handmade gifts

 Mad last minute shopping frenzies in my opinion are a choice you make and as for me not a way in which I choose to spend the last days of Advent. I desire to be home making lists of cookies to bake, meals to prepare, planning how I am going to set my Christmas table, and getting the house ready for the arrival of family. And since I do like to make simple handmade gifts for the grandchildren if at all possible, these days leading up to Christmas may provide just the needed time to do so. I have been nursing a sore throat for several days, drinking mug after mug of herbal teas and taking elderberry syrup, therefore, sitting in my sunny sewing room to sew those gifts are delightful,  just before Rose and Ivy arrive tomorrow night and my days will look quite different.

A flannel nightgown for Ivy(31/2), an apron for Breanna(9), and I am just now ready to begin knitting red mittens for Gordon(23 months).

He's coming home, arriving at the airport late tonight after traveling for twenty-two plus hours. It has been five years since he has been home for Christmas, therefore, celebrating Advent with Alan this year is making this mama's heart stout.

Amidst the busyness of this past week we are decking the house with festive things, which interestingly is apparently the thing to do in Thailand too!

onstage

I have about forty minutes to write a brief post. The Christmas lights are shining brightly warming me on this bleak, cold rainy day, and anticipation is on overdrive since tonight is Opening Night for the annual Nutcracker Performance from which Charlotte dances, her twelfth year!

This entire week was spent practicing at the theater for Tech Week and this year there were two performances of Act Two for the local schools.

 Shhh! No photos are allowed, but during this morning's school performance I snuck upstairs to the balcony and took this shot with my phone.  I have been helping with the costuming and backstage for about nine years now and what a privilege to be such a huge part of my daughter's life. My fingers are sore from all the hand stitching and my older self is weary from being at the theater every night and out of the house by 7:30 for the past two mornings, but what a joy to see her onstage.

And Breanna, my granddaughter is also a part of the performance. I am doubly joyful!  

seeing and hearing november

November brought steady rainfall as well as glorious days of sunlight on color.  I choose to stay outdoors as much as possible on the days that were fair. The pleasant job of setting the garden to rest began in earnest with pulling up the zinnia and nasturtium plants that finally succumbed to the cold night's freeze as well as the snipping and cutting back of the other plants and herbs in the garden beds. November is also a time to plant bulbs in the still soft earth looking forward to the hopeful arrival of daffodils, tulips and crocuses yet several months away.  Intrusive leaf blowers were certainly heard, either your own or your neighbors at any time during the day for weeks on end.

This Thanksgiving morning I was antsy quite early to get outside for a walk; the sky was pewter gray as I set out, yet I expected the sun to be shining by the time I got back to the house.  I observed the few tenacious dusky leaves that remained on the tress.

Home to preparing the breakfast I had promised my husband.

From here the photos stop, therefore, seeing the wonderful foods gracing the Thanksgiving table at Witt and Claire's house are not possible. The happy family time that followed kept my mind on other things besides picking up my camera to snap pictures. The voices of excited children as we arrived, the stirring of the gravy in a cast iron pan with Breanna by my side being given careful instruction. Imagine a vase of bright sunflowers in the center of the table, cinnamon ornaments with our written names on them set in the middle on each plate, and the abundance of delicious traditional foods surrounding us. Hear the prayers and the giving of thanks to our loving Father in Heaven.

a november junket and afternoon tea

"Now in November, the leaves spread cloth of gold and red on the ground. The open fields take on a cinnamon tone and the wild blackberry canes in the swamp are frosted purple."

Gladys Taber

The Stillmeadow Road

                                                                                                                         

At sunrise the sky displayed a most gorgeous tangerine glow and as I stopped at the window to get a fuller view of its boldness, I knew it was only  teasing because the skies were going to be grey, but windless, on this cold day. Regardless, my husband had invited me to ride to the mountains with him and I had no reason to cavil the weather.
Along the highways our eyes caught  the beauty of the leaves muted tones, and even those trees that had mostly shed the whole of their colorful coats were grand. A stop was made first thing, a call on a customer by my husband while I sat in the car snug as a bug in a rug and knitted. Soon enough we were on our way enjoying the quaintness of this little town's downtown, moseying through an antique shop and finally stopping to buy Made in the USA socks from a favorite factory outlet.

And to put a finishing touch on our fine November junket, we stopped for afternoon tea/late lunch in a stately, elegant turn of the century house. 

On the way home I read aloud a chapter from The Stillmeadow Road.

a woolen sweater and lemon verbena

A cold morning, hence the woolen sweater, and my past week's herb harvestings deemed a morning's sweet chare of stripping the dried crunchy, fragrant leaves from the  lemon verbena's woody stems. 

I will jar up these pungent leaves and use them in teas and potpourri. 

Yarn Along and noted things

Knitting and reading, yes, I am very pleased to be able to have the sound mind and healthy hands to do both, though not simultaneously. And pleased I am to join in with Ginny's monthly Yarn Along.  I knitted all month and I read all month, most of the time in tiny starts and stops amongst a month of noting the shortening daylight and the preparations necessary for the colder weather that follows these shorter days. The progress on my knitting, however small, is rightly noted.

I am making a dent in the gray wrapper, and the anticipation of wearing it is almost like waiting for Christmas. You want it to hurry up and get here, but the delight in the before days is nothing short of wonderful.

     

My most recent read was a book by J.L. Carr, A Month in the Country, from start to finish a novel consisting of only a 111 pages. I appreciated the story told in this novel and looked forward to picking it up nightly, but sometimes by reading it late at night I felt like I might have cheated myself of the depths of its message. A note to remind myself to pick up this book and revisit it one summer while at the beach.

And the socks are a pair I began last winter and set aside for other handwork. This is the season to pick them up once again as a carry along project even though now that Charlotte is driving I am not leaving the house allowing me little bits of time to knit while waiting for her.

Things change.

 One other thing I would like to note here: I am knitting these socks in Malabrigo Sock yarn on Signature   2.5 double point needles. Last year for my birthday I ask for a set of these needles, because they are that expensive and must be deemed a gift!

I can not say I totally like them, but then it might be the yarn, which while lovely it is very soft and slick.

full things

I received an anonymous comment I would like to answer while it is on my mind...the first frost and bringing in basil.  Sweet basil does not like cool weather.  The little pieces left on my stalks are just holding on for dear life right now and I greatly appreciate that I can still go outside and bring in leaves for a dish I am preparing, I do hate to see my basil plants die, but for the most part the harvesting is completed for this year. The coolest our temperatures have dipped thus far is 40 degrees, and the sweet basil did protest, but not die. Our first frost will more than likely not arrive before the next few weeks. Now as far as the Thai basil, the cool weather does not deter it in the least, it is flourishing, and should do well until frost. I plan to harvest it for the first time this year, by drying and probably freezing.

Did anyone of you notice I have set up sidebars for my Favorite Friends and Blogs and well as Homemaking Sites? I am still perusing sites and will add to the sidebars in the future. It does takes quite a bit to time to do so and is a process. You may want to check them out and see if any of them tickle your fancy or stir interest.

Now onto my home front... on this day we look to the cross where our Savior, Christ Jesus died in order to save us from sin and all its evil, ugly wickedness. We rejoice and we pray. We never cease giving Him thanks for the harvest and this beautiful time of year. Tonight we get to go to a church and pray for Israel. Chuck Cohen was in my home last Friday night for dinner with a few gathering of friends and my family is looking forward to this prayer time.

 There is a jar of Thai basil clipped to adorn my kitchen, smells lovely, a more sharp taste and smell than sweet basil. Delicious in Asian dishes.

I created a new space in my kitchen that is quickly becoming my new spot of tranquility. Here I keep my knitting and cross-stitching always looking for that moment, whenever it presents itself, to reward myself with a cup of tea and handiwork in my hand! Even in the early mornings I am moving my prayer and Bible reading time to this well-lit and warm place, for this season.

Once more thing I want to share. I am sitting upstairs in my sewing room as I type this post, an opened window letting in a breeze that is stirring my hair, it is 71 degrees and cloudy, the breeze is keeping the humidity a little less noticeable, and I am loving the call of the 

White-throated Sparrow.  This is my most favorite bird call of all.

let it rain

Dark... these early mornings in late October. Before getting out of bed today I already knew the sun was not going to shine and the rains were coming. But this was not a hindrance to me, I had several things that needed tending and I had no plans to leave the house all day.

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain"
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A breakfast of toasted slices of freshly baked bread and eggs was prepared. Charlotte's toast was topped with just a sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon.

About the time I had donned my walking shoes, hoping to get a quick walk in before it starting raining, as I walked down the back steps little raindrops began softly falling on my head. I stepped into the garden and quickly snipped a few zinnia heads to de-seed and I cut back some oregano, thai basil, and lamb's ear to bring inside for drying. I usually like to wrap my harvested herbs with cotton string and hang them in the pantry, but sometimes I will use a dehydrator.

Presently, I prefer the addition of Concord grape juice to my kombucha . After reading about the benefits of the purple grape I thought maybe a double whammy was the way to go. And I am loving its taste. I have written about the way in which I prepare my kombucha here if you are interested in reading about it. These bottles were just strained from their second ferment so that is the reason for all that fizz.

Bay and lemon trees soaking in the rain....they will be brought into the sunroom before the first frost arrives.

humility and the turnip

These humble things I do...

As a home keeper I strive to be humble and intentional in my duties, I take all my duties seriously, the simple and the arduous. I see homemaking as a wide open framework for being able to use my skills in cooking, cleaning, and organizing; to orchestrate imagination, creativity, and beauty in my home through decorating, gardening, hosting, and handiwork; and to say nothing less about serving those who mean the most to me, my family. Being thankful and joyful is a natural consequence and a  benefit received from managing my home well and caring for those I love. Lately though, I have been challenged as never before in my role as a homemaker, and I am still pondering the overwhelming surge of strength behind the disparagers, and by this I mean women in the work force arenas of public society. I think, if I can be occasionally affronted by other women concerning my chosen "career", how much more must the younger women home keepers be experiencing from those who have not seen the worthwhileness and value of choosing to be a full-time homemaker today.

"The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only- and that is to support the ultimate career".

~C.S.Lewis

And my mind can not help remembering the turnip, it is simple and humble, grows in the ground until frost and has the most delicious earthiness that some taste buds may never be able to fully apprehend.

                                                                 (photo credit, Google)

However, I am extremely encouraged by the growing number of blogs and youtube videos that support those women, younger and older, who have chosen to make home a priority. I am perusing some of them and hope to share them on a sidebar very soon.

What I was doing 37 years ago...

Do we ever forget  that moment when we became a mother for the first time? That firstborn child, whether it be our first and only, or the first of several more children to come.

 The season of late October, the sun had not yet risen as he entered the world

 and changed my life forever.

Then along came Breanna born on the same day nine years ago, she masses unprecedented sunshine and joy to all of us. 

He requested a pecan pie and after the family gathering of eating and celebrating, we walked outside into the street on a balmy, dark evening and watched fireworks in the sky. 

today's refulgence

Before daybreak I heard the fall rains coming down gently splattering the sidewalk and bushes outside my opened bedroom window. It was a brilliant sound. Now that the temperature has dropped into proper autumn mode the cool hardwood floors have caused me to happily slip my chilled feet into socks. I pad to the kitchen with George and Serena running ahead, opening the back door to allow Louie to slip in, anon all cats are fed.

 A gentle light is switched on below the kitchen cabinets and I set the coffee to brew.

I recently purchased beeswax candles that have created a sense of both frugality and luxury. In the glow of predawn I light one single beeswax candle, warming to its soft glow.

 A quiet haven in the sun room, it is easy to be thankful for much this day.

Going to the market was on the top of my "to do" list even though the rains were coming down steadily. After preparing a breakfast of eggs and toast for my husband and me I left the house to buy needed ingredients for this cake I am baking for a friend's fiftieth birthday party tomorrow night. Three of us are hosting this party and  we thought we would each bake a different kind of cake. The  kitchen was warm and cozy as I  mixed and stirred while listening to daily downloads classical music.

The simple chore of washing dishes can be a mindless activity that alerts my mind to the enjoyment of the sights outside my window, or the thoughts of a scripture to ponder, or  prayers that may need to be uttered.

Soon enough four teenagers will enter my back door laughing and talking, unloading their Bibles and study materials for the book of Joshua to the round kitchen table while grabbing the snack I have laid out for them. This happens every Wednesday afternoon, it lightens my soul and highlights my week to say the least.

So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

Psalm 71:18

cooking traditionally

Cooking meals with health in mind is popular today. Getting back to the traditional method of preparing and cooking foods is considered smart and many are realizing the importance of learning how to make this a part of their daily lifestyle.

The ladies in my small church congregation asked me to teach a class in traditional cooking. With the readily available healthy real foods we are able to buy from even the chain stores, we would all agree that our opportunities have  a wide-opened door. My own personal quest began many years ago when I was part of a food coop (FORC) that delivered food once a month to a designated place, the "members" would  then unload and break down the large number of boxes, and the driver was paid in one check. So as you can see we had to be an group organized sufficiently enough to have our own checking account and have a member be in charge of the money. At one time our membership reached about ten families, and we purchased roughly around $800-1000  monthly. My part  in the coop for several years was the ordering of the member's monthly orders. Now this was in the age of the PC (personal computer) and the incipience of the internet. The internet that was available to us at this time (1990's) was only "dial up" in most areas....not always reliable.  The lady at FORC and I would have a specific time and date that she would call me on my landline telephone;  I would arrange my schedule to be at my house and I would give her our orders individually, item by item. Unless this might seem overly arduous to you, let me assure it was not in the least; I developed a pleasant working relationship with this kind woman. Discovering the book, Nourishing Tradtions by Sally Fallon, also made a huge acceleration in my education curve of learning how to cook in a more traditional way.
Last night's focus at my home was teaching about how to prepare Chicken Bone Broth.
The evening's dinner menu was:
Tomato Bisque (chicken bone broth base)
Green salad with homemade dressings (soaked and dehydrated walnuts)
Fermented carrots and cucumbers
Roasted whole Chicken with carrots, red potatoes, and onions(all organic)
Sourdough Einkorn bread with grass-fed herb butter
Oatmeal Pumpkin bake  (soaked oatmeal, sweetened with organic maple syrup)
Fermented Ginger Ale

It was 10 o'clock as we were saying our goodbyes. Hopefully, in the days ahead new thinking will emerge as conscious efforts are made to eat nutrient dense real foods as much as possible.

Oh, by the way since I not always able to find the quality of certain foods locally, I make a monthly food order to Auzure Standard, all online, even the payment.

the spider room

I happen chance to maintain a spider room in my house. True, it might declare my housekeeping abilities as less than stellar, but it goes a smidgen beyond that I think.

The sun room, or morning room as I delight in calling it, is full of windows bringing in light and a number of happy things. And it is also where I have my small table of African violets, two peace lilies (once divided) given at the death of my father, and to be able to tell you the exact age of the philodendron I inherited from my mother would be impossible, heavy sentiments may certainly be  attached to some plants. When frost threatens, I will bring in my bay tree, several aloe vera plants, and my rubber plants. And probably spider egg cases...even if I spray the plants with cleanser and wash thoroughly before bringing them into the house. This is a room for spiders to be nourished and happy, and as long as they are of the nonvenomous species I like to think there is a "Charlotte" hanging around in there somewhere.

Do you remember reading books written for children depicting  spiders in a good light?

1.Charlotte's Webb           E.B. White
2. The Very Busy Spider   Eric Carle
3. Miss Spider's Tea Party  David Kirk
4. Spiders in the Fruit Cellar     Barbara Joose  (This is one of my favorite ones, I must have read this to my children for years.)

epsom salt and baths

For years I have taken showers before bedtime because I have found soothing comfort by doing so, a favorable end to a busy day.

These days I have discovered the sybarite benefits of a taking a bath before bedtime. My father was a bath taker even up into his octogenarian years I remember hearing him splash around in the bathtub. That is a good memory now.

Yet I do not indulge in just a "plain" bath, I prefer to pour two scoops of epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) into the warm running water. There has been much written about epsom salt baths these days, but science has yet to prove the many claims of its various health benefits, though epsom salts has been used as a relief prescription for sore feet and aching muscles for quite some time.  Charlotte's dance teacher will tell the wincing dancers to go home and soak their throbbing feet in Epsom salts after an especially arduous pointe class. You can read a fun bit of the history of the salts discovered in Epsom, England if you are interested.

As for myself, I give generous support for epsom salt baths, 

but keep in mind it is bedtime when I take my bath and my tired brain could easily be led into believing the relaxing effects I am feeling is merely in the Epsom salts!

  

it is yarn along time

Goodness, it appears to have been a slough of time since I last joined with all you ladies at Ginny's yarn along! Not that I wasn't  reading good books mind you, but the needles in my hand were of the embroidery sort, not knitting. But as the approaching autumn was tickling my senses, I knew I must go on a hunt for that perfect knitting project. And I believe I might have found it in this pattern by  Cheryl Toy. I can only imagine how much I am going to love wearing this wrap when the weather turns chilly and a garment of this sort will provide perfect warmth as well as style. And the second best part is the luscious Berroco alpaca yarn. I am feeling rather privileged to be knitting this wrap in this yarn let me tell you.
After reading Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop this summer, I discovered another treasure on my bookshelf, O Pioneers! It is a book that reeled me into the story right from the start, and now I am remembering why I liked some of her other novels way back in my early motherhood years.

healthy sourdough donuts

Evidently I was in one of those moods to fidget with another sourdough food, with the thought of why not? And why not indeed. Fidgeting seems to overcome me from time to time in spite of  a plethora of things that are more pressing in my day.

So from here I give you my take on these healthy donuts. They do not taste bad at all, I like the sourdough taste and since you do add a small amount of sugar before the kneading process that makes them more of a sweet bread item. After frying them in coconut oil they are rolled in a plate of brown sugar and cinnamon which adds a tasty touch too.

Yet here is the question. Would I make them again? Probably not. They are not good enough to make any one of us eat more than one, and I am constantly having to face the fact that my household is only composed of three now ( not counting the cats). That makes experiments of this sort wasteful to a degree, but not completely a wash-out because I know now I definitely would not make them even if I had a household of visitors.

 The recipe can be found here if you get the fidgets. But for now my fidgets are calm.

ripeness

Yesterday afternoon I drove across town to a friend's house to pick some muscadine grapes, an old southern variety my friend's husband called Cowart, and I believe him. I definitely knew the look of the grape but the true proof was when I popped one into my mouth tasting the intense sweetness  of the juicy flesh as it was released from the tough skin of the grape. I knew that delicious sweet taste from memories of my childhood.  So...under the grape arbor I ventured sticking a ripe grape into my mouth every once in a while as I picked, only being slightly unnerved by the insects zooming by my head.  Home to the washing and throwing away bits of dried leaves and bad grapes that were dispersed throughout the grapes.

Jelly making time has now begun.

music in my mind

I go about the day performing my daily housekeeping chores; how I love keeping a home! And as I am keeping I hear lovely music in my mind. You know like when you are watching a movie and there is background music and it all fits together so beautifully? 

A grand "performance" radiating peace and joy.

                                                          ( photo image from Pinterest)

these past two days

"Let all things be done decently and in order".

I Corinthians 14:40

I like order. I would even go as far as to say I need certain semblances of it in my everyday life, therefore, this scripture might have a tendency to create a spirit of self-maintaining smugness. I do not want to misread what the Apostle Paul was speaking about in context to the church in Corinth, nor do I desire to miss what was clearly stated in principle.

The Word of God is powerfully alive and intrinsically applicable to everyday life, so I would be wise to allow the Holy Spirit to draw me higher up and further in all things, as in everything I do.

The past two days have been make-up days as are the days followed by being away from home. The first day I was busy with laundry. Loads and loads of laundry, which means the washing machine and dryer were seemingly constant in use, I was hauling around baskets of clean laundry to fold and put away throughout the day. The house needed a weekly clean as I was not able to get the house in tip top shape before leaving for the beach, so that was in process.

And then unexpected interruptions presented themselves. My pastor's wife was terribly under the weather so I made a pot of homemade chicken soup and fresh bread to take to her hoping it would provide a bit of comfort.

 An appointment for the cat was scheduled and schooling was tended to get back on track 

since we left most of our schoolwork back home on the desk while we rested at the beach.

Today the refrigerator was cleaned, old food was tossed and containers washed, walnuts and pecans were soaked and put into the dehydrator, emails were answered, and an unexpected morning's visit from two lovely ladies that were going from door to door, and in the mode of our conversation clearly said they did not believe Jesus was God. I invited them in and with decency and order I shared God's truth from I John 5. I am praying for them and I hope they come back.

And of course, I have managed to write this post....

coming home and remembering

Being at the beach takes on an essence that makes remembering sweet.  One of my sweetest memories of this past trip was coming through the screen door and hearing Ivy repeat her Granddaddy count the cracking of the eggs in the pan. 

"One...one.

Two...two

Three...three"

Then there were these sweet and lasting moments too.