Granddaughter Mirabella in the Yukon Gold

I don’t like using the expression, but I guess I have to admit to “growing old.” I still feel perky enough after I get up with the sunrise, just before 6 a.m. here in Hope Ness, have my morning coffee or two, or three, and some toast or a bowl of cereal.

My daily “to do” list is longer than ever, so much so that there hasn’t been enough time and energy to do a daily post. I’m always anxious to get an early-morning start with the outside work. I know by mid-afternoon most of that once-boundless energy will be pretty well done for the day.

Tomorrow morning’s chores will see me checking out the garden for anything that wants picking, or thinning, like that prolific row of Romaine lettuce. The recent rain has done wonders for everything, including weeds that now need daily pulling. It was starting to look like a hard-pan desert out there; but not now.

Apparently, I timed the mulching of many rows of potatoes with partially composted straw well enough to help keep the weeds down, and hopefully deter potato beetles again,  as usual.

I noted as Mira came through a couple of rows of Yukon Gold to say hello to “Grandpa” that the potato plants were almost as tall as her.

She’s a big girl for two, talking up a storm, and possessed of a high-spirited, stubborn mind of her own. It has been interesting these past couple of months watching her grow and be happy with the help of our great Hope Ness natural surroundings.

We are truly blessed, as her mother Lila Marie (Lily) would say.

Daughter Lila Marie (Lily) works her garden

I need to keep reminding myself of that, and following their lead – my daughter and granddaughter who are so much wiser than I in so many ways.

So is my elderly mother, with us now here at Cathedral Drive Farm. She keeps telling me to “take a break,” and I, foolishly, usually respond, “but I’ve got so much to do, Mom.”

I think I’ll start paying more attention to her good advice. After all, she’s 95, so she obviously knows something about living with the right spirit.

What an amazing woman.

So here we are, four generations worth of good genes, and much, much more that speaks to the wonder of being alive, and being human in this good, natural place, on this beautiful planet.

Why is that so hard for so many people to fathom, myself included, far too often?

Let’s all just take a moment to push the “pause” button, and see if we can find the child within us who once knew how to be wonderfully happy with a few simple things, or none.