Garden Times

The past few days have been a bit rough with Patrick gone. Nora has been crying and whining more than normal and at times I I reach my maximum capacity for whining. Stuey has a molar or two coming in, so he is crying more than normal also. When it rains, it pours here in Kodiak.
The past few weeks, Patrick and I have been working to lessen the whining Nora does when she wants something--some of it is normal two year old behavior but I think some of it is learned-as she has had to cry/whine to get what she wanted before she could speak. She is in a pattern of going into whine mode when she wants something and is at all tired.
Sigh. A true test of my patience, as I've said many times before. Her stubborn tendencies don't help matters either. But, this too will pass. My mantra as of late.

To alleviate the tensions, I have discovered that watering the garden works wonders. Nora LOVES watering the garden. I'm a little worried that the potatoes have been OVER watered, because at one point there was a little lake in the potatoe bed. I have to remind Nora to walk around with the hose. Tonight she was doing a most excellent job with moving the water all over the garden and she has such a huge smile on her face. Its quite fun to see her enthusiasm. Patrick's excitement for dirt and digging in the dirt is contagious to the rest of us. I rather enjoy watering the garden while he is gone as well. It just feels good to be putting energies towards our food coming up in the garden beds.

We have a kayak guide, Casey, who is staying at our place right now. She is a great person--good sense of humor, easy going and great with the kids. She is staying at our place until her rental becomes available in mid June. I have quite enjoyed having her presence here---especially in the evenings to eat dinner with and chat. She is from the Carolina's and is here all summer working as a guide for Orcas Unlimited.
(see http://www.orcasunlimited.com/ her bio is on the bottom. Thats Casey!)

Last night it was a balmy 60 degrees and when we were watering the garden, Stuart gravitated to the big puddle and began playing in it with a broken croquet stick. I decided to just let him get all dirty-nothing a bath couldn't cure! Same went for Nora and the kids had a good time laughing and watering the garden. Nora started to get the hang of how to hold the hose and how to pull it along the ground.

This is the most quiet, relaxed moment of my day. So peaceful and reflective.
Kids were in bed by 7 tonight, as their naps today were non-existent (or very short).
Casey is in her room trying to sleep a cold off. Poor thing.
The winds are picking up a bit outside as a low pressure system moves in. As people have said in the past few days, some rain might be good right about now to help control the dust.

Looking forward to the weekend.

Zoya

Top:Casey and Nora last night.
Nora aka garden girl
Stuey and his croquet stick in the mud.