Daffodils and Robins

I wasn't exactly born in the south, well I was... but you can hardly call Key West, the "South." My family only lived there until I was five years old and then we moved to North Carolina. This is the place that turned me into a southern belle.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Barn-wildflowers-spring-daffodil_-_West_Virginia_-_ForestWander.jpg

Late February and early March are my second favorite time of the year...because nothing beats October when the leaves change colors. This late winter is when you can take a country drive and see fields full of robins and roads lined with daffodils. Daffodils were once planted by early settlers but now grow wild in this area. Seeds spread by wildlife create a colorful garden, in the most unexpected places during this time of year.

http://wall.alphacoders.com/by_sub_category.php?id=215271

Daffodils symbolize rebirth or a new beginning and are synonymous with Spring in the south. They endure the frozen ground during the long cold winter months, then at the last frost, they peek their bright yellow heads out of the ground and welcome Spring like a long lost friend.

I am one of those people that always feels a little blue during the winter, right after all of the colorful Christmas decorations are taken down. The beautiful Autumn colors slowly fade away and become the festive decorations of Christmas...then as soon as the holidays pass us by...everything is colorless. I feel a void during these months when the only green outside are the pine trees lining the edge of the woods. Then when I least expect it, the daffodils bloom and Spring is here. Seeing them makes me get that warm and fuzzy feeling. I just want to plant fields full of them, all around our home. 

http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/harris/StudentProjects/Kowal/Field%20of%20Daffodils.html

After living in other parts of the country for most of my adult life...this is the first home, of my own, in North Carolina. It has been an adventure moving back on to my husband's family farm. I hate that I wasn't prepared to plant daffodils last fall so that I could enjoy them now. Luckily, I can go to the local nursery and purchase them already in bloom and still enjoy them for awhile. I plan to buy a few now and additional blubs in the fall and plant them all before winter sets in. I will post pictures so you can enjoy the beautiful daffodil blooms along with me.

I can't wait to hear about you favorite sign of spring. Leave me a comment and share your thoughts.

Welcome to Prudent Picks

It seems that I rarely have a space of several hours, alone, when things are quiet, to just write and think…. Our small home is full; my husband and I have 5 children, they often have friends over and our family dog Daisy. There is never a dull moment on the Cone Family Farm.

I guess I should start by explaining the name “Prudent Picks.” Prudent Picks has been many things over the years…originally I used the name when I was an independent sales representative. I represented companies that were made in the U.S.A. or were environmentally friendly, thus being Prudent Picks. Later, I used the name when I had a booth in a local antique store. My shelves were filled with finds that I deemed to be Prudent Picks. And now, well now I feel that it has become a part of who I am. I think I spend a lot of time talking about choices with both my family and my friends. I am constantly thinking about choices that include: what to buy, what to cook, what to grow, what to save and how to raise our children. 

When I look back over the choices I have made in life, I can pinpoint that one moment, that one choice that changed everything! The tipping point in my life was in December of 1990. I had come home from college and gone out to dinner with a “guy” I had dated in high school. We had only dated briefly our junior year and then he dated a friend of mine our senior year. I was surprised when he began calling me during the fall of my freshman year of college. So during Christmas, we went on this “date” and on the way home we stopped at the airport to sit and watch the planes taking off and landing. We sat and talked, and then he told me that I was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. I made a choice in that moment… I told him I wanted to date someone else. 

Fast forward to 2013 after all these years, children and difficult divorces….I went on a date with this same “guy”, who took me back to that same airport and asked me if I would change my mind. And… I said, “Yes!” Many years of pain and heartache could have been so different if back in 1990, I had made a different choice. We have five perfect children and I would never change a thing about a single one of them. I look at them, and I see why I had to say no back then.

Now however, I think a little longer and I evaluate a little more thoroughly when making a choice. Sometimes, I drive my husband crazy. I realize that often there is not a right or a wrong choice; there is only a best choice, for this moment, for this situation.

So join me as we build our family, and move back to my husband’s family farm. I know I will make mistakes but I also know that we will learn and grow…together.