The Bauer Confidential

Some of you may remember that back in mid-July I planted a garden.  I thought I’d give a little update on the garden’s progress.

This is what we started with:

Now we’ve got some of these:

And these (cherry tomatoes):

It’s hard to get a good shot because of the lay-out of the garden, but the tomatoes are about three feet high now, we have peas, carrots, and lettuce from seeds.  Potatoes are growing, there are herbs and kale taking it slow but definitely getting there.

I also started from seed three planters full of herbs that are growing on our back porch, parsley, oregano, and two kinds of basil (on of which is supposed to be purple, but I think I was misled as it’s more like green with a few purple spots).

We’ve got a couple heirloom apple trees in our “yard”, only one has any apples this year, it’s a pippen, and makes really tasty, crunch apples.

Our land-lord recently planted a magenta bougainvillea, which has such a vibrant color it makes me happy just to look at it.

Soon we shall harvest our first food, we’ll be having a salad from our garden in the next couple of days!

Matthew took these pictures around my Grandma’s Ranch when we were visiting earlier this month!

O’Neill, NE.  August 3rd, 2009.

More about Wordless Wednesday here.

As a little girl, I used to play on this sit and spin all the time.  Now, Jocelyn wasn’t quite big enough to enjoy this dizzying toy, but she looked cute trying!

O’Neill, NE.  August, 2009.

More about Wordless Wednesday here.

Up to this point parenting Jocelyn has mostly consisted of keeping her alive and making sure she’s happy. Now that she’s mobile, even if it is still on all fours, I keep thinking ahead to what it’s going to be like when she’s running, talking, and getting into all kinds of trouble. This has all got me pondering what I know about parenting (which is, admittedly, not much) and what sort of parent I want to be.
I have no intention of going into any sort of diatribe about all the different philosophies about parenting, I’m no expert and don’t even know yet how I’ll handle it.  People are as touchy about parenting philosophies as they are about their deepest insecurities, in my experience. I’m just trying to figure out what will work for us, or at least where to start.  I do believe the wise advice I was once given, that “you can only parent the child you have now.”
No matter what, parenting children takes patience. Lots of patience, bucket loads of patience, maybe even canyons full of patience. That’s where I start to worry, you see, I’m not that sure I’m patient enough. Even now there are times where Jocelyn can be trying, and I feel my patience stretched to its limits. I’m sure this is a feeling every parent must experience. So while there’s still time, before I’m harried from chasing her around the house, and burned out from hearing her scream, I want to work on improving my patience. Patience is just a form of self-control, of reigning in one’s impulses. But how do you improve it? Put yourself in situations where you have to use it? Is patience like a muscle that when exercised grows stronger? More and more that’s the view I’m starting to take, since lots of parents have told me how much more patient they are now that they have kids. And I think I can feel it happening a little with me already. Not getting so upset when the house is less than perfect, not feeling the need to rush so much. Sometimes I’m impatient for Jocelyn to grow up, to be able to tell me what she needs, but this is what I’m working hardest to quell. I want to be here with her now, enjoy her as she is, I’m already looking back with nostalgia on six months ago when she was so tiny. I don’t want to rush this, so I need to cultivate patience.  And I’m gonna need a lot of washcloths.

July 31, 2009.  Outside Loup City, NE.

More about Wordless Wednesday here.

We’re in so much trouble.