Memphis Monday: GROWING CLIMATE?

Memphis, fortunately, stays warm longer than any place I've lived. This gives us new gardeners a bit more time to figure out what the heck we're supposed to be doing.


I have been growing tomato plants since April in buckets on our porch. I lovingly planted the seeds, repotted them twice, and have watered them every few days. My level of success depends on how you measure success.

Do you measure success by the height of the plants? I'VE SUCCEEDED! These plants are well above my head!

Do you measure success in the amount of time you spent relaxing while watering, planting, and taking your child's fingers out of the dirt?

I'VE SUCCEEDED YET AGAIN!

Or, do you perhaps measure success by the amount of tomatoes actually produced and eaten?

Here it is, my one and only tomato! I am quite proud of it, and hope it ripens so we can actually eat the fruit of my labor! Mmmm... Thank you, Memphis.

video bananza!

These are Addie's new tricks. Enjoy!

Memphis Monday: GOOD FRIENDS

Memphis is full of good friends! I am lucky to live near many friends who are always happy to have me drop by and stay for a while. As a stay-at-home mom, their friendships literally keep me sane! Thanks, friends!

Memphis Monday: DELICIOUS WATER

Us Memphians are privileged to have award-winning water flowing from our taps. It is delicious! Pour me a great big cup, especially after having been sitting in the fridge, and I'm one happy girl! This is the best drinking water I've ever had straight from the faucet. Mmm...


I just did a little preliminary research online to find out why we have such great water. It seems our city sits on top of the Memphis aquifer. My sister-in-law Heather could explain this much better (she's a hydrogeologist), but an aquifer is a layer of permeable rock beneath the surface that contains water. The more porous the rock, the more water it contains. Wells are dug into the natural aquifers and water pumped out. The Memphis aquifer is HUGE (it contains over 100 trillion gallons of water, by some estimates) and is known to hold some of the best water in the nation. Many industries located in Memphis have moved here just because of our wonderful water supply. Lucky us!

clarification

The book list on the right are the books that I have read or am reading. Several of my friends do this and I liked the idea. Jason thought it was a list of books I would recommend, but that is NOT the case. I definitely WOULD NOT recommend Breaking Dawn (sorry to many of my friends), but definitely WOULD recommend Peace Like a River. I'll have to come up with some sort of rating system.

necklaces!

Addie LOVES necklaces. I bought her some cheap ones a while ago and she has really grown attached to them in the last week or so. She is great about sharing them as well, which means I am often sporting a plastic necklace or two! Here are some recent pictures of her looking elegant in her jewels.

The only annoying thing about the necklace phase is the amount of untangling to which Jason and I are subjected.I attempted to get an action shot. She isn't in pain, this is how she looks when she's pulling the necklaces over her head.

Memphis Monday: THE PLEASANT EFFECTS OF HURRICANES

Hurricanes are horrible, no debate there. Memphis, however, is fortunate to be happily situated far enough away from the coast to miss the storms, but close enough to enjoy the pleasant rain they bring. This morning was such, and it left the rest of the day breezy and cool. Addie and I enjoyed a porch swing for nearly an hour with a new friend, and we talked about how nice it was to be in Memphis on days such as these. Thank you, Gustav.