Renewal

Every summer for the last several years I have planted a tomato plant in a barrel in front of my garage.  The tomatoes thrive in the heat of the driveway, and each year this plant has been the star of my garden.

(of course some years it’s been practically the only plant in my garden, but that’s beside the point!)

This year the tomato plant has had a harder time.  It’s been moved from it’s comfortable home several times because of the ongoing house painting, and on at least one occasion part of the main stem was broken. 

Then, to add insult to injury one day in late July I decided to get fancy and apply a foliar fertilizer.  For those of you not in the gardening know, that’s liquid fertilizer sprayed onto the leaves.  It’s supposed to be a really excellent way to fertilize your plants…unless your plant is sitting in direct sun for most of the day and it’s going to be over 100 degrees.  And then it’s a really excellent way to kill your plants.

My poor tomato plant.  It was really hammered. 

The leaves were all crinkly and brown and it looked just like it had been cooked.  Which it had.  Braised in smelly organic fertilizer juice.

I picked off the deadest leaves, tried to clean off the other leaves, and kept watering it.  But the truth is, I didn’t have much hope.  And then I was so busy getting ready to go to the beach, and going to the beach, and recovering really fast from having gone to the beach, and getting ready really fast to go to Utah, and going to Utah, and then suffering for the last two weeks from what Cindy Lynn has aptly termed PVSD.  (Post-Vacation Stress Disorder.)  I haven’t given the tomato plant a second thought.

Until today.

Today we got home from church and I knew I needed to water a few things that I planted yesterday, so I walked towards the backyard.  For some reason I stopped and looked at the tomato plant. 

Much to my surprise, it was looking pretty good.  Lots of new bright green leaves and plenty of tiny green tomatoes. 

(sorry—it is much harder to get a decent picture now that it’s not living against the plain background of the garage!)

I just stood there for a minute, enjoying the sight of this plant that had looked just horrible a month ago.  There were still some dead leaves hanging from the plant, but these were surrounded by vibrant healthy leaves.

As I looked it occurred to me that this renewal happens in us personally, as well.  Sometimes we go through a difficult period and our leaves wilt and we may even feel like we’ve been baked in stinky fertilizer.  We may feel like we will never emerge from this situation, and that if we do we will surely never feel normal and healthy and vibrant again. 

What a great reminder too me that these feelings are not true.  We all experience trials and adversity, we all have moments where we are feel like a dead plant.  But renewal will happen, if we have patience and keep watering the plant.  New leaves will come and maybe even a new crop of little tomatoes. 

And then one day we will happen to glance at ourselves, and realize that we, too, have been renewed. 

In Plane Sight (Update)

 Last week when I flew I entertained myself by looking out the window. When we left Durham we went up through some amazing clouds. We enjoyed flying into Chicago and seeing the skyline.

Then we flew into the sunset for hours.  (Sorry, no good pic of that.)

Then I started noticing something odd in my pictures.  Can you see it here?

I saw it again a few other times.  I am guessing it must be an air pattern?!?  Whatever it is, it was cool to see.[Thanks so my awesome brother Val, we have an answer.  This is a called a wingtip vortex, and is created as the wing generates lift.  Cool!]

I was having a nice little nap on the plane when there was an announcement on the intercom that we were flying over the Grand Canyon.  Of course I had to rouse myself and try to get a picture.  It was cool.  I wished the pilot would make a nice circle there so we could see it better, but no joy.

I won’t complain though.  Since the announcement went something like this:

“If you’re sitting on the right side of the airplane, you can look out of your window right now and see the Grand Canyon.  If you’re sitting on the left side of the airplane, you can look to your right and see people looking at the Grand Canyon!”

The flight attendant was really a funny guy.  When he was going through all of the airplane safety information at some points he would throw in a “blah, blah, blah.”  Then when he was done he said, “Because that’s what you’re hearing anyway!

When he was giving the little spiel about what to do in case the cabin pressure decreased and emergency oxygen was needed, he said “if their is an emergency and you are traveling with a small child, please put on your own oxygen mask first before putting the mask on your child.  If you are traveling with more than one of your children, now is the time to decide once and for all which child is really your favorite”!! 

And that, dear reader, is the end of my from-the-air pictures!  I hope you have enjoyed this aerial tour of some parts of the United States!

Best New Costco Product

I think I need some of these…I mean, really!

(seriously…do tilapia really have loins???)

Where I’ll be Shopping

I saw a new store in Bountiful last week.  I know if I lived there that’s where I’d be shopping.

I mean, it’s obvious that they had me in mind when they named the store! 

 

 

ps…I do not have the faintest idea what they sell.  But it must be awesome!!!

Last but Not Least

While I was in Utah we celebrated the last birthday in the Ray Birthday Season—Cindy Lynn turned 22.

I can still remember the first week of Cindy Lynn’s life.  The week when I wondered the whole time when her real parents were going to come and get her—it seemed like another babysitting job!

I thought she was the most beautiful baby in the world and I was quite distressed that my brother told me she looked like a Neanderthal.

Fortunately he thinks she’s very cute now and we’re really glad no one came to claim her that first week. 

In fact we’re pretty sure no one has ever had as awesome of a first child as Cindy Lynn—she is just that terrific.  I can’t quite believe that she’s 22 now.  (But maybe that’s just because of what it means about my own age!)

Happy Birthday again sweetie! 

(we call this the “frog smile”!)

This Punchline Works for Me

I heard a friend tell one time of an episode he’d heard on NPR’s “This American Life.”  The narrator had told about meeting with the Mormon missionaries and listening to their lesson.  She could tell they were building up to something they thought was magnificent, and she wondered what it was.

Finally, they said it.  The punchline of their lesson:

Families can be together forever.

She laughed and laughed. 

“Why would I want that???” was her question…

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In June we had a family reunion at the beach.  A week of cousins and siblings all in a pile, of playing in the waves and sand, of feeding great hoards, of playing games late into the night.  It was so wonderful.

Last week we had a family dinner in Utah.  I got to see my brothers who didn’t make it to the beach and their sweet families, as well as some of my cousins and an aunt.

 Jason with new cousin Liam.

We ate and then sat around and (as Watsons are wont to do) talked and talked.

 

Mahon showed Jason how to start a blog,

and Cindy Lynn took her turn with the baby.

Sweet Scarlett, who was my friend last summer, would have nothing to do with me this year as a stubborn 2 year old. (But she was very interested in the chocolate cake!)

Thankfully Elizabeth, her four year old sister, was more willing to hang out with me.

After showing the captive audience the family reunion slideshow,

The crowd dispersed.

Some to resume their interrupted play in the driveway,

others to congregate in the driveway for more conversation,

still passing baby Liam around.

It was with great sadness that I wrenched myself away from all of these people that I love.  It was time to check Jason into his dorm and after that I still had a 2 hour drive before I was done for the day.  We had stayed much later than planned (of course!) and it was still so hard to leave everyone.

I passionately love this place that I live.  I love my house, my yard, my neighborhood, my city, and my beaches.  I love the friends that we have made here, friends who stand in the place of family for us on so many occasions.

But I sure love my family too.

And that is why I am so glad that I know that

Families can be together forever.

Penny Stupid

Money is such an interesting thing.  I try to be pretty frugal, but sometimes downright cheapness jumps out in unexpected places.

Cindy Lynn, Jason, and I flew to Utah last week on Southwest.  It was a good thing we were flying Southwest because Jason had his own big suitcase and two more boxes.  I had a big suitcase that had some of Jason's stuff, some of Cindy Lynn's, and a bunch of clothes for my nephews.  Cindy Lynn, as always, had her vest (for chest physical therapy) suitcase.  Between the three of us we checked 6 things, and carried on all we could as well.

Russ’s dad is so sweet.  He was picking us up at the airport (which he does without complaining) and told me that he would park and come in to meet us because he figured we’d have a lot of luggage. As we were waiting at the baggage claim I decided that we might need a luggage cart, and I went off to get one.

I walked around the carts to pay, and as I pulled out my credit card I looked at the info on the front.

“Four dollars? This cart is going to cost me four dollars?!?”

I stood there wrestling with the idea.  What a waste of my four dollars! The practical side of my brain finally took over and made me swipe my card and grab the luggage cart. The stupid frugal side of my brain fussed all the way back to the baggage claim.

Where the cart was greeted by Guy, Jason, and Cindy Lynn with much rejoicing…

  
My dilemma reminds me of the old adage,

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish.

Except that I was just being 

Penny Foolish

Have you ever found yourself in a similar (irrational) quandary over such a small amount of money?