Peter Piper's Pickins

My poor lonely zucchini decided not to grow any bigger (see the beans) and I gave up on waiting. I picked it today and we ate it for supper. So far it is the only summer squash that has appeared in my garden this year. Each year one of my vegetables excels and others falter. This is the Year of the Pepper Plants. We will be enjoying plenty of fried pepper sandwiches this month. Unfortunately, we will not be enjoying too many freshly picked cucumbers.

This morning I decided to ruthlessly clean my refrigerator. I dumped and tossed anything remotely questionable. I found three half eaten jars of Spanish olives, two were dumped and the third added to egg salad which we ate for lunch. There were several containers of Who-Knows-What, and a zip-lock bag or two of What-Was-That? Of course there were also old, but recognizable foods which joined their companions in the garbage can. By the time I was finished the fridge was almost empty and sparkling, so I decided to move on to the freezer compartment. I sacrificed a bag of frozen Cheesy Smashed Potatoes to the trash, but a bag of frozen bread dough made a very nice pizza tonight. A loaf of long ignored Ezekiel Bread turned into lunch along with the egg and olive salad. There remains, in the freezer, three or four bags of frozen chili peppers but they are not the nice big green chiles that I love to put in a pot of stew. If I do not find a use for them soon they will also be bidden adieu. Now its time to clean out my cupboards... We're starting by making a batch of No Bake Cookies.

Beautiful Feet

How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"

Isaiah 52:7

I have been thinking on this verse and wondering just what my feet look like to Jesus. Are they beautiful to Him? Have I put on my feet "the preparation of the gospel of peace"? (Ephesians 6:10) Have I prepared and am I willing to step out and share the gospel of Christ with a lost and dying world? Or am I too busy tending my own sore and achy feet? If I actually wear shoes, my physical feet are much more willing to take me where I need to go. If I neglect to protect them, they eventually cause me pain and I am even less likely to venture out. The same is true for my spiritual feet. They must be cared for daily, protected, prepared, and exercised so that I am ready and able to share the love of Christ with those He brings into my life. He died to wash away my sin, He took my place when I deserved to pay. How dare I keep that good news to myself? I need to put on those gospel shoes and go running!

Ain't That Funny?

We are having fun with Josh this evening. His mom and Dad went out on a date. As you can see from the video, he is having fun too.
I am looking forward to next summer when we will have two little grandsons to love. Leta felt her baby move for the first time on Monday (Dave did too!) and today she had her 20 week ultrasound. It's a boy!

You Never Can Tell With Bee's...

I made a visit to the local library this afternoon. My van had an appointment for an overdue oil change and the library seemed a good place to spend the 45 minutes to an hour wait. I dropped the kids and our present pile of checked out books at the library, left my van at the garage, and walked down to the library myself.
The summer reading theme this year is "Catch the Reading Bug". Not only was there a wonderful Ladybug covering a circle shaped window in a door and some great looking fireflies hanging over the checkout desk, but there were several very cool looking bee's nests in the children's area. These are the kind of projects I would have loved to do with my own kids! They always catch my eye and make me wonder just how I can use them in a project of my own. I think it will be a few years before Josh will appreciate this kind of thing. I guess I will just have to tuck the idea away and haul it out when the time is right.

Because She Asked Nicely

This afternoon I took Sofie down by the vegetable garden to see if my lonesome zucchini was big enough to pick (maybe tomorrow...). Jazzy followed us down. As Sofie and I headed back up toward the house and rounded the corner of the barn, I heard a rather pathetic "rah-rooowww" from Jasmine. I wondered if she was hurt or had been stung by a bee, but when I returned to look she was just sitting where I had left her.

Poor Jazz thought we were going for a walk in the orchard and had been sorely disappointed when I didn't follow through. I hadn't meant to mislead her and she rarely ever asks for anything aside from supper, so I called to James in the barn and headed for the apple trees. Hannah came running to go along. It was a nice walk with plenty of sunshine and a cool breeze. Now both dogs are worn out and taking naps on the floor. I think I'll lay down for a few minutes too...

Playing Catch-up

This is Vacation Bible School week at church. Although I normally take part, this summer I have elected to decline participation. I am staying home, cleaning my house, tending my gardens, and attempting to catch up on home schooling paperwork. Ben and Hannah are catching a ride to church with Bethany each morning and I am enjoying a quiet house. Yesterday I did dishes, washed laundry, watered my vegetable garden, and picked a few blue berries. (I also took Nate to the other side of the city to have his guitar tuner fixed.) Today I finished up last year's quarter reports for Ben and Hannah and mailed them, along with their test scores, in to the school (breathe sigh of relief) and tomorrow I will need to pull out the books and see what is on the table for September (groan loudly!). Fifteen years ago when I started this job it was an adventure. We had fun with friends, went on field trips, and did wonderful projects. Three years into it I realized I could not see even a glimmer at the end of the tunnel and panicked. I was very much afraid the tunnel had no end. But, it is finally beginning to look as though the tunnel has an end after all. Ben is starting ninth grade and Hannah will be there next year. Maybe some day I will actually catch up with it after all!

Morning

This morning I took my coffee and cereal out to the back porch. On warm sunny mornings I often sit on the back steps to eat my breakfast. I am rarely alone. Sometimes one or more of my children tag along, but most often it is my animals who stop by to visit. Sofie sits by my side, watching my every move and waiting not so patiently for one or two of my Rice Chex.

Oreo comes meowing across the yard. He knows there is milk in the bottom of my bowl and hopes to help me finish the last few spoonfuls. Sometimes Bo is looking for a taste of milk and on rarer occasions Little Cat comes by for a pat on the head and a scratch under the chin. Jazzy occasionally comes by for a piece or two of cereal, but most often just flops herself down on the concrete floor for a rest. This morning though, it was just Sofie, looking at me through her much too long hair, and Oreo voicing his presence and bumping against my leg as I greeted the new day.

A Hard Working Hubby

My husband has been putting great effort into making me happy. It is a tough job... Several weeks back he built me a jelly cupboard to store all those yummy jars of jams, jellys, apple butters, and applesauce. It's beautiful! A few days back My Darling fixed up a screen for my powder room/laundry window. Now I can have fresh air without bees, flies, and misquitoes too. It's wonderful! And now, he has put forth great effort not only to bring home some fencing for my backyard, but he has managed to move "Hannah's Place" from its original home down behind Barn 3 to a shadey spot under the red maple up next to the house. I love it! How could I not be happy?

Sky Watch Friday?

These are the Koosh pillows that survived the trip through the washing machine. Bethany's old, yellow tube pillow did not. For the past two and a half years it has made its home on Hannah's bed but this morning met its demise submerged in a soapy appliance. This particular pillow has managed several other cleanings but today suffered a mortal wound while submerged in the sudsy depths. Bleeding micro-pellets from a gash in its side, it finally gave up the struggle and expired. Upon returning to the washing machine, I opened the lid to find gobs of pure white grains of... styrofoam? (I think that's what micro-pellets are made of.) This thick wet mess had made its way throughout the entire load and attached itself to both a blanket and a pillowcase, as well as the surviving pillows and several articles of clothing. I scooped handfuls of weightless "sand" from my machine and placed the contaminated laundry in a plastic hamper. I dared not take a photograph. Out in the backyard I shook the remaining offense out into the grass and hung the wet items on the clothesline before returning to the house where I vacuumed the remaining pellets from my washing machine. I did my best to clean the machine but my next load of laundry revealed a trace of "sand" also.

Side Note

Koosh pillows should NOT be put through the washing machine....

A Little Bit Blue

Late this morning, while Josh was taking nap, I escaped to the blueberry patch. If not for the birds, who like to take at least one peck out of every ripe berry they can find, picking would be very relaxing and satisfying.

I hadn't been out long when I heard a small voice call, "Martha?" It was Alysa out ont the back porch, wondering where I had disappeared to. I offered her the second basket and she helped me pick for a little bit. Being just seven she soon tired of the job and asked if she could take her store of berries into the house to share with Hannah and Sara.

I continued to pick until my basket was full. Both Jasmine and Oreo were there to keep me company, each one resting in the shade of a blueberry bush, Jazz eating an occasional tossed berry. She doesn't mind bird-pecked berries. In spite of the birds, who have to eat too, I think I have enough berries to freeze a bag and maybe make a batch or two of muffins. Maybe I'll bake a gluten-free batch when Josh goes back down for his afternoon nap.

Baby Days

Some of you are aware that Bethany has gone on a retreat with the junior high group from church. They were short on both vehicles and chaparones so her brother, who leads the group, begged her assistance and our minivan. The group left Monday morning. My job has been to keep Josh while Adam is working. This morning Josh helped feed the dogs breakfast. They had Fruity Cheerios.

This afternoon Josh had a look through Grandma's box of Fisher Price toys. He found the people quite tastey but Grandma said they were not to eat, so he tried out some little vehicles instead. The houseboat is too big to eat, but has a very cool springy flag that makes a great noise when it bounces back and forth.

Sun Shiners

Late yesterday afternoon I grabbed a moment to settle my new flower aquisitions. I popped them into my patio garden and gave them a tall cool drink. They didn't seem much interested in the coffee I was sipping. I think I am finished planting golds, oranges and yellows. Now my quest is to find something purple to add a bit of contrast, maybe some echinacea. And, does anyone have a good suggestion on how to help my taller flowers (mostly daisies) learn to stand on their own? They want to tip over and lay across the ground but don't look near as pretty in the prone position as they do upright.
I am looking forward to turning my backyard into a beautiful place once again. At first I was having a bit of trouble visualizing what I wanted to do, but as time goes on the creative juices are beginning to flow a little more. We are hoping to bring a small stockade fence home later this week and a few pieces of picket fencing also. A couple white picket sections will go along the edge of my patio to keep my chairs from blowing off the porch and into my flower garden.
I am going to be on the lookout for some good deals on outdoor rocking chairs. Every good grandmother needs a rocking chair on her back porch just in case she gets a grandchild who will sit still long enough to be rocked. Another item I'll be looking for is a post or a pipe to hold up one end of the hammock I want to hang under the red maple tree. I hope by the time we get things together there will be enough warm weather left to enjoy it all!

More Fun Photos From Yesterday

Just a few more pictures to go with the post below.

The beach more traveled...

The beach less traveled...

Looks like a potter's wheel...

Castle in the sand... and on the lap.

And a message in the sand.

Sunny Summer Sunday

Bright summer skies, sand and splashing waves... Yesterday we headed out to the beach. It was an impromptu trip, a spontaneous outing. We tossed a few things in the back of the van; a small cooler of bottled water, a loaf of banana bread, a few towels and a "beach blanket" and headed east toward Fair Haven.

We chose the beach less traveled, which basically means there is no life guard and swimming is strongly discouraged, but we were not really dressed to swim. Instead we walked along the beach, cooling our feet and legs in the surf. The water, which initially felt cold, quickly warmed and the waves beckoned me to go deeper. By the time the life guards walked their beat warning people not to swim here, I was drying out in the sand.

It was a beautiful day, only a little less than an hour from home and just seven dollars admission. We were cooled, we were relaxed, and we were happy. We were also a little sandy, a little sunburned, and a little smiling. On the way home we stopped at a fruit stand/ barn sale, bought some baked goods (which really made Hannah smile), a new coffee mug, and some end of the season cherries. We made it home in time to let Sofie out of her cage and make it to the evening service at church.


PS. Check out "Nate Stuff" if you'd like to see some of the photos from El Salvador.)

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The past couple of days I have been cleaning out my patio garden. I have pulled tons of weeds and wild strawberry plants, dug up hoards of daffodil and grape hyacinth bulbs and feel as though I may never have the job finished. (Where is "Mistress Mary" when I need her? I hear she had quite the garden.) My son, Dave, stopped this morning and called my weeding job "a miracle". He even left me a few of his garden tools to help with the job and then looked longingly at the piles of bulbs laying out on newspapers. He is a lover of plants and the outdoors and has his own "Groundscaping" business. Of course I gave him some.

I fear I am not the gardener that my son is, that my great grandfathers were, nor can I compete with my own dad who always had a weedless vegetable garden. In spite of that, somehow there is a little bit of dirt running through my veins and I can't keep from hoping that I can someday have magnificent gardens of my own. My favorite perennials are the daisy type of flowers, Shasta, Gloriosa, Black Eyed Susans, and Purple Cone Flowers. Mix them up with some Bee Balm and a few others and maybe I can have the kind of garden that both the bees and the butterflies will love, not to mention the hummingbirds.

We Like Sheep

Last night James and I took a ride just a little south of here. We went to look at some used fencing and also a walnut tree that had fallen in a sheep pasture. The fencing is for our back yard. Not only will it help keep my dogs (and children) confined, but it will seperate my backyard from from My Darling's work area. We are hoping to move "Hannah's Place" up closer to the house where the kids can enjoy it in a safer more visible location.

The tree laying on the ground in the first photo is one that My Darling will be milling up sometime in the next month. It is laying in the sheep pasture of an area Bed and Breakfast. The sheep were fascinating. They don't know us and put up quite the racket as they ran across the yard to a "safer" spot. I think I just may look into visiting this place as a field trip someday. Baaaah!

Lunch

Jam on biscuits, jam on toast,

Jam is the thing that I love most!

(Frances, the hedgehog)

What better lunch on a dark dreary day than fried eggs with toast, homemade strawberry jam and a nice hot cup of coffee? Yummy!

Red Clover

“I’ll find it!” cried Horton. “I’ll find it or bust!

I SHALL find my friends on my small speck of dust!”

And clover, by clover, by clover with care

He picked up and searched them, and called, “Are you there?”

But clover, by clover, by clover he found

That the one that he sought for was just not around.

And by noon poor old Horton, more dead than alive,

Had picked, searched, and piled up, nine thousand and five.

In my 27 plus years of being a mom I have read more children's books than I can keep track of. For some unknown reason, strange to some, my favorite books often have a sing songy type of rhyme to them. Horton Hears a Who not only has a beautiful pro-life message but it rhymes too! I can't help but think of Ol' Horton when ever I see a field of purple clovers.

Breakfast

The blueberries are slowly ripening. I doubt I will be selling many this year as I have plenty of family members who are more than eager to help us consume them. It is a very sad looking little patch but it may yet be able to provide us some berries through the winter, we'll see. This was my breakfast this morning. Gluten free and yummy, Rice Chex with bananas and blueberries.