Outdoor Games:Team Challenge

Part of the fun of the Fourth of July 

is being able to play outdoors with friends and family.

Our family hosted a teen party this Fourth.  The family came up with this game. 

Team Challenge:

The game board is the back yard:

The object of the team is to direct a blindfolded team member through a maze without stepping into the yellow mine field, yellow line or on opposing team colored circles as quickly as possible but must step in the teams color circles to advance to finish..

Start Line

We used  Rustoleum marking spray paint.  Not only does it wash out with water, it  does not hurt your grass

Finish

• We made our triangular "field" about 25'-30'.

• Our circles were about 10"-12".  (I used a pizza box a plate as a template to cut my circles to use as a template for spraying.)
• We marked the tip of the triangle as the start and another corner for the big finish. (see photo below)
• Between Start and finish we sprayed circles in an equal number of red, white and blue circles with dividing lines  which marked off three sections of the field with a yellow line with an opening in the line AND most importantly we had our explosive "mines" marked in yellow circles placed strategically among the field.
• Our circles were about 10"-12".  (I used a pizza box a plate as a template to cut my circles to use as a template for spraying.)
• One person must be a time keeper and one person must be a referee.
• Optional: We used Mardi gras necklaces from Target  as tokens.  Each team member who crossed the finish line got a necklace in the team color.  At completion the winning team gets a second necklace in a different color. 
• Teams were chosen and given the following instructions:

• Each member walks the field but not all have to complete it.
• Alternate between teams: Red Team, Blue Team and White Team one member at a time. 
• First player is blindfolded and placed on Start.
• The remaining team members must verbally direct the blindfolded member through the field to the finish line without stepping on any yellow mine, yellow line or opposing team's circles but they must step on their team's color circles to advance to finish.
• The first time a team player steps on any forbidden zone they must restart at the beginning.  
• The second time a team player steps on any forbidden zone the player is out.
• No one other than the blindfolder player may be inside the perimeters of the field during a play. 
• Only team members may direct blindfolded player directing from the outer perimeter of the field.  
• Winner of the game is the team with the most members making it through the field in the shortest amount of time.

This game is good for team building skills or just a fun time. There is no set pattern of where the circles are placed and we provided a good bit of "green" space which safe zone.

Another Christmas in July

I enjoy entertaining and planning theme parties. This month we had two separate gatherings for Christmas in July in our yard. Both well attended and everyone seemed to enjoy the evening.  The weather was perfect.  It threatened rain but it was actually cool and breezy instead. 

But I always think I have to have everything done perfectly including all the touches outside.  The flowerbeds have to be edged and cleaned.  And then I always think my yard needs more....more pathways, more flowers, more decorations.....more everything.

Surprise guest relaxing in the pool!

You know how hard it is to be perfect?  The day of the party I start to stress a few hours before the party.

Side yard for Christmas in July

Christmas trees decorate brownies

"I did not get the flowerbed mulched!  I don't have enough time to do it, shower and get my hair done again!

"I did not get the brownies decorated! After the shower but before doing my hair....I can squeeze it in!"

"Oh, the upstairs closet did not get vacuumed! And you know guests snoop!"

Then the party starts and all the worries are gone.  I run around taking pictures and finally.....if everyone is settled and having a good time I will try to squeeze in the socializing.

My biggest problem is finding time to enjoy the event!
I become Martha of the Mary and Martha story.
Who is going to serve if I don't do it?!  And by the way...I am serious!  Who will do it?

Some of the teens eating at Christmas in July Devo Night

But really, the idea is to get to socialize and enjoy the company of our friends!

A Garden for the Children

I was no taller than my grandmother's orange Cannas growing along the house next to the driveway. 

In fact, some of them towered above my head.
I pretended it was my jungle and as I carefully wandered through the plants watching not to step on any of the plants, I picked off the ugly seed pods that formed when the flowers withered and died because  I wanted my grandmother's flowers to be pretty. 
It was cool in the shade and seemed a perfect place to explore. 
Mama was concerned I would hurt the flowerbed but Grandmama just laughed. 
A few weeks later Grandmama told me that her Cannas had bloomed again and were more beautiful than ever after I had plucked off the seed pods. 
I was so pleased. 

Many of my childhood memories surround the outdoors, my mother or grandmother's gardens or flowerbeds, exploring my grandfather's pastures  or the rocky hillsides at the lake where the family built a cabin, tasting the sweet nectar of honeysuckles and playing under the jasmine bushes.  

It is no wonder that as a grandmother now, I plan my gardens to please the children.  

So Andy and Amy now in your "grand" years here are the things I have found that have enhanced imagination and play in my gardens.  

Pathways: My pathways are not expensive pathways but most of them are simply an area I cleaned off the grass and laid a weed barrier and covered with mulch.  The kids love the pathways. 

I had to laugh one day as Kristen and her mother and I were walking in the grass around the back side of the house and we came upon one of the pathways.  Kristen squealed in delight as she dropped our hands, "A path!" 
And off she ran.

Wagons: The perfect companion for the path is the wagon.  My wagon has three cars and we make chug-a-chug-a- toot-toot

noises as we go.

A Place to Gather:A place to sit or swing or drink iced tea.  If there is no shade you just have to make one.  Maybe a big umbrella but you must have places where you can sit and talk.

Mysterious places: Tall plants or shrubs that leave space to walk behind or under or fun, thornless plants  that soft-slap the kids as you drive by in the wagon.


Color: And if at all possible, color!  Yellow zinnias, purple flocks, red roses, sweet williams, and pink begonias.

Seed Collection Expeditions: Seed collecting at the end of the growing seasons.  Teach the kids how to pick off the dead seeds and collect them and not only are you teaching them to love plants and grow them themselves, they are deadheading your plants and extending your blooming season. 

Oh, there are so many things to do outdoors if the outdoors are inviting.  

......Sand piles, Blowing Bubbles, and of course, a place to splash! 
My gardens expand every year and it makes it more fun every time they come.

The Search for the Perfect Garden

I am always on a search for a more perfect garden. 
I love the creative process of designing the gardens, choosing the most impressive plants and visiting places that inspire my creativity in the garden. 

While I can not enter Walmart through the main doors, always opting for the garden center doors so I can browse the newest selections, I have grown tired of the old selections only occasionally finding a true gem of a new plant there.  There are plenty of the tried and true plants in various colors and sizes and a variety of different textures and my gardens are full of those plants, also.  But I am left still searching for something different.

On trips into San Antonio I can not leave town without stopping off at the garden center in a Lowe's or Home Depot finding a wider selection of  plants including some new varieties I have never seen before occassionally.  Last time I found a variety of Black-eyes Susan I had never seen and even though I dislike Black-eyed Susans this was not a typical variety.  Not only was the flower twice the size of the typical wild variety,  the color was a rich golden yellow, the center was yellow with a lime green ring around the edge instead of the dark brown protruding center, the petals did not hang down but rather straight out.  It was so perfect  looking I thought it looked more like a good quality artifical flower than a Black-eyed Susan.  I could not leave the garden center without a specimen of the plant.  That and a Queens Palm tree. 

Having come by this love of gardening honestly from our mother, Linda and I  decided to treat our mother to a day out, visiting an impressive garden nursery.  We found  the Antique Rose Emporium.  the nursery of choice for the day. Beautiful Fairy rose shrubs line the entrance  and around the parking area.  Instead of rushing into the center we lingered looking and smelling the fragrances of the roses.  One of the wonderful aspects of the nursery is that you can grab a little red wagon and wander on gravel pathways throughout the center's perennial gardens planted all around the grounds and see the plants in their mature stages while deciding on the look you like. Garden structures are everywhere:arbors, pergolas, outdoor rooms and pathways wander throughout the gardens.   We arrived early and wandered the gardens until the heat began to slow us down but not before we each had a wagon load of beautiful plants.  I came home with a shrub rose bush in a sweet pink color, "Gabrielle Privet" that will bloom all summer long, a Lady Baltimore Hibiscus that has deep red flowers the size of a large dinner plate (or bigger), several purple coneflowers to add to my windmill garden bed, a small bay tree and the inspiration to get out and get my hands dirty.  Each of us had rose bushes and the ride home in the car loaded with the plants reminded me of the sweet smelling southern Magnolias, Gardenias and all those fragent plants you find blooming in the Southern states. 

Harvest Tme

As the rays of sunlight broke across the eastern sky the sound of rumbling combines started and I could feel the vibrations of the machinery nearby. The sky was just light enough to see the combines near my back door, starting up and moving across the field of green beans growing just at the edge of my backyard. The harvesters must have arrived while it was still dark and moved in like Hitchcock's birds in the school playground.

As I sat having my morning coffee while I watched an old movie on TCM my senses became aware of the activities outside and momentarily I felt as if I had been plucked up from my serene country life and plopped down in one of those B rated scary movies where the victim of some unknown killer runs through the corn fields with menacing rotating blades of a combine moving closer and closer.

Stepping to the backdoor I watched as the combines took their place at the start of the bean rows and dust began to rise and billow out into the sky as the green plants began to get ripped from the ground and pulled into the blades of the combine.

Harvest is exciting to farm families. It is the time the goals are realized, the big pay off, the light at the end of the tunnel, the end of the hard work that went into that crop, a big relief. For this year, especially we are thankful for all that is harvested, the summer of drought, the wet fall, a struggling economy, and an uncertain future. I am reminded that faith has got to be a part in our lives. We can plant the seeds but God gives our harvest.

There are several harvests of various crops throughout the year. This is the second harvest this year of green beans, corn was harvested early in the summer, hay has been baled and peanuts are being harvested this week, also.

Harvest time and a baby on the way. What a good day it is today!

The Geese Have Returned

The Geese have returned.
Sounds like a code between spies passing in the streets in a James Bond movie or something.
To me it is the announcement of the seasons turning to winter in my part of the world.

The sound of a gaggle of geese can be heard for a quite a little distance. In the distance black dots appear to be covering the field that had been a green expanse of peanut plants during the summer but now is just the bare ground with just a hint of the dried peanut hay that had escaped the claws of the baler. The geese gather in the open fields, thousands of noisy birds, returning year after year to the same location. They found our little community some years ago and began to grace us with the annual visit. I love to stand outside and hear them or find them in the field behind my own house. It is one of those sites and sounds that makes me appreciate living in the country, one of those things that make me think that one day I will look back on this time and miss them when the world around us has changed into whatever the future holds for us. Like Christmas carolers singing along the river walk, this is a nostalgic moment....remember it. These are Rockwell moments in our time like watching the dance recitals of my granddaughters and Kristen is inspecting the rafters over the stage while the other girls are going through their dance routine or Joel's expression at the Christmas program at church while they are lined up in a chorus of happy children singing angelically when he realizes that Eric has grabbed the microphone behind them and is singing into it with all of his heart.

Rockwell didn't just live in a perfect time in a perfect life therefore painting such fun times. No, actually living through a time of wars in the 20th century, once divorced, twice married,his art studio burned to the ground during his career, and given to moods he choose to paint a time that made us stop and cherish the moments in our lives. He wanted us to glean the good from the bad.

Slow down this season and enjoy the moment.
These times pass quickly and soon are forgotten unless we tag them in our memories.

Update on Carl and Lisa

Did you know that Houston has a curfew?
You can not be out after 9:00 PM. At least, not in the area without electricity. Thank goodness someone is watching out for the homes left unmanned.

But Carl and Lisa are now up and running again.
Actually, they are here right now but soon will be returning home. It has been fun having them here.

Is that selfish?

From Lisa's Corner of Ike

I know, I know....three weeks and nothing posted and now two posts in one day.

I just got off of the phone with Lisa.
Still (at 2:00 PM today) they are without electricity and water but they received word via the radio that the Fort Bend area will be among the first to get electricity restored.
They are actually in Stafford (pretty far southwest of downtown Houston right off of 59) but Lisa said that they are serviced through Fort Bend so hopefully it will not be weeks as first predicted.

Many thanks for those of you who have expressed concern or called about the kids. They have a good attitude about all this. They are hot and tired. Carl is working in the neighborhood chain-saw-gang along with other men going from house to house and helping to get started with clean up. Lisa is working doing the domestic part of the clean up.

Keep all of the victims in your prayers. Please pray for their safety and that this experience will bring them closer to God and their neighbors. Soon this will be just a memory for them.

Many thanks for your expressions of concern for all of our friends in the area. There are many, many of yours and my friends, family, children, and grandchildren living there. And as far, as I have heard of those who we know everyone has escaped personal danger to themselves.

Ike

Just heard from the kids in Houston and they survived the night. Carl said he and Lisa did not sleep last night and at the early hour that I was on the phone with Carl he said the little ones were beginning to wake up.

I had been searching the internet for a map that has a pointer that says "Here are Carl and Lisa" and "here is Ike's movement" but no where could I find that map. I turned the TV off of my usual old movie channels and have it on CNN listening and watching for news of what the Hurricane has done to the people in that region.

Carl called and told me that he has lots of clean up necessary, huge tree limbs down, the fence separating them from their neighbors is ON the neighbor's car, knocked out one window and are without electricity and now without water. Lisa and the babies are coming this way but I am not sure if they are going to Lauren's house, (her sister) or here. The news says it can be up to three weeks before they get electricity there. So it will take weeks to get Carl & Lisa's cleaned up really considering the mess the lack of electricity has on us....freezers, refrigerators, washers, dryers and Carl tells me they are now without water so it is a mess but again........God blesses us and has protected us again.

An Old Woman's Spring Fever

I think I have spring fever.....
Everything is greening up so nicely and the flowers are putting on blooms, some already blooming.
My mind begins to get creative.....pathways, dry creek beds, and sprawling flower beds meandering all over the place would be nice.

Put a shovel in my hands and I start digging.
Just enough space to plant a few gourd seeds under the windmill so they will vine upward and the gourds will hang downward and be beautiful.

And Zinnias are good with the gourds because they attract the beneficial insects to eat the aphids that get on the gourds. Dig a little larger area.

I really like pink zinnias. Just a bit more digging.

And caladiums....more digging toward the west.

And maybe something to edge the beds.....digging toward the south.

And then in the dappled shade side of the windmill....maybe a hydrangea......now moving eastward.

Oh, and now the lawn mower will not fit between the tree and the windmill because it will mow over the caladiums.....now stretching toward the tree.

And to finish off I think a little bit more to round it off.

Now, over there in that part of the yard it looks pretty dull....... maybe, if I dig a little over there I could make j-u-s-t a little flower bed, just enough for my plumeria.

Amaryllis Bulbs

Okay, you amaryllis watchers.
Did anyone else buy one?
I bought two. Now a week and a half later the one that was 4.5 inches is now 12 inches and the one that was 3 inches is now 6 inches. Both have big buds developed that are shooting up.
I have to wonder why one is so slow and the other is shooting out the gate.

Or maybe, I should realize that neither is slow but one is faster than the other.
Do we compare our children like this?
One is good and the other is exceptional but we do not realize the good one because we are so focused on the exceptional one?

Oh, I think I could start a blog on that....but..... I don't have time.

Amaryllis Bulbs

Hey, Moms, run out to Home Depot or Lowe's (maybe Walmart) and pick up an amaryllis bulb in boxes in the gardening section. Most are on clearance now but are perfect.

Let your kids watch the daily growth by measuring with a ruler and chart the growth. In four to six weeks they will be around 18 inches tall and will have a huge rewarding bulb. If you hurry it may bulb around Christmas.

It is amazing how quickly they grow. I have two in my kitchen window. One is 4.5 inches, the other 3 inches and I planted them Saturday.

Doves Cooing

I love to hear the sound of doves cooing outside in the early morning.

It never fails to remind me of my childhood when I would wake up at the lake house. The place was covered in cedar, mountain laurels and now, I am assuming they were small oak trees that grow in the rocky soil up in the hill country. Birds were especially happy up there. The cooing of the doves was the wake up call of the lake like roosters crowing in the morning in the country.

They probably cooed all day long but in the silence of the morning the cooing was a welcome sound as much as the smell of bacon frying in the kitchen.

This morning the doves are happy and herald the start of a wonderful day, a summer day.

Sunlight

Look quick! It is sunlight streaming in my window!

We have become the Texas tropics.

It has rained every week at least one day a week and often more. It has rained enough to keep the sprinklers off for the most part. It almost got too hot and dry one or two days last week but we have now had enough rain to make up for the hot day or two.

Everything is green!
I love it!

But have you ever seen so many webworms? I was grilling sausage the other day on our grill under one of our trees. Webworms kept dropping on me or they would drop to the patio below and begin crawling up my pants leg. A few got a free ride into the house via my clothing.

I did not know I needed my umbrella for the webworms.
Keep your umbrellas handy even when it is not raining.

Gravelia

I love to watch my Sunday morning gardening shows on HGTV.

This morning they were talking about Gravelia, this beautiful Australian tree that has huge red blossoms. But again, their seeds are so well protected by a huge woody covering sort of like a pine cone that it actually depends on forest fires and then heavy rains to wear down the woody protector to be able to get to the seed.

Another real life example of building character through trials. Without the fires and rain the seed would stay hidden away, never to become a tree.

Isn't it interesting how many parables are out there just waiting on us to recognize them?
How can anyone doubt God when they look at nature?

What sort of people would we be if everything went our way always?
I am thinking maybe shallow rooted like spring flowers in a extra wet spring. Once the heat comes they die because their roots are at the surface instead of deep where the moisture can be found.

Forever and Ever Hydrangea

It is Memorial Day. Although typically not a holiday for Lee, this year the rains have prevented him from getting in his fields and we decided to go into town to find a replacement window for the remodeling job we will be doing.

While shopping I always have to make a small pass through the plants to see if anything new is waiting there for me.

I found the beautiful Forever and Ever Hydrangea, a new Japanese variety that is a long bloomer like my Endless Summer variety but these blooms will be bigger. My Endless Summer is blooming it's heart out for me but it is at my house on North Trail.

This one will go outside in front of what will be my kitchen window after the remodeling job is complete. I will be able to see it while I clean the kitchen and enjoy it. Perfect! And the blooms are wonderful.

It reminds me of my summer visits in Georgia with Linda.

May 24, 1945

May 24, 1945 is the date in the concrete horse trough in our back yard. Back then a pier and beam house stood where my home is now. The old house belonged to Lee's aunt and her family. At some point Lee's dad came to own the land and at that time the old house was torn down and the land became farm land. A few large pecan trees, two grand old oaks, a windmill, a falling down chicken coop and a concrete horse trough were all that was left here when we decided to build our house here in 1975.

When the kids were little they used it for a swimming pool. It made a good swimming pool for them. I could watch the children from my kitchen window. At first I was concerned because it was concrete but soon felt fairly secure as no injuries ever occurred in the trough.

As all old things do, the trough needed mantainance and Ryan patched the major leak it developed while he was a college student. Then we added waterlilies and water hyacinths. Now it is full of plants and fish but it leaks terribly again. I guess it will be one of my first real projects for the summer to fix the leak. The choice is to take it out or fix it.

I just have a hard time giving up on things. Thankfully, Lee is with me on this. We will line the pond with a plastic pond liner and then do some landscaping around it and it will be a major attraction to add to the yard.

Now who else can claim to have a 1945 horse trough in their back yard?
There is too much history here to give up on it. When I look the rough concrete work on it I have a vision of the man making it.

Super Saturday

What a fun Saturday!
The weather is perfect for being outdoors.
I got outside almost minutes from getting up this morning and started cleaning out dead leaves out of the flowerbeds. Yes, I should have done this long ago but I have too many chores and cleaning is a constant in the house and in the garden.

I planted elephant ears, replanted ferns, and planted my triple stemmed pygmy date palm (an early Mother's Day). Family is coming tomorrow and I want the yard to be pretty as well as the house to be clean.

This morning my yard was used for the location of a photo shoot for one of our high school graduates. It was a double-wammie inspiration. I want to work more in my yard and I want to take pictures. Photography is one of my passions and I have neglected it for a few years. I love to take pictures. I just need to get those sweet grandbabies here to be my subjects.

Have a great Mother's Day.

Wildflowers

Sometimes we refer to planting a seed of thought in someone's brain.
But if we consider bluebonnets seeds it is much more like training a child through the rebellious years of teens and into adulthood.

Every spring my children would be the first to discover the bluebonnets blooming in the fields near the house. While out playing, the children would run across a patch of fresh blooms. In the excitement of their new discovery, they would pick handfuls of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes. One of my sweetest memories of the children would be of them standing in front of me with their upraised hands full of the colorful spring flowers. We loved the spring flowers and began to try to get the bluebonnets to bloom where we wanted them to.
My desire was to have masses of the colorful blooms in the front of my yard. We scattered seeds at random hoping that each and every seed would produce a healthy plant. But when spring came only a few plants would bloom, not the tremendous mass of display for which we had hoped.

Again we would gather seeds and sow them randomly and again the spring brought a disappointing display. Undaunted, we continued to scatter the seeds. Some years were hard and cruel and the rains came too late for the seeds to get the proper moisture and the spring would bring few blooms.

Still I was concerned over the lack of bluebonnets in my yard. I studied to learn what needed to be done to have the beautiful displays. I watched and waited and hoped. The sun was the most important requirement for growth. I selected locations that placed the plants in the sun. Plants growing in the sun would grow large and full, producing a crown of blooms and yield strong seeds. Plants deprived of the sun suffered and were spindly and weak and eventually the plant would wither and die.

The next summer a small grass fire burned the field where the wildflower seeds were thrown. I thought all was lost, the seeds were gone. The summer was hotter than usual and the winter cold and harsh.

The harsh treatments the dormant seed had gone through began to wear down the hard protective coating. Moisture crept into the inner areas of the seed where the tiny heart of the seed laid for years since it had been formed. The tiny heart began to grow and the new life began to emerge. Strong and colorful for all the hardships it had gone through, the plants finally had grown to withstand the harsh temperatures of the Texas summers. The plants were strong and mature ready to begin a productive life.

The field was a celebration of newly found life.

Proverbs 22:6
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

The Master Gardener

Last winter on an excursion I came across a palm tree loaded with dried fruit ready for picking. I gathered up 88 little palm seeds and took them home with me to grow.

Spurrred by curiousity more than the love of palm trees I began to soak them to break through the hard shell and begin the germination. Each stage of the germination process facinated me. I watched as a tiny dot of seed covering dropped off the side of the seed one day and the next day a root began to push its way out. I hovered over the seeds like a mother over her new baby.
After a couple of weeks all but one of the 88 seeds had sprouted. I rejoiced for the 87 sprouted seeds but mourned my lose of the one. I continued to watch my lone seed still hoping it would sprout but eventually it became evident it was dead and would never sprout.
The sprouted seeds were planted in the best potting soil I could find. Daily I watched to be sure that the roots did not push out the bottom of the pots and once they began to bulge the bottom of the pot they were placed in a larger pot and the overseeing of the young seeds continued.

Spring came and the roots of the palms were strong enough to begin to push a minature palm leaf upward to mature and begin a productive life. Rejoicing with each new plant I found emerging from the top of the soil, I counted each one that grew and watched for the ones that had not emerged yet a little like God watches over us wanting each of us to grow and become strong. Although some of the plants had not matured enough to produce a leaf I continued to watch after the plants, keeping them watered, placing them in the sun, making sure that the soil has the proper nutrients to grow and be productive. I am reminded of God's love for us. There are so many lessons I can learn from my experience growing these palms but most evident to me is that God watches over us and continues to give us the proper conditions to grow but the growing part is up to us.

No matter what, I can not make the choice for the seed to grow. If the seed is immature it will not grow. If the hard shell on the outside has not gone through something to wear down or soften the outer coating it will not allow the heart of the seed to get the moisture it needs and it will not grow. If the seed grows without the sun it will be spindly and weak and will eventually die.

How much more than I watch over my palms does God watch over us, rejoicing at our maturing and mourning those who are weak. God is the master gardener.