Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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Friday 5, Fun Stuff This Week

Happy Friday!! What is going on with you? So much here, as always. But even more than normal, my summer days are packed and I am pretty darn happy about it. This past week these five cool things have happened:

#1. We started the week watching a Thunder basketball game with friends and Tiny T tagged along. He took a ride on Buster and together they pretended like they were the Never Ending Story. Who am I to argue? Because the Thunder beat San Antonio, and I’m not saying Tiny T didn’t help. #WeAreThunder!!

 

Tiny T is on the job. "Atreyu! I pity the fool who surrenders to the Nothing!"
Tiny T is on the job. “Atreyu! I pity the fool who surrenders to the Nothing!”

 

#2. I attended my first meeting with the Horticulture Society of Oklahoma and had such a good time! Gardeners are fun, happy people. They really love life, you know? We learned about the Proven Winners campaign, and I added about a gazillion plants to my ever-growing wish list. I also finally got to meet the sweet and effervescent Jeannie Brooks! Such a happy night. I’m looking forward to more fun with this group, including a trip to the Stillwater grounds where they test plants and gardening techniques and also film television segments for Oklahoma Gardening. When shall we go, Jeannie? On Wednesdays only? : ))

#3. I drove to the Myriad gardens in downtown Oklahoma City to record a video segment for the “My Aha Moment” campaign. Have you heard of it yet? The Mutual of Omaha is traveling the country asking average people about turning points in their lives, moments when something clicked or crystallized so well that everything changed for the better. How often do we get invited by strangers to celebrate the amazing parts of life? It was so worthwhile, even if being in front of a camera is on my top three list of scary things in life. After frogs and hair in my food. To recap…

Top Three Scary Things in Life:

  1. Having frogs touch me. Especially sit on me. It’s the stuff of nightmares.
  2. Finding hair in my food. You might as well kill me. Because I will starve myself to death anyway.
  3. Hearing the words, “Now smile for the camera!” I mean my god. Hate this. I freeze up so badly.

So anyway it was pretty amazing to hear myself say words like, “You have to focus on the good and imagine good things in your life for those good things to grow or happen.” I type this message for you guys all the time, but I don’t verbalize it much. It was cool. And the young woman named Sam who interviewed me was super sweet. I mean, she made me cry a little, but that is probably her job.

 

My "Aha Moment" was when I realized that imagination is as powerful a force as gravity.
Look for Aha Moment stuff in the media. People are amazing!
Look for Aha Moment stuff in the media. People are amazing!

#4. I went to the orientation meeting for the Master Gardener program at out county’s extension office. They described the curriculum, asked us to submit applications explaining why we would make good candidates, then set appointments for interviews. INTERVIEWS. Do you know how long it has been since I have sat through any type of screening process? One million years. It was kind of exciting, I have to admit. So the next step with that is a half hour in late June, when I will try to convince the powers that be that I am worthy of learning all there is to know about Oklahoma agriculture. This is a pretty fantastic program, I am really really really excited. 

#5. The gardens here have seen lots of good progress this week, and the long, gentle rainstorms day after day have turned the W into a verdant paradise. I am so grateful for the precipitation and mild temperatures. All of my vegetables, herbs, and flowers have enjoyed such a boost from it all!

 

 imperfect garden pink raccoon

 

#6. Running has been on the back burner this week. Just like last week. And half of the week before that (I am doing elliptical work and yoga instead). So I did not meet my goal of “100 Miles in May.” But I feel amazing physically and am so rested and full of good, wholesome food that NOW I am ready to run again. The reset was successful. Bring it, June.

So those are five SIX wonderful features of my week! I lead a charmed life, for sure, and it seems like month after month my heart deepens with gratitude and swells because I just can’t believe how lucky I am. And I know deep down that one day (maybe soon) I’ll get to share more of this magic with two incredibly beautiful people who need lots of prayer. Thank you, friends, for praying for them. They need it, and it will work beyond our wildest dreams!

What amazing things were unusual about your week? Please share!

“If you surrender to the wind you can ride it.”
~Toni Morrison
XOXOXO

Grape Fruits & Good Thoughts

Have you eaten a ruby red grape fruit lately? I bought a big bag of them last week and have been enjoying one per day ever since. Each one is massive and almost completely edible, even the white fleshy membranes. So tender. They are juicy beyond belief, like biting into the ocean. But a sweet, tangy ocean. They need neither salt nor brown sugar to temper the powerful flavor, because they are naturally perfect lately. When your teeth grip the pink, webbed meat and fruit juice splashes in your mouth, you can literally hear the vitamins collide with your blood cells (it sounds like sparklers on the Fourth of July), and within minutes your future seems brighter, stronger, more likely to improve. I ate one this morning and my bank account instantly went up by like forty three bucks.*

 

grapefruit

 

I’m a pretty big believer that regarding physical health, what you put into your body matters a great deal, as much as or possibly more than what you do with your body. I believe the same about our minds. What we are able to do with them comes a step after what we allow to seep into them. Or at least, the two are so intertwined that we might as well consider mental input-and-output as one. An infinite circle of thought, whether healthy or toxic. And we all know by now that thought is the beginning of action, is the beginning of habit, is the beginning of path and character, etc…

 

What do you allow into your body, your mind, your home, your heart?
What do you allow into your body, your mind, your home, your heart?

 

That’s about all I have right now. Just some encouragement for you to make conscious choices about what kinds of mental influences you allow in your days. Beyond positive or negative: What schools of thought are your entertaining? What social attitudes, spiritual leanings, and life approaches are regular parts of your thinking diet? I know I have to stop and ask myself these questions once in a while. Unexamined ruts are no good.

Also, buy some ruby red grape fruits. They are spectacular right now.

Eat well, listen well, move better, think better
XOXOXOXO

*disclaimer: this is a lie

Friday 5: Animal Captioning

Happy Friday!! How about a Friday 5 at the Farm? Today, let’s caption stuff.

Anyone with animals, if they are being honest, will admit to spending plenty of time speaking for those animals. Whether you have dogs and cats, horses and llamas, or even just a pet rock, you probably watch your beloved non-humans live their domesticated lives then provide your human spin on their thoughts. I bet you even use a special voice for each animal.

The only exception to this might be if you have a parrot. Parrots tend to speak for themselves, whether you like it or not.

Trust me on this.

Around the Lazy W, animal-captioning is the cheapest and most abundant form of entertainment. I mean, clearly, we have a bevy of critters who need us to interpret their thoughts, right? Handsome and I catch ourselves speaking through the farm animals like it’s second nature. It’s always hilarious and only occasionally disturbing.

So. Tonight for Friday 5 I’m gonna share five farm animal photos and the thought captions I’ve thought up for them. Then I’d flat-out LOVE IT if you’d try to read their thoughts and write new captions. If you happen to know these animals and their personalities, either by visiting the farm or by reading this blog, then you have an advantage. Go wild. Be smart. Be hilarious. Be inappropriate. Be thoughtful. Have fun!!

 1. Ethel & Chicks

ethel with chicks and captions

2. Dulcinea at the Bee Yard

llamas guarding honey with caption

3. Big Boys Discussing Thunder B-ball

chunk dusty ibaka caption

 

4. Pacino & His Baby

pacino with chick for edie corrected caption

5. Romulus the Heartsick

rom diddly caption

So there you have it. Five photos, five captions by me. You can do so much better! Let me hear it.

Happy Friday, friends, and happy weekend!

XOXOXOXO

Happy Mice are Running Mice

I read the funniest article yesterday about an experiment performed on wild mice and other rodents, an experiment to answer the question about whether these creatures would exercise at will, given the alternative of freedom. (I did not realize this was a burning question in the scientific community, but what do I know?) You understand what I mean, right? Do mice traditionally run on treadmills just because they have to, given their laboratory setting, because they have nowhere else to go, like the proverbial hamster wheels? Or do they run for pleasure?

mice like to run too
I am trying so hard to stop eating tortilla chips at every meal of every day of my life. It’s gonna be a process. Salted cucumbers are a decent stand in. Light a candle for me.

I bet you see where this is going. Because had the test results pointed to LAZY MICE, I would not bother to share it with you.

Well, friends, the mice ran. They ran their little mouse hearts out! The treadmills were positioned in open fields, near well populated forests, and the undomesticated little sweeties had every opportunity in the world to do anything else they wanted to do. Like, forage for example. Or sleep. They could have had mouse-battles with sweet bowstaffs. They could do anything besides run, but over and over again they chose the tiny mouse treadmill. The scientific consensus was that the mice literally ran for pleasure.

Bam. There, it’s official. Running is fun!

Honestly I wish all my friends and loved ones could feel the deep and lasting high I am always talking about. After a while it’s like your bones are literally glowing. But running might not be for everyone. The thing is, is (hi Jon!) that you don’t absolutely hafta run to be happy or healthy. But to be happy and healthy you do have to find something physical to do on a regular basis. Find activities that get you gross-sweaty and also help you bliss out, then do them over and over again. See where that leads you.

As for the running-addicted mice, I just want to know how they figured out the myriad settings on the treadmill. Because WOW those machines are too complicated!

Be like mice and run happy.
XOXOXOXO

 

 

Friday 5 at the Farm: Upcoming Projects

Happy Friday! Man, you guys, there are so many wild, love-blown, vastly more important things I crave to talk to you about than what projects I’m doing at the farm. So many prayers, miracles, hopes, and worries that need to be named and celebrated. I mean, obviously the worries don’t need to be celebrated; but the conquering of them does. Life is amazing, and the elasticity of time is blowing my mind lately. Einstein had it goin’ on. Anyway.

hammock time

Resting in promises comes more easily some days than others. But I always build up so much energy when I finally do. Keeping my eyes on the light, not the shadows, recharges me.

These important life things I crave to discuss need to simmer a while longer. Maybe forever, I don’t know yet. In the mean time your prayers are appreciated. And let me just say I have recently been reminded that praying is a lot more powerful than just hoping. They compliment each other, but they are not substitutes for each other. I’m great at hoping and imagining good things (kind of an expert). Praying? I could do a lot better. I’ve grown a bit too passive in my day-to-day peacefulness. That’s changing. Anyway.

On to Friday 5 at the Farm.

My personal calendar is about to switch over from spring to summer, and I see fun projects all around me.  Such variety, too! Here is a round up of five worthwhile shenanigans I have up my sleeve:

Book Page Wall…

I’m thinking this will become the new wall treatment for my colorful little kitchen pantry. Last year in New Orleans I bought an old paperback copy of Julia Child’s first cook book, and the pages are the perfect yellowishness and flatness. My idea is to layer those pages first, like you see here, then start adding old family recipes on top, in frames. Really excited for this!

(source via pinterest)
 

 

Farmer’s Market Display…

I’m a far cry from selling produce constantly, but very soon there will be farm fresh herbs, eggs, mixed greens, and veggies available for sale at the Lazy W. Also some llama manure and chicken litter. So… why not? It’s adorable, anyway. “If you build it they will come,” and all.

 

f5 veggie stand

Gold-Dipped Glass…

If anyone ever submits my name to a television show about hoarding, it might be due to my glass collection. Mason jars, cheap florist vases, salad dressing carafes, Mexican soda bottles, you name it. I experience physical discomfort at the thought of discarding a shapely piece of glass. This, coupled with my renewed interest in all things glittery and gleaming, might make for a summer afternoon of gold dipping.

f5 gold vases

New Bees Arriving…

In the next couple of weeks I’ll bring home our new bee colonies! There is prep work to do, and I am so excited. I almost backed out of it this spring but have decided to buckle down and learn what I don’t know. It’s so worth it!

f5 honey sweet

Long Run!

Oh, friends. The marathon. Such a great experience! Then it was over. I ran very lightly the week following it, then I let life funnel my energy elsewhere for a couple of weeks, grabbing two or three miles or maybe some time on the elliptical machine  when I could. Now this week I am crawling my way back to a nice, steady trail routine. I feel amazing. Running is the best! This weekend and next week I have penciled in some 10-15 mile adventures (maybe more) that really have my heart singing! So… pasta!

f5 carbs

 

So that’s what’s up in my world. Also, if you’re interested, I’ve done a fair amount of reading lately and have so many books to tell you about. The garden is really taking off, too. It’s that time of year when I could stay outside for eighteen hours straight.

Now please tell me about you!

  • What crafty projects do you have planned this month?
  • What really difficult challenges have you almost abandoned, then decided to accept?
  • What are your reading?
  • Where do you run?
  • Tell me your thoughts on prayers and hopes and how they are related.

Happy Friday, friends! Thanks so much for stopping in.

“Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
XOXOXOXO