SUMMER LOVIN'

Things found while day dreaming about some good 'ole summer lovin'.

Striped Coast

I know it's all about the outside but oh the dreams these little boys could dream curled up in this little gem of a fort.

Art Production Fund

A "Do Not Disturb" sign for the beach?  

Kiko

These little cuties, from a sweet line of wooden toys for kids, leave animal print tracks across the sand.  And smiles.  Miles and miles of smiles.  

Sea Bags

Beach bags made from recycled sails.  I'm obsessed. 

Dear Summer...  you can come now if you want to.  Really.  Those long daylight hours melting into sticky  sunsets drawn big and wide across the open sky.  Ooh and snow capped shave ice, ice cream and azuki beans on the bottom if you please.  Is there anything sweeter?  Really?   

Be well.

Live Sweet,

n

The Today Show in Hawaii, like just yesterday, here.

Our new shave ice spot, here.

A SATURDAY IN THE SUN

The boys and I slipped on our good and worn walking shoes, rubber slippers, and committed ourselves to the task of a slow sort of making our way along the streets of Lahaina.  Once upon a Saturday in the sun. 
 

We stood under the famous banyan tree in Lahaina park and imagined just what it is to stretch a good long groan of a stretch.  That Banyan grows itself with a sort of slow determined reach in one direction and  then a rushed letting down of bits of itself; straining towards the fertile soil below, trusting it will catch those lines of knotted roots anchoring it again to the earth.  Have you seen a banyan tree grow?  It's a slow process of reaching out, believing, falling... hard.  Rinse.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat. It's worth spending a bit of a life standing there under those massive wooden arms looking up.  But not too long, you know, for sake of your own stretching and such.

Lahaina is an old whaling village, leftover from days when ships  went out to sea carrying souls carrying their whole wide worlds on themselves, a knapsack of hard earned truths.  Souls looking to find a sort of grog induced living; tethered to the end of a bloodied harpoon.  Plunged deep into the fat of life.  No longer certain just who it is that is holding whom; that little knot of a strand of a life twisting madly into that glorious feast of a purpose.  

When lives stretched out over the pacific waters in search of salty ports of fertile soil.  When living was a banyan tree.  A slow sort of a process of reaching out, believing, falling... hard.  Growing.    

Be well.

Live Sweet,

n

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Please forgive me the long upload for this post.  I wanted to share this video in full here, not just as a link.  I hope you won't mind. 

Some images are graphic and the emotions are raw, as things of beauty often are.  If you'd like to stretch your own arms out to share this story, please do.  If you find your own story falling fast down, know you will find a safe landing spot here.  We can grow our own banyan tree together by sharing our stories, our choices, our courageous living and by being the fertile soil too, where a dear story might gently fall, take root and grow.  

Sue Bryce's site, here.

A little about Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy, here.

A resource here.

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW #Digin

The Home Depot Kahului.
Which, strange but refreshing, looks exactly like every one I've ever been in.  Ever.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.  Also, turns out they want this to be our story, really truly, so of course the thoughts and quirkiness are all my own.  

The boys and I are going to be getting outside this summer.  It's true, I've decided, (see entirely unrelated post with small if not minuscule reference to my intended summer love affair with the outdoors here).  See?  Totally official.  Actually, the truth of the the matter?  Well, the truth of the matter is we live in Hawaii so inside, outside, right side, left side, it's all the same what with balmy tropical breezes and sunshiny days and all. 

But this summer, this summer we're really getting out there where the sun don't do nothing but shine.  And we're starting with a wee little bit of backyard organic container gardening.  

Organic gardening because, well, you know right?  It just makes sense to grow organically especially if, like us, your backyard is the setting for two little boys and their everyday adventures.  I like knowing that the food we eat and the dirt we track in are free from chemical fertilizers and such.  Although I suspect free from critters, hmm... not so much.  And really, I'm hoping that by growing some of our own vegetables and herbs we will be able to eat more of the organic foods I often avoid buying at the grocery store for cost reasons. 

Container garden because, we're renting here, you know and so I'd like to plant in such a way that allows us the option of taking the little buggers with us if we, well, get attached, which I so easily do.  All.  The.  Time. Just the other day we almost brought a furry little guy home from Whole Foods where the no-kill shelter had strategically placed the very cutest of puppies and dogs as "ambassadors", read as:  completely adorable balls of fur designed for the sole purpose of pulling, hard, at the heart strings of one struggling with attachmentism-- It's a thing if we say it's a thing.  But I digress. 

And with that in mind, and our new little puppy in tow, kidding Charlie, kidding, the boys and I began our organic gardening adventure at The Home Depot in Kahului.  

First things first.  One totally rad car of a shopping cart... check.  A quick run through all of the pretty shiny things in the garden center, think big manly stainless steel outdoor grills and chaise lounges with brightly colored throw pillows galore, and we're off to find our organic gardening supplies...

I kind of figured I'd do okay with this project just on my own, because, well, I do love The Home Depot, sponsored post or not.  Really, truly.  (Charlie and I used to go on dates to The Home Depot when we were bright eyed newlyweds renovating our first home.  Sad, but true.)  And I do like to think of myself as, well, a jack of all trades... master of none?  But I had no idea just how helpful and knowledgeable the folks there would be, I mean really.  I had one question about organic vegetable gardening and was walked from potted plants to computer monitors back to potted plants until I was satisfactorily satisfied with the flood of organic gardening tips shared and the knowledge that the plants at my local Home Depot are supplied by local farms and farmers.  

A garden department bursting at the seams with get out and do it supplies coupled with seriously knowledgeable staff and it didn't take long to start believing that this summer, this summer, will be the very one to turn our brown thumbs green.  I'm hopeful.  

Be well.

Live Sweet,

n

The Garden Club, here.

The Apron Blog, here.

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.