Sorry to "bug" you all, but I have a few requests, or you might say that I wanted to put a little bug in your ear...ok, enough with the puns already!
1st...if you live in Southern Maryland and know of an awesome barn with a flag painted on it, would you please leave me a comment or send me an email letting me know the location? Thanks, it's not for me but for a fellow writer who is doing an article for a regional magazine.
2nd...if you live in the greater Las Vegas area...or between LA and Las Vegas and you have a house that you think is magazine worthy, please contact me ASAP. We are looking for Vintage, Romantic, Cottage Style, Rustic Cabins, French Country, and Farmhouse Chic! If you think your house fits any of those descriptions I would LOVE to hear from you. You can email me at kgwhouse@gmail.com and I will need some low resolution photos of your rooms...the whole room please, and I would need shots of the kitchen, master bedroom (or any cute bedroom), living areas, dining room, porch/patio/sunroom if you have one! If you have a blog, you can direct me to blog posts that show what your house looks like too! :-)
Ok, I have to run, I have to jump in my car and skedaddle to do lots of stuff today! Enjoy your Tuesday and THANK YOU for your help!
P.S. Mr. or Mrs. Cicada, pictured above, was on our firepit this morning!
Saturday evening, after weeks of 100 degree heat index nearly every day and no rain, we had a nice storm pass through. After the thunder and lightning had cleared I wandered down to our dock and found mist rising from the water. We were also treated to a double rainbow, but it didn't show up well in my photos darn it!
I love it right after a good hard rain when everything seems to turn the deepest shade of green and there is smoke on the water. Plus it's kind of a catchy name for a song...don'tcha think? ;-)
Thanks for all of your lovely comments on my last post, you all brought back some wonderful memories for me as you spoke about your own special memories growing up. I hope you all have a relaxing Sunday!
Isn't it funny how certain months of the year hold such a special place in our hearts? I'm not sure why summertime is the time of year I feel most content, but it always has been my favorite season.
With the first warm days, I can almost feel the breeze blowing in my hair as I race down hills on my banana bike, or smell the delicious scent as I would run inside my grandmother's kitchen to see what type of cake or pie she had made that day.
Joy, over at Savvy City Farmer just did a post on the way she grew up and those precious memories she clings to, and I could relate to many aspects of her upbringing.
It's funny, if you were to ask me about certain months each year growing up, there is little I could tell you about them. Maybe because we didn't have any birthdays in those months, or there weren't any big holiday celebrations that hit home, but ask me about the time from May until September each year and I can reminisce all day long.
Even as an adult, summer was always my favorite time of year because it meant my kids would be with me all day everyday, I treasure that time we had together now that they are both grown.
If you asked me about summertime growing up, I could regale you with tales of playing baseball in the field across the street, running barefooted on hot blue chip asphalt to catch the ice cream truck, and about playing freeze tag and green light red light until daylight gave way to twilight when the hunt for lightning bugs would begin. I would tell you about my mom marching us into the tub each night to scrub our feet and the dirt and grime from a day of playing hard, and how she stroked our hair each night checking us for ticks.
As I grew up, summer became the time when we didn't talk about school, or need to take notes, we could just be and hang out with our friends acting silly and talking about everything and nothing at the same time. Working minimum wage jobs and spending time crabbing or water-skiing on our days off. We thought those days would never end, and sometimes we wished they would. We wanted to be grown ups and live in our own homes and not have to come home by 2 am after dancing all night or sailing all day.
Once, when I was in college, my sister and I went sailing with some friends late in the afternoon. We ventured pretty far out in the Chesapeake Bay, and as we turned to head back to the marina the motor suddenly quit on the boat. This was the mid 1980s so there were no cell phones, and the radio on board decided to quit working too, along with the wind which is why we were using the motor to begin with.
For hours, we were adrift trying to make our way back to shore, and the hours went by so that when we finally did dock it was almost 3 am. I can still remember the look on my mom's face when we got back home and how frightened and worried she was. But what we saw was how angry she was, because we were young, invincible, and we knew we could handle it and that we were ok, so why should she be worried?! Now that I'm a mom, I understand.
She knew something we didn't, that life is short, and more importantly it's very fragile and can be gone in a second. Where we saw invulnerability when we looked in the mirror, she saw naivety and a lack of life knowledge.
Just like my mother, I will always worry, but I have to also let go the same way she did. I've learned to let my kids have their own summer memories, ones that I hope will be as moving as my own.
Ones where even the smell and taste of ripe blackberry will transport them back in time. My only hope is that like the berries which seem so plentiful this time of year they will realize that they are only ripe and full of flavor for a very short time. I hope they memorize that sweetness and drink it in and that they will savor each phase of their lives. That they will find their own time of year that says "ahh" to every fiber of their being the way summertime does to mine.
Embracing who you are and where you come from is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. We can't turn back the clock, and getting stuck trying to cling tight to the little and big hands is futile and will only leave you stuck in time instead of continuing on your journey. Just as we can't speed up the clock in hopes of erasing the bad times, each bit of time is what makes us who we are and takes us to the next place we need to go to in life. People, things, pets, and places will change, and you will miss them all, but if you have your memories, then you have it all.
What season speaks to your heart and takes you back?
Hi Everyone, I just wanted to pop in to say hi and to thank everyone for the lovely anniversary wishes! I would love to tell you that Mr. Tide and I traveled to Paris or Fiji for our special day, but we stayed much closer to home. We did go to another city, visited some wonderful shops, ate good food, and managed to wander around in the heat, so we did have a wonderful time. I'll share some pictures of our little adventure in another post!
Mr. Tide took the entire week off so that we could not only celebrate our anniversary, but also to get some things done around the 'ole homestead, and we are ticking off things on our to do list. Like major yard work, and starting to clean out our garage in nearly 100 degree heat...woohoo, how romantic right?! I have to admit that it felt good to be dripping in sweat today as we are on a quest to finally park a car or two in there after nearly 4 years!
I'm afraid that's as exciting as it gets around here at the moment, with more sweat and hard work in the plans for the rest of the week and into the weekend. Misty Belle would like to say hi too, and she hopes you are having a relaxing and productive week, and that those of you who are suffering with this heat will stay nice and cool...she highly recommends using a sprinkler! ;-)
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away there was a little boy...
And a little girl.
They grew up happy and healthy and then one day their paths crossed while racing sailboats, and they fell in love.
Just 5 weeks after they met, they got engaged, and then just 6 months later they were man and wife. Theirs is a story of strength, happiness, and joy...but mostly love!
This Tuesday, they will celebrate their Silver Wedding Anniversary...a quarter century together. And just like that day so long ago, they will smile and look forward to their life together and all that they have been blessed with, and everything the future has in store for them.
*I will be gone for a few days as Mr. Tide and I celebrate our 25th Anniversary! Have a wonderful week everyone!*
Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments from yesterday's post. To Jo, I'm so very sorry for your loss, and hope that with each passing day you find comfort in hearing your husband's voice as he encourages you to move forward and to celebrate the love you shared together. Lisa, I'm so glad your sister encouraged you to read that book and that you can feel her warmth and love all around you.
I was so happy that so many of you "got" what I was saying in my last post. That we never really lose the ones we love, they just change the way they communicate with us...thank you Sharyne for that amazing dragonfly analogy!
This morning when I took the dogs outside there was yet another feather, just a foot or so away from where the other one had been a few days ago. As I turned on the sprinkler I noticed another feather, and then another...a total of 6 in all! My neighbor came over to my fence and we were chatting about the weather and flowers, when suddenly a little white feather came floating down from above. I had to stop and explain to her what this meant to me. In the 4 years we have lived at this house, with all the many birds that frequent our yard, we have never had feathers in it...not even one that I can remember. And here were 7 feathers now scattered about my yard, with one falling right in front of me! I picked up the largest of the feathers, the Osprey feather you see in the picture above, and brought it inside and put it on my old shutter table next to my shells and the travel alarm clocks that had once belonged to my great uncle.
And since it seems clear that Dan is still reading my blog, and is still giving me feedback about which posts he likes...I want to say thank you my friend!
Sometimes you just connect with someone. They can live very far away, and you may never meet them in person, but still a bond is formed through shared ideas, common beliefs, and sometimes it's just something you can't fully explain that brings you together and makes you click. I recently found that in another blogger, and it truly is a gift.
Yesterday, it was absolutely gorgeous here. The sun was shining and a breeze was blowing, so I headed out to our backyard to hang out in the hammock and drink it all in.
I wish I was one of those people who could close my eyes and drift off to sleep to the gentle sounds of of the tides rolling in and the swaying branches overhead, but I'm not. I think maybe it's because I'm afraid I might miss something, like the sight of an Osprey diving into the water searching for lunch, or a the chance to get a wet kiss from a loving pup.
If only I could let my mind slow down or even stop for a moment so that I wasn't always plotting how to fix the world, or trying to figure out a way to invent something to prevent dust from accumulating in my house, but then there are other times when I embrace this trait of mine.
Times when I'm glad my senses are sharp, that I've kept my eyes wide open, so that I didn't miss something that others might pass by or simply ignore.
I've been thinking about my friend Dan a lot lately, missing him and wishing we could have a good chat like we used to, and yesterday was one of those days when I longed to hear his voice again. And just then, I looked down and saw it, a tiny white feather. Now you might think to yourself, so what...it's just a feather?! But then you wouldn't know Dan and how he would send such a beautiful little gift my way.
You see, I spoke to his wife just a few weeks ago, so excited to share in the excitement of the Royal Wedding with her, since she lives very near London. It hadn't occurred to me that for her the wedding took on a totally different meaning. Instead of seeing beautiful flowers and a princess in the making, it took her back to her own wedding and to the sadness that only someone who has lost a spouse can fully understand. As we spoke she fought back tears and I reassured her that Dan was all around her...all around all of us. She told me that just a few days earlier, she had had the windows in their flat open and a small white feather had floated in and landed on a tiny bird's nest she had sitting out as decoration. She said she knew it was from Dan, and that the feather was still resting just where it had landed.
I also spoke to a blog friend this week via email. She too has suffered a great loss, and we spoke about how those who leave us are never very far away. We talked about signs, and how if you just know where to look and open your eyes, those signs are all around us.
As the sun set yesterday in a fiery ball of orange and red, I knew that I had experienced a perfect day. The weather, the feather, the sunset, each one a sign from those we love but are no longer physically here on Earth telling us that they are shining down upon us and letting us know that they are ok.
When I had a conversation with someone in the health field a few years ago and told them that I often felt the presence of those who had left this world around me and that I have learned to listen to that little voice within me, he simply smiled. He said, we all have that little voice, but some of us stop listening to it, so it stops speaking to us. I will never stop listening, and I truly hope it never stops speaking to me.
When I see a sign like that little white feather yesterday, I take comfort in the knowledge that even in the darkest of times, a light shines through. I hope that you have a wonderful weekend my friends and that you take a moment and look to the sky!
All images, text, and content are Copyright protected and exclusively owned by Low Tide High Style, Kat Warren Photography, and Kat W. Photography. Please do not reproduce without written permission.
I am a mom to 2 wonderful children, wife to an amazing husband, loved by 2 fluffy puppies, a freelance writer, fine art photographer, and a lover of all things beautiful which I hope to share with you here on my blog.
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