Happy Friday the 13th (Early)

First, some housekeeping. Then, if you make it to the bottom, I have a treat for y'all. 

Let's dust this blog off. It's been a while. Times have changed, people have come and gone. We've even been through a world pandemic! Yet here we are, you the reader, and I, the blogger. I am still married to my best friend but we are officially empty nesters. We have a whole new plethora of animal friends some of you may or may not have met. I assume some, if not most, of you will arrive here via my social media accounts and will know all this. For my old blogosphere friends who happen to get this update as part of their Blogger notifications, "Hey! Welcome back to my space!"

The biggest change by far though is where I have gone on my tarot journey. When last we met, I was exploring. Now, I get to read for others. And that is a big reason we are back to this space. More and more social platforms are becoming ridden with spoof accounts and scammers. These platforms are doing the bare minimum to protect legitimate accounts and many times letting the false ones flourish while removing the original content creators. 

While I still intend to utilize and share on those platforms, I plan for this blog to be a safe harbor for my new fledgling tarot business, Magical Mundane Tarot. It will pair with my newly refurbished YouTube channel. 

Finally, I offer you this treat. Someone on a Facebook group I am on was looking for a Friday the 13th tarot spread. Most we found were geared toward shadow work and superstitions. I went ahead and made us a slasher spread where the card positions were based off of plot hooks throughout the franchise. Feel free to use and share to your hearts content. If possible, please tag me. Links are just below image. 

Happy Friday the 13th! May you have the luckiest of days!

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Mandalas

A quick mandala made from fallen oak bark with lichen, twigs
and leaves in my driveway.
It took less than 5 minutes to make.

In a post on Facebook, someone asked me about mandalas. Here is some information you might find helpful.

The word Mandala comes from Sanskrit and means circle. In Eastern spirituality, you will see some pretty complicated examples but in its loosest form it is basically a circular geometric pattern. It usually radiates out from a central point and is symmetrical in nature. In other words if you fold it in half, you will see that both sides line up. While there is a lot of information on the symbolism, the information I am presenting here is geared toward a New Age/Pagan/Witch aspect.

Mandalas can be made out of any number of materials. They can be drawn, painted or burned onto paper and wood or etched into metal. They can be laid out physically with man-made or natural objects. They can be completely made of the same object, IE shells, stones, crystals etc or they can be any mixture of items. They can take a few minutes of your time or they can take hours or even days, months or years depending on how complex you make it.

One of the primary purposes of creating your own mandalas is meditation and focus. It helps train your mind to focus on the task at hand and let the outside noises and distractions stay outside. You may find mandala making pretty relaxing for your body even if your mind is hard at work laying down the pattern. Try not to plan too much before you start, let your mind work out each step as you go. This really is a really fun way to see what your creative side comes up with but at the same time, is a great exercise for conscious thought.

Now as a pagan, witch, druid, etc., how can we incorporate them into our practice? Mandalas can be used as a meditative or relaxation practice as above. They can be made as an offering to deity, They can be used as decor on our seasonal altars. Or they can be even more. Since the creative process in itself helps promote conscious focus this is a great time to focus on what you want to achieve whether it is healing for a friend, attracting love, protection, and more.

As many experienced witches will tell you the major hurdle of any spell work is focus and intent. No matter how much someone tells you that this herb or this stone or this candle works wonders, if the focus and intent is not there the spell is more than likely going to fail. Spells are not like prayers. Spells require the witch to do the brunt of the work. So no matter what materials you use, keep your focus on the intent during the process.

Here is a step by step process for making a basic mandala:

1) Choose a spot where you will remain undisturbed and if you live with others make sure you tell them to do not disturb.
2) Collect your materials. I do not put too much thought in this part as often I make mine on the fly and with whatever is nearby but if you are doing spell work you may want to at least collect materials that work with your intent.
3) Sit and relax for a bit in your chosen work area. Clear your head of outside influences and breath.
4) Start at the middle and lay down your base. I usually start with an equal-armed cross (a plus sign +) and something at the center of the arms.
5) Work your way outward and try to stay symmetrical.
6) Stop whenever you are satisfied and enjoy!

If you are doing spell work, you may want to place it in a safe location until the spell has manifested. At that point dispose, bury or just dismantle and return to nature.

For those who need or want the symbolism to help focus their work, below are some suggestions.

Love: rose petals, apple wood & blossoms, rose quartz, stems of lavender.

Protection: sage leaves, willow branches, agate stones, violets

Healing: basil and rosemary stems, amethyst, juniper

These are just a few suggestions out of many options. Many pagan/new age books and websites list correspondences. If you do a search for Magical Correspondences you will see that the possibilities are endless.

Below I will post some links to a few sites with examples of natural material mandalas as well as other informational sites.  As a side note, that first blog link is what really got me into mandalas so my thanks to Amy from Flandrum Hill. If any one has any questions, do ask but make sure you skim through the comments to see if any have been answered already.

You do have my permission to repost this on social media, but please include my information. Do not just copy, paste and claim as your own.

Jessica
www.themagicalmundane.com 

Resources:
https://flandrumhill.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/autumn-mandalas/
http://www.mandalaproject.org/Index.html
http://www.unh.edu/health-services/ohep/spiritual-wellness/mandalas-spiritual-practice
http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/wellbeing/art-mandala
http://www.treehugger.com/culture/kathy-klein-flower-mandalas.html
http://www.crystalwellbeing.co.uk/crystalhealing/makingamandalaformeditation.php
https://spiritualityhealth.com/articles/mandala-art-drawing-your-way-wholeness
http://www.arttherapyblog.com/art-therapy-activities/making-mandala-art-for-self-discovery-and-healing/#.VdTqSPlViko

The Hierophants Secrets

This post is part of an October writing challenge: Writing the Wisdom of Your Soul hosted by Lyn Thurman of the Inner Goddess Revolution. Every weekday in October, she is providing blog prompts inspired by the major arcana of tarot. The deck I am using is the Universal Fantasy Tarot. I hope you will enjoy this journey with me. Love and Blessings!


The Hierophants Secrets

For this assignment we are to write on the Hierophant as a spiritual mentor and what knowledge we have to share as we channel this character of the Tarot. While I feel I have plenty of knowledge to share, and do so whether people want to here it or not, I am still always learning and growing. When walking a spiritual path, whether Pagan or from a main stream Judaic religion, one must always be open to learning and growth. Otherwise we become stagnant and lackadaisical in our spiritual life. 

That would be my number one secret of the universe, Always Reach Higher. Channel the hierophant by constantly reading not only books related to your faith but those of others, of our history as humans, of cultures, ancient and modern. Learn, learn, and learn more. When something contradicts what you believe in or something you read elsewhere, dig deeper. Find out why people believe what they do. What research or studies were done? Then evaluate how that applies to you and your faith. Be open to change and acceptance of new ideas if they call to you.This is my number two secret to the universe, Always Trust Your Soul. It knows on a subconscious level what you need and why. Feed it and it will grow. 

I hope my secrets are helpful. I know they work for me and I hope they help you on your path, wherever it may take you. 

~Jessica~

The Emperor: Embracing the Masculine

This post is part of an October writing challenge: Writing the Wisdom of Your Soul hosted by Lyn Thurman of the Inner Goddess Revolution. Every weekday in October, she is providing blog prompts inspired by the major arcana of tarot. The deck I am using is the Universal Fantasy Tarot. I hope you will enjoy this journey with me. Love and Blessings!

The Emperor: Embracing the Masculine

Yesterday's theme was the Emperor. He represents order, logic and experience. I held off, fine procrastinated, on this post because I really wanted to ponder my thoughts before posting this. I know, I know... this is supposed to be a free writing assignment and we are just supposed to go with it. But in my experience this post is likely to annoy someone. 

I have seen this growing trend to embrace our inner Goddess, which I support 100%, but with this trend I have seen the demasculinization of our society. I am not talking about who is the minority and majority, nor am I talking about actual gender and how they portray their sex. I am specifically talking about feminine vs masculine energy and how we honor them as a spiritual philosophy. 

In the past, feminine energy was associated with creativity, intuition, and emotions. Masculine energy was the structure, logic and physical. The two make up a whole. If you are denying the masculine in your life, you are going to be incomplete. Rather than accept and embrace both parts, people either deny the masculine altogether or try to neuter him so as to be more politically correct. 

This has also overflowed into modern paganism as well. With the resurgence of ancient beliefs, people have jumped headlong into Goddess worship, which again I support. These Ladies deserve our respect and honoring them after they have been in the closet as if a dirty secret all these years is fabulous. But what about our Gods? When was the last time you made homage to a patron God other than as a side note in a ritual? Shouldn't we treat both Masculine and Feminine equally in our spiritual life just as we strive to treat Men and Women equally in our physical life? 

We need structure so we don't fly into chaos but at the same time we need the creativity to freely explore our physical world and our inner worlds. We need to be logical but at the same time we need to embrace our intuition. We need to dwell in the physical world and take care of our physical needs but we also need to dwell and care for our emotional needs. It is ok to explore our feminine side but it is equally important to explore our masculine side. Without both in our lives we become unbalanced. The Emperor is a good reminder of this. He is there to balance out the Empress. With the Emperor's protection (order) The Empress is free to tend her garden and make things grow (creativity). I know I need him. 

As I touched on in an earlier post, my husband is the embodiment of masculine energy. He isn't controlling but he is the reason that calms my sometimes crazy antics and he is the structure that keeps me running on a decent schedule. He grounds me when I might flit away. On the flip side, I would like to think that I add creativity and spontaneity to his life. We balance each other and the fact that we accept and embrace our differences as masculine and feminine. I believe its one of the reasons our marriage is as strong as it is, finding the person who balances you and whom you balance is the key. 

Fortunately, I feel the Emperor is well represented in my life but we can all use the little reminder that he has a place in our lives. Structure, reason and our physical bodies have their own place in our lives. Embrace them. 

~Jessica~

Gardening With the Empress

This post is part of an October writing challenge: Writing the Wisdom of Your Soul hosted by Lyn Thurman of the Inner Goddess Revolution. Every weekday in October, she is providing blog prompts inspired by the major arcana of tarot. The deck I am using is the Universal Fantasy Tarot. I hope you will enjoy this journey with me. Love and Blessings!

Gardening With the Empress

Today's theme is the Empress representing nourishment and abundance. Creativity and fruition of your ideas and dreams. What are you thankful for that has already manifested in your life?

My biggest blessing is for a dream I didn't realize I had until it came true, my family. As mentioned in a previous post, meeting my soul mate through a monkey wrench in my plans but its results were the abundance of love that first was just between us and later spread further out to include our two sons. My family has brought me great joy and taught me how to truly love with all your heart and soul, with every fiber of your being. What a fantastic gift to experience love in near divine form as a mortal. 

I also feel blessed to live in an area where there are so many natural settings to be inspired by. We have coastal areas, swamps and marshes, rivers, different types of forests, caverns and more. Everywhere you go, there is a new vista to take in. Nature nurtures our dreams, creativity and even our souls. There is something magical that I think Urban dwellers miss out on unless they take the time to seek her out. I am blessed that I have her right outside our door. 

The Empress has been busy with me tending this garden of gratitude and I think it has been a positive experience. What's blooming in your garden (what are you grateful for?)

~Jessica~

The High Priestess and Her Wisdom

This post is part of an October writing challenge: Writing the Wisdom of Your Soul hosted by Lyn Thurman of the Inner Goddess Revolution. Every weekday in October, she is providing blog prompts inspired by the major arcana of tarot. The deck I am using is the Universal Fantasy Tarot. I hope you will enjoy this journey with me. Love and Blessings!

The High Priestess and Her Wisdom

On day 4 we are addressing the High Priestess. What secrets does she hold? What does she say about our potential? Here is my conversation with her. 

"High Priestess, share with me your wisdom", I entreat her. 

"I AM", she responds. 

"But what does it mean?" I ask.

"You ARE", she says smiling slightly as if in humor barely restrained. 

I dream that night and suddenly her words are clear. I AM and You ARE everything we will ever need to be successful in our journeys. Our potential is only limited by our dreams. If we can dream it, we have the potential to create it. 

~Jessica~

The Magician's Miracle-Maker Kit

This post is part of an October writing challenge: Writing the Wisdom of Your Soul hosted by Lyn Thurman of the Inner Goddess Revolution. Every weekday in October, she is providing blog prompts inspired by the major arcana of tarot. The deck I am using is the Universal Fantasy Tarot. I hope you will enjoy this journey with me. Love and Blessings!

The Magician's Miracle-Maker Kit

For day 2, we are supposed to write about what we want or need to manifest in our soul journey. In my previous post I laid out the foundation of walking in my ancestors footsteps and feeling my roots. Here the Magician takes over from the Fool. 

The suits in the tarot represent different elements. Wands are fire, representing spirit and passion. Swords are air, representing the mind and perception. Chalices are water, representing emotions and the heart. Pentacles are earth, representing things of our physical world such as our careers, money matters, health, etc. The Magician, provides us with the tools we need to achieve our goals by presenting us with the wand, sword chalice and pentacle. Here is my kit for for my soul journey.

For the Wand, I would like to say that I already have all the passion and spirit I need and really this isn't necessary for my journey BUT I would be fibbing. If I was as passionate about it as I needed to be I would already be making plans and figuring out our itinerary. I think a part of me is scared to make a journey so far out of my comfort zone. Its one thing to dream about something, it is quite another to take that step off the cliff and begin the new adventure. So for my wand, I need the extra nudge to take that leap of faith. 

That leads us into the Sword. It is easy for me to get caught up in the moment. Sometimes, more often than not, I will take the leap before I think. That seems sort of contradictory to the last tool but its about perception. Most of the time, these moments of fancy are not particularly dangerous or have lasting ramifications. This journey may very well have those moments where planning is of the utmost importance. For my sword I would need my husband along with me. He grounds me like no other person or thing can. He would also make the journey twice as sweet because what better way to travel than with the one you love the most. 

For my Chalice, I would want to manifest connections with distant relations. Hopefully, I would meet people who are maybe related in some distant fashion. Who connect with me on an ancestral level. We may have no physical proof that we are kin but we would know with our souls. An instant, I remember you from our lives before us, feeling. I would also love to fall in love with the lands I visit. To really feel the spirit of the land on a level beyond the surface. But not to the point where I wouldn't want to return home. So I would also want some soil from or a photo of home so I could resist the urge to stay forever. 

For my Pentacle, I would need money. Not instantaneous wealth but enough to make our journey at the least comfortable.On the surface this seems materialistic but our soul can not journey on the physical plane without taking into consideration the bodies needs. I would still need shelter, food and water. Plus its not exactly feasible to swim across oceans. I am already gainfully employed so what I really need is to start saving up. Even though pentacles are about the physical, they can still be about a mindset and that is what I need, a saving mindset. 

So here is my Miracle-Maker Kit: A leap of faith, My husband, Connections with the lands and people I encounter, A photo or symbol of home to keep from getting lost, and a saving mindset. What is in you miracle-maker kit for journeys near or far?

~Jessica~

The Fool and Her Journey

This post is part of an October writing challenge: Writing the Wisdom of Your Soul hosted by Lyn Thurman of the Inner Goddess Revolution. Every weekday in October, she is providing blog prompts inspired by the major arcana of tarot. The deck I am using is the Universal Fantasy Tarot. I hope you will enjoy this journey with me. Love and Blessings!

The Fool and Her Journey

Today's prompt deals with the Fool, journeys and where you would like to go in life. Before going forward, I briefly want to touch on the past.

When I was young, I had grand plans to explore the world as an archaeologist. I wanted to be the female version of Indiana Jones. I wanted to go traipsing through the jungles in South America, poking around in ancient ruins of the peoples that came before us. I wanted to head to Egypt and excavate pyramids. I wanted to go diving and possibly discover the real Atlantis. All this came to a screeching halt when I met my husband. Adventures in foreign lands became secondary to marrying the man of my dreams and having a family. I do not regret this in any way. It has been its own grand adventure in its own right.

Over the years though the itch to travel has remained there but now it is different. Recently my husband and I were talking about what it would be like to just pack everything in storage,  head off with just enough to get by and travel the world. Maybe stay a month or two in each location. We rattled off a number of places we wanted to visit and condensed it down to a few must sees. While there were a few exoctic (for us) locations, most were related to our roots. My husband is of  German descent so Germany was at the top of  his list. I am of mostly Scottish, Irish and English descent so Scotland, Ireland and England were on my list.

It is sort of funny that when contemplating the future, we often times come back to the past. Our roots are much like the roots of a plant. They anchor us down, nurture us and are vital to the overall well being of the whole. Even if we are not consciously aware of them, they are there helping us grow upwards toward the sky at the same time as they are keeping us well grounded here on Earth.

Instead of traipsing through the jungle (which still would be fun), I am more drawn to standing on the land that my ancestors walked and breathing in the air that they breathed. Feeling my toes sink into the earth knowing that some distant relation might have done the exact same thing in the exact place hundreds of years ago. I am more drawn to picking wildflowers they might have picked, eating regional foods they might have enjoyed and listening to what the land might have whispered to them.

I have a feeling that if I was able to take this journey in the future, it would really be a journey to the past. To my roots. To the soul where memories of our ancestors are passed from one lifetime to the next. They are there just waiting for us to remember and maybe the journey to their homelands would be the key. Is it Foolish? Possibly, but I like to think that the Fool knows way more than he lets on. He is just very clever in how he gets his message across.

~Jessica~

P5213 - First 3 Weeks

Its been a while but surviving all of the 2012 doomsday prophecies seems like a good reason to blog some. Hopefully, you all know I am joking. But in all seriousness, a new year has begun and I have been missing my blogging.

My cousin recently invited me to join her Project 52 group. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, the goal is to take at least one photo every week. There are usually prescribed themes for each week. Here are my first three weeks entries with a little tidbit.

First Week - Theme Cold

Frost on my car. Yes, even in northern Florida it drops below the freezing point and we have to defrost our cars.

Second Week - Theme Love

My oldest son (14 years old) snuggling the dog in his sleep. Such an angel.

Third Week - Theme Fruit

Three shots of a pomegranate. Whole, cut and the eating part... the little ruby of yummy. The seed photo is the one I actually entered into the weekly photo contest. It almost looks like a little heart (as in the organ) complete with blood. 

I am looking forward to sharing some more Project 52 projects as well as some other photos. Stay tuned in for more later. 

~Jessica~

Turkey Pot Pie

Tonight's supper plans ended up taking over three hours. No, it wasn't some fancy meal that takes hours of preparation. It was a simple pot pie using left over turkey. Unfortunately, I had several incidents. I would like to add that you shouldn't be intimidated by making pot pies from scratch. All of the issues I had were, for the most part, user issues. In other words, I was the problem. The base recipe is easy provided one is not having an off day. I am skipping all the little incidents like dropping utensils or shooting flour every where. I did have two major set backs that I will describe. 

First, I used an untried recipe for the pie crust. I am not going to go into the details but it was scrapped. I still have another lump in my fridge so there may be hope yet for a different kitchen experiment. So, back to square one, I decided a quick visit to my favorite cooking blog was in order (see the post before this). Wouldn't you know it, she had a pie crust recipe. This one turned out fantastic. By now, I was well over an hour in progress, mostly due to the first crust. 

My second major set back involved the sauteed onions. If there is one thing in the kitchen that I know how to do, it is sauteed onions. I make onions the same way just about every week. I love onions almost as much as I love bacon, which is a lot! How I managed to burn a stick of butter, half an onion and a clove of garlic is still beyond me. Tossing this usually yummy mix out, just about made me cry. Honestly, if I hadn't already gotten my dry ingredients together to make the roux as well as the liquids to finish my sauce I would have just gave up. But I did have it all set up so I cleaned up my pan, chopped up a new batch of onions and gave it another go. Fortunately, this attempt was perfect. 

Finally, the pie was ready for the oven and it came out wonderful. My husband and kids both enjoyed it and the crust was very flaky and buttery. The filling was perfect for when you are craving warm comfort foods. I do hope you will give it a try.

Hilah's delicious and super easy pie crust recipe is here: http://hilahcooking.com/how-to-make-pie-crust-from-scratch/ Double this up if you are making one pie. Quadruple the recipe if making two pies, as shown in my base recipe for pot pie.

The base recipe I use is here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/dads-leftover-turkey-pot-pie/detail.aspx? I substituted veggies and the stock used. I put broccoli, cauliflower and green beans in my pie and used beef stock as that was what I had on hand. I also halved the recipe as I was only making one pie.

~Jessica~

FGT and Persian Lime Pie

If any of you follow me over on the Facebook, you will realize that I have found true love... with a cooking show. Seriously, I found this fantastic channel on YouTube, which led me to the connected blog. You can watch her show on either her YouTube Channel or her website. The show is called Hilah Cooking. This is the description from her website, "I create short-form, educational, and occasionally hilarious cooking videos geared towards beginner and intermediate cooks, as well as people who are just looking for simple, low-cost recipes..." This is a fantastic description. Hilah makes even more complicated recipes easy to follow. She is entertaining and very down to earth. She is definitely not one of the haughty "professional" chefs you see on certain networks. I have watched every video from the time I found her channel & website to now, even the ones I will probably never try. Here are two of the dishes I tried for my family this week.

Fried Green Tomatoes

This is an appetizer I have never tried making. We do eat tomatoes cooked in other dishes but my family generally doesn't just pop tomatoes in our mouths. Some of us were more on the fence than others but I decided to give it a try. First, we moved down to the south and Fried Green Tomatoes are practically a staple here. If I want to give my kids a authentic Southern upbringing, we need to at least try them, right? Second, Hilah described them as tasting a bit like fried pickles, which we all love. 

Here is my try at these yummy tidbits, and they were indeed yummy. I did run into a snafu with the first batch so ignore the slightly burnt ones on the bottom. If using a cast iron skillet on an electric stove, I would not heat the oil on high. Just let it take its time on medium heat and then fry. Also I cut the time on each side down to about 2 minutes but that was because my pan was too stinking hot.. 

You can find the recipe and video here: http://hilahcooking.com/fried-green-tomatoes/

Persian (Key) Lime Pie

We have had Key Lime Pie before but this was a new recipe for us to try. Right now, Key Limes are scarce (even in Florida) so I just went ahead and used the Persians. Even though it wasn't exactly a Key Lime Pie, it still turned out delicious. I could see this recipe being converted to a number of citrusy dishes. How about lemon or mandarin orange or kumquat? Yum!

You can find the recipe and video here: http://hilahcooking.com/key-lime-pie/

~Jessica

Surprise Blooms

I was outside on the front porch in a conversation with my step dad and my husband. In mid sentence, something caught my attention. Something I knew was possible but at the same time didn't expect to happen. Let me back up to when we first moved in our home almost 2 years ago.

We quickly discovered that we had cacti growing wild all over our yard. It was entertaining for a while but mostly it hurt when weeding the garden or planting and getting stuck by a needle. My mother figured out that we could transplant them into one big patch. So we did. They survived the winter in their new location and thrived all last summer. The cacti went dormant for yet another winter and had just started to plump back up this last week.

Imagine this sight greeting me when I got home from work and was relaxing on the porch. Yes, we have flowering cacti in our front yard. Not just plain flowers but gorgeous sunshine yellow double petaled flowers. Yay! I think I am in love.

Please don't mind the weeds in the cacti bed. I just haven't had time or the energy to go pull them this week yet.

~Jessica~

Visitors from Far and Near

As I mentioned before, we have had some visitors.

From near, we had a couple critters show up.

We had this adorable little frog stop in. We see them every year, all summer long, but I still love photographing them. He stayed for a bit before hopping along on his merry way.

We also had this peahen (female peafowl) show up. Not only did she want to visit with us, she wanted to visit with our chickens as well. As of this post, she has come a calling several days in a row.

From far we had family come visit.

My dad had business in south Florida so when he headed back home, he stopped off for a few days to visit. Here is Ori (our rooster), my Dad and I hanging out on the front porch.

Then my mother in law came to spend Spring Break with the kids and us too. Here is my husband and his mom walking along a local beach.

~Jessica~

What's Blooming?

It has been fairly busy at our home lately. We have had two different family members come from Michigan to visit. My husband and I have had pretty hectic work schedules and the kids always have something going on. I figured a "bloomin" blog was in order. There are many things blooming in and around our Florida home but here is a small smattering. 

A few Azaleas are still blooming.

Day Lily

Roses

Columbine

Bottlebrush Bush

Jessamine

My favorite "weed", Wild Phlox

Sweet William Dianthus

Another favorite "weed", Wood Sorrell

This is about as close as I can get to the Angelonia right now. There is a mated pair of House Finch building a nest. We are only trying to disturb them when we carefully water the basket. Hopefully, they can up with us until Friday when we can pick up an automatic watering bottle.

~Jessica~

Lemons: Start to Finish

This post was months in the making, literally. We planted a Meyer Lemon tree last February and we had to wait to get lemons. I diligently photographed the process from flower to cut lemons in my kitchen. We harvested our first lemons this past November. Happy birthday Ms Meyer Lemon. Hopefully you bless us with another batch of delicious lemons this year.

February - Lemon Blossoms

May - First little lemons developing. This is a close up so they look much bigger than they really were.

June - The lemons are quite a bit larger now.

July - The first hints of yellow begin appearing.

August - Yellow blush is definitely visible but there is still a lot of green left.

October - Almost completely yellow!

November - Our first ever lemon harvest! It was an exciting time to be had by all.

The kids opted to eat one right away, straight into the mouth. Dave and I opted to slice one up for a big glass of rum and Coke. Ahh, nothing beats the sweet tart flavor of home grown lemons.

~Jessica~