We are still "vacationing" in WI with our extended family. Think big resort with lots of outdoor pools, waterparks, and people in swimwear. In this context I decided to wear what I thought was a cute, summery, shifty green dress to breakfast this morning.
As I walked out the front door to meet the children and other relatives, R (5) calls out, "Mom- is that a nightgown. . .or what?"
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Some Summer Bounty
Photos from home in VA. . . some of the very good things we were enjoying before we left. Cherries from our tree were SO good! The bok choy, onions, and rhubarb we received one week from our CSA (community supported agriculture). Aren't they gorgeous?! We're still weighing the benefits of the CSA with the local community market, but these are three of the benefits!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Setting Up Residence
After extensive hours on the road, the kids and I are settling in to life on the farm.
Last week on Tuesday we loaded up the van and left VA. We had a wonderful stay with dear friends, the Anderson's, in Kentucky that night. On Wednesday we continued our trip with a brief stop in Bloomington, IL for lunch with Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Bill. It was good for the kids to get out for a walk and to play in the backyard while I had a MUCH needed nap. We arrived at the IL farm Wednesday evening.
Thursday morning I left IL with my lovely Aunt Gretchen, on our way to a JuicePlus bootcamp in Ohio. We stayed that evening with friends of hers in Ohio and then finished our trip to Deer Creek State Park the following day. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning were spent there. . . and there are so many things I could say about that weekend that I don't even know where to begin, It was a wonderful time of refreshing, refocusing, and connecting with incredible people.
On Sunday I rode back to IL with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. We stopped in Bloomington again to unpack her van and load into my sister-in-law's car for two more hours up to her home. When I arrived at her home in Bristol, my generous cousin Rob was there waiting to take me the last two hours to the farm. He helped me unload there at midnight.
Whew!
We'll be here for the next two days and then I'm taking the kids to WI; first, for a stop and a wellness presentation for a friend near Madison and then to the WI Dells for nearly a week of time with extended family.
Our time here always goes quickly, and we have many plans. It's so good for my heart to see old friends and family that I only see infrequently. I'm looking for the Lord to open up doors for great conversations and for him to grow and stretch our family this summer.
No farm pictures yet, but here are some of the beautiful and delicious cherries on our tree!
Last week on Tuesday we loaded up the van and left VA. We had a wonderful stay with dear friends, the Anderson's, in Kentucky that night. On Wednesday we continued our trip with a brief stop in Bloomington, IL for lunch with Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle Bill. It was good for the kids to get out for a walk and to play in the backyard while I had a MUCH needed nap. We arrived at the IL farm Wednesday evening.
Thursday morning I left IL with my lovely Aunt Gretchen, on our way to a JuicePlus bootcamp in Ohio. We stayed that evening with friends of hers in Ohio and then finished our trip to Deer Creek State Park the following day. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning were spent there. . . and there are so many things I could say about that weekend that I don't even know where to begin, It was a wonderful time of refreshing, refocusing, and connecting with incredible people.
On Sunday I rode back to IL with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. We stopped in Bloomington again to unpack her van and load into my sister-in-law's car for two more hours up to her home. When I arrived at her home in Bristol, my generous cousin Rob was there waiting to take me the last two hours to the farm. He helped me unload there at midnight.
Whew!
We'll be here for the next two days and then I'm taking the kids to WI; first, for a stop and a wellness presentation for a friend near Madison and then to the WI Dells for nearly a week of time with extended family.
Our time here always goes quickly, and we have many plans. It's so good for my heart to see old friends and family that I only see infrequently. I'm looking for the Lord to open up doors for great conversations and for him to grow and stretch our family this summer.
No farm pictures yet, but here are some of the beautiful and delicious cherries on our tree!
Friday, June 5, 2009
A Bowl of Cherries
I spent two hours pitting cherries to freeze. (O and I climbed the tree and picked until it began to rain yesterday.)
I think this is the end of the second week of B's studying for the Bar exam. . . but I'm not sure. I seem to have lost track of time. What does that tell 'ya?
I think this is the end of the second week of B's studying for the Bar exam. . . but I'm not sure. I seem to have lost track of time. What does that tell 'ya?
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Backyard and Skepticism
We have a great backyard. I am so thankful for the family that lived here for years and years before we bought the house. They planted and tended all kinds of things to make the yard beautiful. . . and fruitful. We have hydrangeas (which are one of my favorite), and lilacs (a favorite, too, as they were my Grandmother's favorite!). We have a snowball bush and a Weeping Cherry, several beautiful Crepe Myrtle trees, and a lovely Dogwood. We have a few roses, and daffodils, and tulips. This year a peony bloomed. The children love to suck the nectar from the honeysuckle, and I've decided that it's scent is just about as perfect as the orange blossoms that we left in Florida (one of the scents I love most in all the world).
We've added to the lush yard: rosemary and lavender, thyme, oregano, zinnias and marigolds. We have our two little garden plots, which are bearing nicely. I love to stroll around the yard to see how everything is growing.
We also had a pear tree (though we never could quite decide if they were pears or apples!). We were skeptical of it's value, for even though it bore fruit heavily, it also attracted swarms of wasps to our backyard. B gave it the moniker "the Bee Tree." Though I tried to persuade him of it's value by baking pies and making sauce of the fruit, he determined that our children's safety was at risk, and so the Bee Tree is no more.
We have another kind of cherry tree growing at the corner of the house. Each year we have noted the small cherries it produces. We were skeptical whether or not these were edible; we had been told that this was another kind of ornamental cherry tree. So, we never ate the fruit, choosing, instead, to let the birds fight over it and make a mess in the backyard. This year, however, I looked more closely at the fruit. The cherries LOOKED like the kind of cherries I used to pick in the summers with my cousin Andrew, back on the farm. They were golden, tinged with red. They didn't seem quite so small this year as in years past. "Could it harm me to eat a cherry that wasn't meant for consumption?" I wondered. Surely, if it tastes bad, that would be a sign that I should not eat it.
So. . . I picked one and ate it. It tasted like the cherries I remembered. Not like the giant Bing cherries from the grocery store. Not like the bagged, bright red cherries at Sam's. . . I picked another and another and soon the children were watching me, asking "we can eat those?" and "can I try one?" and "are those berries?" Then they were eating cherries with me, all that we could reach. Rhy declared that he didn't care WHAT color they were! O picked them by the handful and climbed a tree, spitting pits down arbitrarily (especially on unsuspecting siblings wandering near!). T popped them in his mouth, sucked the cherries, and then would spit the whole thing back out and ask for another. What a treat! Why did we doubt for so long the merits of this tree?!
Now. . there is another tree on the corner of the shed that has some kind of berry on it. . . I think I'll do a little research before the berries are all gone!
We've added to the lush yard: rosemary and lavender, thyme, oregano, zinnias and marigolds. We have our two little garden plots, which are bearing nicely. I love to stroll around the yard to see how everything is growing.
We also had a pear tree (though we never could quite decide if they were pears or apples!). We were skeptical of it's value, for even though it bore fruit heavily, it also attracted swarms of wasps to our backyard. B gave it the moniker "the Bee Tree." Though I tried to persuade him of it's value by baking pies and making sauce of the fruit, he determined that our children's safety was at risk, and so the Bee Tree is no more.
We have another kind of cherry tree growing at the corner of the house. Each year we have noted the small cherries it produces. We were skeptical whether or not these were edible; we had been told that this was another kind of ornamental cherry tree. So, we never ate the fruit, choosing, instead, to let the birds fight over it and make a mess in the backyard. This year, however, I looked more closely at the fruit. The cherries LOOKED like the kind of cherries I used to pick in the summers with my cousin Andrew, back on the farm. They were golden, tinged with red. They didn't seem quite so small this year as in years past. "Could it harm me to eat a cherry that wasn't meant for consumption?" I wondered. Surely, if it tastes bad, that would be a sign that I should not eat it.
So. . . I picked one and ate it. It tasted like the cherries I remembered. Not like the giant Bing cherries from the grocery store. Not like the bagged, bright red cherries at Sam's. . . I picked another and another and soon the children were watching me, asking "we can eat those?" and "can I try one?" and "are those berries?" Then they were eating cherries with me, all that we could reach. Rhy declared that he didn't care WHAT color they were! O picked them by the handful and climbed a tree, spitting pits down arbitrarily (especially on unsuspecting siblings wandering near!). T popped them in his mouth, sucked the cherries, and then would spit the whole thing back out and ask for another. What a treat! Why did we doubt for so long the merits of this tree?!
Now. . there is another tree on the corner of the shed that has some kind of berry on it. . . I think I'll do a little research before the berries are all gone!
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