Church in the Greenhouse

 Friends, you wouldn't believe how tall the elephant ears are. They've risen to the height of the gazebo and are not showing any signs of slowing down. The three amigos in their bed have had several seed pods, to our delight, and now we've got baby elephant ears going nicely in the greenhouse. I admired them on my walk around the yard this morning in my ruby red belted robe, harvesting beans and green tomatoes, a cucumber, and stashing them in my pocket. Now I'm on the swing listening to "The Sound of Sunshine" as performed by the band at Jubilee Circle. Elephant ears love the sunshine --- we just have to keep the water coming to the roots, stand by and let them spread outward and upward. This photo is from earlier in the summer, and you can see the seed pods. Having never had any before, I didn't know how the process worked --- the pod becomes a pale yellow bloom, and only when the bloom dies do the berry-like seeds emerge, looking like corn on the cob, o...

 Hello, friends, and Happy Sunday. The last few days have been cool -- we are leaving summer behind for good now. I've been out in the greenhouse cleaning up a bit; I've neglected it these first five weeks of school, but I'm ready to start planting again and ready for the fall and winter chapel version. We'll need new hymns, I think, and old ones, to stir the soul. I grew up on hymns... "How Great Thou Art," "Great is Thy Faithfulness," "Softly and Tenderly," and many more.  Today, as I worked and sipped a Blood Mary with thyme from my garden and garlic salted cucumber (also homegrown and sliced with love), I listened to a band called Fear & Fable, and their tune "Hymn," featured on the album Fleurie . We love with the senses, don't we, as much as anything, and the fresh, cool taste of cucumber and tomato juice remind me. If you'd like to try the recipe,  Give it Some Thyme And it seems to me, listening, that a hymn is...