Riverbend Ramblings

Lemon poppyseed muffins



New leaves springing forth



Azaleas in bloom



Food for the birds



Smells like spring

Labels: In the Garden, Keeping the Home, Outdoor Life

As a native of Central Florida, I've been around citrus fruit all my life. I grew up on a dirt road that had a couple of houses and thousands of orange trees on it. I remember sitting on my swingset and watching the workers pick the fruit. They were paid by the box, and boy could they pick that fruit fast! All the boxes were then loaded on semi-trailers and hauled to the Donald Duck processing plant in town where the fruit was turned into frozen concentrate. I'll never forget driving by a processing plant in another town when I was a teenager. There were so many trailer loads of fruit sitting out in the sun rotting while waiting to go into that plant to be processed. After seeing and smelling all that fruit, I vowed never to purchase concentrated orange juice--yuck! I couldn't believe they would use all that rotten fruit to make orange juice. Hopefully that was just one really bad day at that plant and not a regular occurrence. The citrus industry was huge around here until a series of big freezes hit Central Florida back in the early 1980's. Many citrus growers, including my grandpa, were wiped out. Some growers started over from scratch and stayed in the business. Others turned their land over to developers. What a change took place in the landscape! It's amazing to see huge housing developments where mile after mile of trees used to be. Today our county still produces a lot of orange juice and ships fruit all over the country. but business is nothing like it used to be. Even in the local stores you hardly ever find local fruit; most of it comes from California. I've never understood that. We have a fruit cocktail tree in our yard. It's supposed to have lemons, honeybells, and navels on it. I'm a little worried that everything will end up tasting like a lemon, but we'll see. I would like to get a grapefruit tree planted in the future. I like to eat grapefruit for breakfast. My neighbor across the street brings over a bag of oranges from his tree once in a while, and my in-laws have a couple of trees that we put to good use. What tastes better (and costs much less) than store-bought juice? Fresh-from-the-tree-squeezed, of course! It tastes even better when an eight year old does the squeezing. :)

Labels: Daily Life, In the Garden, Outdoor Life

Earlier in the week I promised that I would post some fall foliage pictures. Well, as you can see the trees haven't cooperated as I had hoped, so I'll take you on a walk through our yard instead. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them. :)

In preparation for cold weather, Mr. C decided to perform major surgery on all of our plants, bushes, and small trees. He got wack-happy with the trimmer and shaved everything. Although the garden now looks quite bare, I can just imagine how lovely it will be in the springtime.


My hard-working hubby also drained the koi pond so that it can get a thorough cleaning. Getting all of the leaves out is a tedious job but very necessary if we want the pump and filter to work properly. The fish are taking a vacation over at our neighbor's pond.


The leaves on the swing are a sign of days to come. We're going to invest in a few more rakes so that all of the kids can have their own. They have such a good time raking the leaves. Of course, the fun part comes when they jump into the leaf piles and Mom spends the next few hours picking leaves out of Curly Girl's hair. Yep, it's loads of fun.


In the midst of all the mess we had a nice surprise pop up--literally! Sunflowers bloomed next to one of the birdfeeders. I tend to be a bit messy when I fill the feeders, but the Lord took those spilled seeds and turned them into something beautiful. Wouldn't it be nice if all of our blunders turned out so nicely?


I hope you enjoyed taking a walk around our yard. If the leaves decide to turn a lovely hue in the next few days, I'll be sure to let you know. :)

Labels: In the Garden

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. ~ Isaiah 40:28

The cooler weather and occasional rainshowers have tricked the flowers in our yard into blooming once again. After such a hot, dry summer, it's been a blessing to be able to see the butterflies sipping nectar and fluttering among the blossoms. The leaves on the trees are just starting to get the slightest tinge of yellow to them. Hopefully they'll really start changing once the temperature drops a little more.


I've been spending an hour or two outside each afternoon enjoying the loveliness of God's creation. Sometimes I sit on the swing in the garden and read a book, but the last couple of days I've just been sitting and thinking. The stillness has a calming effect in the midst of my busy days. I've been counting the butterflies and thinking of the many ways God shows me His love each day. His understanding is beyond my comprehension.

O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! ~ Psalm 8:9

Labels: In the Garden, My Thoughts

This week has been flying by for me. We're halfway through our VBS, and each night so far has been such a blessing! We have a wonderful group of kids this year, and they've been having a blast.

Yesterday I was able to enjoy our flower garden for a little while. It's been several weeks since I took the time to just sit on the swing and enjoy the view. Our pond is looking a bit green, which means the filter needs to be cleaned. Yuck! I coudn't even see any of our Koi. I'll spare you any pictures of its current condition. :)

I haven't had a chance to look up this butterfly, so if you know what it is, let me know.

Two baby tomatoes; I hope these survive! So far the deer have stayed out of the garden, but one jump over the fence and these will be gone!

Today I'm going to spend some time with a couple of friends that are in town helping with our VBS. We're going to go to a "big city" and do some fun girlie things--like shop! In just a few short days I'll be back in our homeschool classroom again starting another school year, so I'm looking forward to one last day of fun before the work begins.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Labels: Daily Life, In the Garden

Hopefully I'll have some new blooms to share in the coming weeks. :)

Labels: Favorite Things, In the Garden, Show n Tell

Those of you who left encouraging comments about the sad state of my flower garden will be pleased to know that we're making progress! The children and I have finished raking about 2/3 of the flower beds. Mr. C took part of the afternoon off and was able to clean out most of the leaves from the front yard. We're just about ready for a few truckloads of mulch. I'm beginning to have some hope!

We've all been spending a lot more time outdoors this week, and that means that the kids have been getting to bed later and having a harder time rising the next morning. The fresh air and exercise really tires them (and me) out!

Labels: Daily Life, In the Garden, Outdoor Life

Labels: Daily Life, In the Garden