However,

my joy couldn't be contained as 

I ran to retrieve my camera to capture

this one,

hidden beneath a giant leaf.

To give you some perspective,

here it is next to my big, old, lumpy foot!

                                                               Every year I spend most of July

cleaning and organizing my home.

This week I gathered every cord in the house!

We've been matching them to every device

and every charger.

It is a laborious task,

but a true labor of love.

To have organized and fully charged

technology in today's world,

makes life go much more smoothly.

Smooth sailing at the Lamp Post

means a Happy Home.

That's why I chose Happy

to be my coffee of the week

(and because there was an Ibotta rebate on it).

Again,

I don't know if it is all that magnificent 

as the rectangular recycled plastic container claims.

They did get my dollar

for the clever wording

even though I can't taste any sort of fruity or chocolatey "finish."

It still takes like coffee to me.

Clever barcode

and partnered with a good organization.

Eloise will definitely give Happy coffee

another brew through.

Baseball is certainly a labor of love.

It's a great game,

but when the team is riding high,

they play long into the season.

We are on our third weekend 

of away Legion tournaments.

Slippery Rock,

last weekend St. Mary's where we earned a spot in the top 8

for the State Championship!

We met up with some old friends to celebrate at

this great restaurant in Ridgway!

This weekend the state tournament begins

in North Allegheny.

Sam, Jake,

and the rest of the team left this morning

to stay together in the college dorms of LaRoche University

in Pittsburgh.

We gave them a heartfelt send off!

Good luck, boys!

Eloise

Lesson 856: Pirate

Ahoy, there, Mateys!

The weekend ship has set sail beneath 

perfectly clouded skies.

Tonight's blog opening,

which is the nautical greeting for Hello, Friend,

is in honor of some pirate favorites of the week.

First,

I really enjoyed this coffee choice,

picked completely because of the packaging.

I love the base of the bag!

I don't know if the dark roast was, in fact,

majestic or not.

Tasted like coffee to me.

I'm really working on refining my tastes.

It's a slow go.

I also chose the blog theme for a book character that has grabbed me--

Patch from Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker.

This Read with Jenna (Bush)

Book Club chose for July is simply outstanding.

Grandma and I are reading it now,

slowing down from our usual high speed pace,

just to savor the end

and keep guessing.

It's best described as a page turner

with very interesting characters.

It's one part suspense,

one part mystery,

and one part love story.

If you enjoyed I Know Where the Crawdad's Sing

and 
Shawshank Redemption--

this story is similar to those.

I haven't quite finished it 

and already awarded it a 5 Star Read!

If you've been following the baseball team,

from Slippery Rock

to St. Mary's,

you would have caught me reading between innings--

under the shade of sun umbrellas!

The rest of the week was represented

by my usual July projects

of House Pillage and Plunder!

This week's task was the largest of all--

Sam's room.

He built his own bed.

Whoops--

never thought of getting 

my gentle giant

an Extra Long bed.

Boys have odd collections of stuff.

I helped Sam sift through his childhood memorabilia,

putting an order to 

his favorite things.

Little toys

to fake dog poop.

The highly sought Hatchimal

to his favorite baby rattle frog.

Bowling trophies

to home run baseballs.

His new wall hanging I was gifted from the HCHS

Counseling Office!

Gus particularly loved the room flip--

he found many new places to inGustivate.

His adoption day was one year ago this week--

the day we found him half starved

and full of fleas,

living in a drain pipe.

This day was following Penny's birthday,

so we got a cake to celebrate.

I'm shuffling things around 

to accommodate space for two big fall projects.

I'm making a library

and a really fantastic dollhouse make-over.

Remember the dollhouse from the barn?
The one the little scraggly stray cat moved into

in the barn loft?

Look who reclaimed the second floor.

We all know that Hazel is the true captain 

of the pirate ship.

She woofed her alert bark the other day.

What did she see out of the window near her post?

Grandpa on a step ladder.

Thanks for the heads up, Hazel!

Enjoy the weekend!

Eloise