We put a name on everything, don't we?! I went cruising on the internet for my upcoming Crocktober recipes, and what do I find? "Styles" everywhere! Cozy (I cannot STAND that word, by the way), cottage, hygge, farmhouse, modern, industrial, old-world . . . you name it. If you can create even a smidgen of a style and give it a name, then you can sell it! It's crazy. I cannot keep up with all of it!
I have zero style, but I do have one significant area in my life that matters (beyond family, obviously), and that's the non-human life that we nurture: babies and gardens. Life is messy. It's not a Hallmark movie, it's not scripted. No one is setting up sets or scenes for us or writing our lines or deciding our fate. Beware of those things creating discontent.
Real life takes some reaching out and effort. It's exhausting at best, but the moments of happiness and joy can really be something. Below are some "happies" in my life. We have pumpkins! It turned dry here, so I started worrying about them. But lo and behold, heavy rain has once again set in, so they're getting good soakings these last two days. The rain continues through Wednesday, I believe, so that's a true God-send.
Look at this beauty! This is a Fritillary butterfly, I believe. At one point, I was going to be zealous and learn all the names of our pollinators. However, over the years, our gardens have grown, and this has attracted a crazy number of varying pollinators. I've lost that thread! So I'm just casually looking them up as I get pictures of them, and that has been fun. In this case, however, a friend of mine sent my picture on to a good friend of her's who is into these gorgeous pollinators. She identified the beauty below for me. That was super handy!
Peggy Ann Bakery! Got twelve of these yummies over the past weekend. These are bachelor buttons. Now, I've made these many times, and I've had many others that are homemade over my many earthly decades. But here's the brutal honesty - Peggy Ann's are better. Not too sweet, the frosting is never too hard or runny, and the dough is perfectly baked. These truly are well made. The bakery adjusts the colors according to the seasons, too, and that's a ton of fun! Aren't these summer colors gorgeous?!
Here is their apple bread. They don't skimp on the apples, either. For the price, this is something I don't bother to make anymore. Their apple bread is top-notch, and it's a big loaf. If I had a large family, I might consider making breads like this from scratch, but with just the two of us, this is actually a more frugal option. Plus . . . that glaze . . . .mmmmmm.
Look at this zinnia! This is a California Giant. Isn't she outstanding?? We planted this type in all the beds this year, so we have some incredibly huge blooms. The flower beds are my go-to happy jolts, meaning, if I'm feeling low, and I go roam around them, I get waves of joy and happiness just being near their beds. Our earth can do so much for us spiritually and emotionally if we put a little bit of effort into it. Whatever kindness we show this earth comes back a million-fold with results such as these. I thank God daily for our planet. I wish we were kinder to it.
That's it for now! Hard to believe that the middle of August has come and gone and now, it's just a spiral downwards to September. I will miss summer terribly, but the Autumn leaves and comfort foods are around the corner, and that's nice, too. Blessings to you on this 17th day of August. I hope you have many moments of happiness and joy today!
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