Garden Report

The lettuces planted on April 5 took three weeks to germinate and come up.  They are now a whoppin' 1/4" tall.  This past Saturday I planted a mix of heirloom lettuces; some are 50-day lettuce and some 60 and some 75.   If I thin them properly, that should give me a good month's worth of lettuce from the one planting.  Knowing me, I'm afraid I'll thin so that only one variety will remain growing.

I had intended to again plant potatoes in a pile of dead leaves in the compost bed.  But as I pulled large old weeds out of the compost pile, I was amazed at the awesome beauty of that dirt.  Oh, it was black.  And soft and fine and crumbly.  Not clay-like at all.  I'm not wasting that luscious dirt on potatoes.  I'm putting something more precious in that raised bed which spent its last few summers as the compost pile.  I don't know yet what's going to live there this summer.  Probably a couple of tomatoes and some herbs and some more lettuces.

Potatoes should be planted in the waning moon.  I'd been sick during most of April's waning moon.  New moon was fast approaching, and several days of rain was due.  If I didn't get those potatoes in the ground before bedtime last Saturday, there'd be another 2-3 week delay.  So I dug trenches and hauled dead leaves to fill those trenches.  My potatoes are now in the dirt.  And they're being nicely and gently watered every day from the rain.  Of course, it's refrigerator temperature outside.  So I'm not sure how the seeds will fare.  But I've done what I can do.

The tulips have tight, small, very-green buds.  The lilacs have tiny green leaves on them, but no sign of buds.  The apples, crab apples, and cherry trees show no signs of leaves yet.  Usually by the end of April, the lilacs and the crab apples have already bloomed and are finishing their spring floweriness.  Not this year.

Honestly, with the weather, I'm not planning on summer crops.  No beans, no corn, no melons.  I figure I'll grow a few batches of spring veggies.  Except tomatoes.  Gotta at least try on the tomatoes!

Today's Laugh

Grabbed off Facebook:

What's so great about living in Switzerland?
Hmmm.
I guess the flag is a big plus.

What's That Word Mean, Anyhow?

When Jesus died, He "yielded up" His Spirit (Matt 27).

In the Lord's Prayer (Matt 6), we pray, "forgive us" our trespasses as we "forgive" those who trespass against us.

"Forgive" and "yielded up" are the same word in Greek -- send forth, discharge, let go, cancel, forgive, tolerate.

For being the same word in Greek, those sure sound very different in our English translations.  But I guess Jesus' death and letting go of the Holy Spirit is why forgiveness is preached and spread and spoken to sinners throughout the world.

Easter Pictures

Nanna got her hands on the Matthias.

This is just such a happy picture.

Beautiful mama.  And that couldn't possibly be a yawn from baby.   I think he must be singing "Alleluia"; don't you agree?

Not MY Problem

Judas went to the priests with his sin: "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood."  Hey, "you see to it," buster.  Not my problem, say the priests.

Later in the same chapter, Pilate sees that a riot is starting.  He says he's "innocent of the blood of this Just Man" and told them "you see to it."  Not my problem, says the governor.

In both cases, the man's station in life, his work, his job, was to deal with the problem before him.  But no: "you see to it."  

April Pictures

Zoe (and Alia) -- April 3

Zoe was showing me how she can put her hand by her chin in a certain ponderous pose: "Dis is what finking looks like."

Alia -- April 3

Where's Waldo?

Papa and Matthias -- April 6

My Lord and My God

Last weekend during the services, we kept hearing God call us "My people." 
The reproaches on Friday: "Oh, My people!"
And Friday's collect: "behold this Your family ..."
Isaiah 53: "for the transgressions of My people He was stricken."
Exodus 15: "in Your mercy You have led forth the people whom You have redeemed."
Isaiah 25: "the rebuke of His people He will take away."

And this week, Thomas:
"My Lord and my God."

Today's Laugh

 

 

Stolen from Polly's FB page