A Day at The Cabin

When I was a little girl my grandparents bought some land and built a cabin on it. We spent almost every weekend down there playing in the field, running through the woods, building dams in the creek and being immersed in nature. We loved the “Briar Patch” as it is called!

Yesterday we spent the day at the Briar Patch with my parents and my sister & brother-in-law and their kids. (If you remember this is the place Lucy got injured). We’re starting a whole new generation of weekends at the cabin.


The kids had a full day of archery, playing in the sand box, hiking and of course finding feathers, rocks and bones in the woods.




You can’t spend a day at the cabin without some roasting a few hot dogs over the fire (and sometimes marshmallows as well). Usually the day is finished with a batch of homemade ice cream, but yesterday we had cheesecake.

All-in-all it was a fun day. It’s always good to spend time with the family in a place that already has so many great family memories.

Did you have a place growing up where you could be immersed in nature?

Filed under About Me, Miscellaneous | Comments (11)

Our Little Pond

The little pond in the garden is really starting to come together. We installed it a two weeks ago and last weekend we got some fish for it. We spent a day this past weekend planting some hostas, hakone grass and goat’s beard around it. I still have some rocks to place around the front edge and I need to find a few small plants around the garden to finish off the front part and then it will be done!

I was hoping to work on it yesterday but spent the entire day at my mom & dad’s house. I still worked in the garden, just not my own. I worked the edible garden over there, weeding the onions and planting a few more potatoes. I also dug up some lilies, mallow, and fennel to plant over here and I got some cuttings from their neighbor’s hydrangea vine. I’m giving my mom a few of our shrub roses in return.

Even though the pond isn’t finished, the fish seem to be really enjoying it. We thought a few of them had been eaten by coons, but we’ve counted all 10 in the past few days. We put a few big rocks in the bottom and a few smaller ones around the edges to give them a place to hide. If all ten are alive in a month or two we will move 5-6 of them to one of my parents big ponds, our tiny pond won’t support 10 fish.

We’re enjoying having the pond in the garden. We can see it from the bedroom window and from the front porch. I’m always stopping to watch the fish as I’m out and about doing chores. They’re very relaxing and soothing. I’d encourage everyone to install a small water feature in their gardens!

Have you ever thought about installing a small pond in your garden?

Filed under Miscellaneous | Comments (12)

Quote of the Day: Henry David Thoreau

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

~Henry David Thoreau

I try to make sure I’m aware of things when I’m working out in the garden. When I am I often see some of the most beautiful things. I’m particularly fond of seeing spiderwebs around the gardens, quite beautiful and beneficial!

Are there any simple things you find beautiful?

Filed under Quote | Comments (9)

Quote of the Day: John Calvin

There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world, that is not intended to make us rejoice.

John Calvin

I’m very thankful for the changing seasons. I enjoy living in a place with such a stark difference between spring/summer/fall/winter. It seems the long dark colorless winter, makes me even more thankful for color in the garden, especially all the green leaves and the green grass.

The green is so invigorating, I’m happy looking out the windows and seeing world of green. I’m happy to once again to hear leaves on the trees when the wind blows. I’m happy to see color dotting the garden here and there.

What’s your favorite part of the change from winter to summer?

Filed under Quote | Comments (8)

Inspired to Take a Break

Our cat Soafie inspired me to take a day off (well from blogging anyway, we’ve got a big job today – see 2nd Mile Productions tomorrow to see what we spent today working on). I’ve been super busy the last few weeks with work, gardening and blogging. I’ve been spending a lot of time working on the Seed Starting 101 posts, which takes away from the time I have to write regular daily posts. So today I’m leaving you with a photo of Soafie, hope she inspires you to take some time to relax and enjoy the day!

Cheers, and happy relaxing from all of us at Chiot’s Run!

I’m planning to start the Seed Starting 101 posts on Monday, so be sure to come, read and comment!

Filed under Miscellaneous, pets | Comments (5)