#5 GARDENING

I feel the need to remember fondly how much I have loved gardening in the past.  This year I am having a vole problem and although I have tried everything short of poison to get rid of them, they still are happily munching down the roots of my plants.  If the voles had a 1000 Awesome Things blog, at the top of their list would be Elise's garden!

Anyway, I really do love to garden.  I love the exhaustion after a day spent digging and weeding.  I love seeing a plant sprout out of the ground.  I love to start seedlings inside especially when they come from seeds that I have saved myself!  I love when I finally manage to harvest a plant that I have never been able to grow in the past.  I was overjoyed when I finally discovered that I really needed to apply more cow manure and fertilizer in order for things to grow.  It feels great when every once in a while I have enough to be able to give something away...even if it's just one zucchini!

The fantasy of a large and productive garden is almost as good as the actual garden itself.  In the winter there is nothing better than dreaming of the abundant produce I will get the next summer.  It never seems to pan out but the dream gets me through!

#4 THE START OF SUMMER VACATION

I love the feeling I get the first couple of days of summer vacation.  Although I am not in school anymore, I am very involved helping out with all that my kids do during the school year.  It is nice not to have to wake them up at 6:30 am, make their sandwiches and then do all the million little things that each in themselves are not noticeable.  I don't have to remind and nag them to do their school work.

I make it a point to savor the first few days of summer.  It's such a feeling of freedom!  I want to wallow in it like a pig in mud.