I got my first Tag thanks to Irish_Dancer!!

You know your are crazy about Gardens when:

1. you create blogs with names like An Avid Gardener and missgardener.

2. you stay awake at night researching plants pics like rudbeckia(see pic above), and daylilies.

3. driving around town, you recognize flowers, shrubs, and trees by name. "Hello, friends!"

4. you spend free time (what's that?) landscaping your South lawn.

5. you work for Fiddler's Ridge Farm.

Honoring the Men

Wives are called to honor and respect their husbands. As young girls, we may begin this to obey this by respecting our Dad andIhis judgment and honor him as his daughter. I have the most wonderful father in the world. He is kind to his children and loves his wife so much. I have never seen him angry nor upset with Mom. He talks to us and listens to us when we have troubles. He works so very hard to provide for our family. His work keeps him busy teaching 9 months long, then in the Summer he travels. He speaks at conferences, conventions, starts schools, develop curriculum, and teaches intensive Latin courses (which isn't only intensive for the students). He does all this and still has time to spend with his family. He sits long at the dinner table listening to us talk or laugh or tell stories or quote movies. He reads to us. He leads us in prayer and listening to God's word. He instructs us as we live each day. He watches movies with us. He takes our family camping. He taught me how to swim and shows us how to start a fire with gasoline without getting your eyebrows burnt. :-) With all of the work that he does, he definitely knows how to relax. He mows the lawn with Robert, plays catch with the boys, reads each night as he puts the boys to bed. He tells us stories, and recites poems (he would recite poetry to my sisters and me when we were little. We all liked Requiem by R. L. Stevenson, but loved Homer. Dad would recite line after line while we waited to hear our favorite, the syncopated line). He helped us memorize books of the Bible. He dances with us at Balls. He taught us all to shoot. And aim. :-)

To Dad, my father. Thank you for your love. May these next two weeks be refreshing to you and an enjoyment.

I just finished The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. The book is a wonderfully written story of Haarlem and the hiding of jews during the second world war. If you haven't read it, read it. Much better than the Diary of Anne Frank. Corrie ten Boom survived consentration camps only by miracles which she recounts in her book. She went on to travel world wide, preaching the gospel and telling the story of her imprisonment. She died in 1983. Jim Wilson was a friend of hers.
Well, we're off to go camping. For three days. So I'm taking another book. Zane Grey. See ya.

The Hobbit
I just finished reading the Hobbit to myself for the first time. I had never read it. The last time I heard it was when Dad read it out loud to our family. Sometimes it seemed wierd to be reading at my own pace, or sometimes I would hear Dad's voice for such and such a character. But nevertheless, without Dad reading it to me, I managed to finish it. In 3 days. Woot, as the cuz would say. It was so amazingly good! Tolkien is one of the best story writers that I've ever read. He creates a whole world filled with unadventurous hobbits who won't leave their holes unless Gandalf marks up their doors or sends them off without even one handkerchief. One of my favorite parts is when Gandalf takes the dwarves and Bilbo to meet Beorn. The well woven story entices Beorn to accept the 15 strangers into his home. Also, the encounter with Gollum is not over-rated; Tolkien is a master riddler.