Sunday, April 27, 2008

Sabbath grace


First fruits
Originally uploaded by the gladdings
Today has been a beautiful spring day in Houston, something we're not used to saying at the end of April. Our sabbath began at Edith Moore sanctuary, where we met our friend Tracy Kleinhans, a fellow Mercy Streeter and member of the Houston Audubon Society. This was our first time in the sanctuary, and Tracy was our guide. We hoped to see some new birds, but although we could hear them, we did not see too many. We did get to add one new bird to our sightings - a Grey Catbird. It is a lovely spot, and one we look forward to returning to.
After lunch and naps we headed to the community garden, where the weeds have been sorely neglected. We spent 3 hours weeding, taking flowers off pepper plants (trying to get the bush as large as possible early on) and watering (no rain to speak of for a month). We also harvested two large bags of swiss chard, and the first squash and beans. So tonight we enjoyed "eggs in a nest" (see Flickr), steamed beans and squash and cornbread. The eggs came from our friends Kevin and Camella - they have 2 hens and brought a dozen over earlier in the week. The first of what we hope will be many truly local meals. And Maggie and Seth fell asleep in about 15 minutes, which means Rebecca and I will be able to watch an episode of Doctor Who Series 3 before our heads hit the pillow tonight.
Sabbath grace indeed.

3 comments:

geoff and sherry said...

nothing better than a good bit of gardening followed by the doctor. nice.

Brenda said...

Maggie and Seth fell asleep in 15 minutes? I didn't think that I would ever hear that!

Mama L said...

Beautiful veggies! I truly don't think there is a better thing in the world than a tomato fresh off the vine - I even love the smell of tomato plants. We have had a huge garden for years now, and this is the first year that we won't have much of one since we are moving after it will be too late to plant (although we are going to still try!) and we are already mourning it! We even canned stuff, but with 4 kids it is hard to find the time to do that. I bet that is something y'all would get into. It helped to have Steve's farm family to educate us on that! It's good to hear & see updates on your family - give them all a hug for us!