adding pumpkin pie spice to your life

I do not know why we wait until autumn to reach for our favorite pumpkin recipes. To my way of thinking some of the most desired seasonal recipes involve pumpkin. So it goes without much ado that the decision to add a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice to my morning coffee au lait is a good choice.  That tiny stream of spice sits atop the foamy hot milk awaiting that first sip.

Here is a simple Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe that I especially like:

3 Tablespoons of ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons of ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons of ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons of ground allspice

going back a few weeks to late July

 It was time to dismantle the schoolroom. 

And so began the task of taking down school day memories, days and moments. Huge portions of my time, energy and efforts were removed from the walls that day as well as the bookshelves being emptied and most books boxed up, a desk was taken down and donated to a thrift store ministry.

But new things were ahead and the room was about to experience new beginnings too. Ivy was moving in and this was to be her bedroom. Charlotte and I drove to the Sherwin Williams store and bought a can of Crisp Linen paint one morning in late July and so began part two of the transformation of this room. It brightened the walls perfectly for this kindergartener's new place to call her own.

going along

 He kept saying, "Smile, smile", as he had the camera rightly posed to capture that last moment shot.

This was the best I could do. After two full days it was time to say good-bye...the college saying so this time.

They had been there and they had done this before. But then so had I, leaving a child at college, but she was my last, after all. 

And now, Charlotte, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Acts 20:32

https://youtu.be/HhgdbXXH5oY

I am including a present favorite song of Charlotte's that does have some significant words and feelings at the moment. (Skip the ads at the beginning)

picking geen beans and refreshment

As in any summer garden, the beans need to be picked. This is not something to be penciled in on a calendar just a matter of do it when the beans are ready on the vine. After a bit of stooping and picking in the heat and humidity I am thirsty for refreshment and I do believe I have a found the answer in a fermented ginger drink...ginger "beer" so the recipe I follow calls it. But my teetotaler friends gristle at the word beer, and truthfully this is the only "beer" I will drink, so if I am feeling pious I call it homemade ginger ale. It is delicious and it is refreshing, quenching any thirst and providing that bit of homemade carbonization which pleases.  

So I pick a spell, then I sit with my pan of beans, a true token of accomplishment, sipping my ginger beverage to total refreshment.

 Back in the spring when warmer temperatures happily crept forth reminding me it was time to be thinking about my present gardens and planning what new plants I wanted to add to my garden and what herbs and perennials I was considering moving around,  I visited a local garden/nursery market. As is customary I headed to the herb section and was immediately surrounded by rows and rows of a variety of young healthy herbs. As I was humming, because it is safer than talking to myself, my eyes happened to fall upon this lovely variegated marjoram plant, a very pretty plant reminding me of the years when I grew marjoram in my garden. Today the plant was pruned and it is presently drying in the dehydrator in my kitchen. And while I was at it some leaves were tossed into the soup simmering on the stove, a garden soup of onions, celery, garlic, cucumbers and tomatoes. 

                                                  [photo credit here]

Both marjoram and oregano are in the mint family as anyone who has ever grown them knows their propensity for garden hogginess. With Mediterranean origins they are simple to grow and a pleasure to have in the kitchen garden because of their multiple uses in any culinary dishes as well as having  medicinal purposes. 

In a nutshell, the differences in the two herbs are plain to see and taste. Marjoram has longer, thinner leaves and the  taste is sweeter with almost a piney aftertaste. Oregano is sharper and spicier in taste and has broader shorter leaves. Their uses in cooking are highly versatile with both adding great flavor to many dishes. Try adding marjoram to desserts or beverages, including teas, of course. Oregano is key to all my Italian and Greek sauces and dishes.

As far as medicinal uses, marjoram is anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial, rich in vitamins A and C. It especially aids in digestion. Oregano is anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory and has been known known to lift your mood. We have experienced oregano in an essential oil helping to get rid of a planters wart my daughter had several years ago. 

bittersweet

"I got the blues thinking about the future, so I left off and made some marmalade.

D. H. Lawrence

 What pleasure we can receive from memories of the little things about the people we've loved who no longer are with us. My father enjoyed orange marmalade. As a child I did not prefer this sweet, sticky fruit spread with a bite of bitterness. 

Last Friday I must have had a modicum of the blues with current affairs. Amazing how just the slicing of the fresh oranges and the stirring of the slow simmering fruit involved in the making of this orange marmalade cheered me up. But I honestly did not know if I would be as equally amazed when it came time to eating it. Delicious! It was like eating a winter treat on my English muffin one morning while the bittersweet loving thoughts of my Daddy poured into my soul. 

the past eight days

Gatherings.

      People coming and people going. 

          Little people, big people, all kinds of people. 

                Some arrive before lunch and stay for a few hours, others delight us with their afternoon appearance, while others come and spend the entire weekend.

One morning Claire asked me to keep Sophia. The "sweetest five month old in the universe". Truly. I have four children and three other grandchildren and only the word "sweet" describes little Sophia to a T.

She rolled over, she cooed, she smiled and she kicked her little feet until she was a nursery rhyme come alive..."one sock off and one sock on..."

After school, Breanna was here being paid by Granddaddy for picking up sticks and gum balls that were strewn across the yard. Tea and cookies were enjoyed on the brick steps in the warm sunshine that afternoon. And this Grandma had fun joining in and assisting her with her task. We then gathered on the living room sofa to read this delightful series together.

We have already finished Book 1 and are well into the second one as we sit and read chapter after chapter until it is time for her to go home.

Chocolate bundt cakes were on my mind two weekends ago as I began hunting for a simple cake recipe to serve to my dinner guests. 

What do you say about a chocolate cake that is so good that you bake the exact same cake two weekends in a row? Actually, I wanted more of this cake since it is fabulously delicious. Rose and Ivy arriving for the weekend, bringing another guest with them, provided a perfect reason for baking another one this past weekend!

"It's amazing how lovely common things become if one only knows how to look at them."

                                        ~L.M. Alcott

His faithfulness

  "Today there are fewer places to discover, and the real adventure is to stay at home." G.K. Chesterton

 The LORD's faithfulness overflows the simplicity of daily living here in my comfortable home. These days we are living in seem dark with the events that surround our nation and the world, both before us and behind us. Yet, The LORD is His people's shield, He is their refuge, and He is their strong tower. I read this in His Word and I believe it.

I walk in the wintry afternoon, and on especially cold and damp days I wear the hand knitted hat of natural cream that I spun from the wool of my flock of sheep at least twenty-five years ago. I remember those days of being a shepherdess with great joy, the lessons learned from that experience are garnered in my mind to be recalled for later days like these. Those spring days of lambing season, that special sound a mother ewe gives to her newborn lamb, going outside in the evening to sit in the pasture while watching those growing lambs frolic- "feeling good all under"- the smell of the straw in the barn and the sheep's wool, and how my sheep "knew" my voice apart from stranger's voices. But there were also the days when the wild dogs got into the pasture and chewed the bottoms of pregnant ewes, and the vigilant care of watching for parasites and foot rot that will weaken the health and life of your flock, and yes even the culling which eventually must come.

During my afternoon walks I hear the birdsongs clear and sweet even in this season of winter, they have no worries or anxieties.

Every day I awaken and I praise Him for His goodness and grace. He is abundant in mercy and I will declare this as long as I have breath. I chose to make homemaking my life's work, a choice I made over thirty-eight years ago. It is a most rewarding life work. But I am also a full- fledged warrior, a praying warrior. My armour is sure, my heart is guarded, I will not back down until "His kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." 

a homemaker's nightmare confession

 I believe I might have possibly discovered an adult nightmare equivalent to a child's, but this one is definitely my own personal homemaker's nightmare. It is dust bunnies under the bed! Now I am a huge advocate for hard wood floors. The reason for that is more than two-fold, not only  the ease of cleaning, but equally so is the amount of dust I know for a fact accumulates weekly under the bed and with carpet it would be the same amount of dust, you just do not see it and I guess the mind has the tendency to forget that simple truth. Having  a vacuum cleaner small enough to get under the bed without literally moving the bed is not a easy weekly chore either if you have carpet under your bed. Dust bunnies...eww and yuck!

On Fridays I clean my bedroom. That means I get my *Norwex mop, get down on my knees and eliminate all those dust bunnies under the bed. It takes several sweeps and the cleaning of the mop before I feel as if I have relieved the floor of most of them. 

Thankfully, I am one of those people who can clean and then not think about it until it is time to clean again the next week. So I do not truly have nightmares...but just saying... dust bunnies!

1776 Commission

 As our school year resumed back in late August, Charlotte's senior year, I knew I wanted to finish her high school years with an American Government course with emphasis on the United States Constitution, and I found the most excellent class online through Hillsdale College. There are two parts to this course, Const 101 and Const 201, and it is absolutely free. Every American would do well to take the time to listen to these outstanding lectures.

Which leads me to another thing that few people realized occurred on September 17, 2020 at the Archives in Washington, DC, which happens to be Constitution Day, the anniversary of our United States Constitution. A panel of educators and historians organized by the White House met together to discuss how to restore the teaching of American history to students in schools across America. American history would be taught with truth and honesty for the preservation of freedom.

"We must carry on the fight because our country is at stake. Indeed, in a larger sense, civilization itself is at stake, because the forces arrayed against the scholarship and the politics of freedom today have more radical aims than just destroying America. " 

                                   Larry Arnn, President of Hillsdale College

2021 reading challenge

"The world was hers for the reading"

                      Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

                                (0ther than the crow, this seems familiar)

Due to the occurrence of some extensive mouth and teeth surgery I had the last week of 2020, which from there hurdled me into the second week of January before I felt more normal again...what's normal these days? Thus my 2021 reading challenge is a bit delayed, but no worries because reading is wonderful and necessary and something I wish to always have in my life, ergo, my self-imposed reading challenge is only slightly delayed. 

I spent the later part of the week making my plans and gathering my books. Following are the proposed reading genres and books I am considering for this year.  As always, the majority of them are classics and I am mimicking Karen's list  as a format to include in my genres.

1. 19th Century Classic (1800-1899)...

           Far From the Maddening Crowd-Thomas Hardy 

2. 20th Century Classic (1900-1971)...

                        This Proud Heart-Pearl Buck

3. Classic written by a woman...

                         I Capture the Castle- Dodie Smith

4. Classic in translation...

         The Odyssey (Homer)-translated by Robert Fitzgerald 

5.  Classic written by a non-white author...

                    Up From Slavery- Booker T. Washington

6. Classic author new to you...

              Cry, the Beloved Country-Alan Paton

7. Classic by an author you've read before...

              The Dean's Watch- Elizabeth Goudge

8 Classic with animal in the title...

                The Little White Horse- Elizabeth Goudge

9. Humorous or satirical Classic

                       Screwtape Letters- C.S.Lewis

10. Classical Play...

                      A Winter's Tale- Shakespeare

11. Children's Classic...

                     a Laura Ingalls Wilder book

12. A biography or autobiography...

                      Bonhoeffer- Eric Metaxas

13. A religious classic...

                     In His Steps-Charles M. Sheldon

14. A classic with a Season in the Title...

                 The Solitary Summer- Elizabeth von Arnim

15. A Craft/gardening/or cook book...

        The Geometry of Handsewing-Alabama Chanin

16. A  Grace Livingston Hill  Classic

                        Duskin

17.  A modern novel...

      Peace Like A  River-Leif Enger 

 There are still several holes I will be filling in as the months go by, and these titles are not written in stone. I can change them at the last minute if another choice becomes more desirable. All in all I will be reading more books than are listed in this challenge, my goal here is to simply enjoy reading a wide variety of classics. Nothing difficult about that...

Please share some of your reading choices for 2021.   

 

Monday: cooking, laundry & ironing

 In the hopes of getting a more considerable hold on my week, I have come up with a plan that I hope will prove to work well for this season of my life. I am at home more often and with that I have found I must be more intentional for devising a general flow of getting things done to allow me to feel as if I have accomplished things at the end of the day....and week.

Mondays are now my meal planning and cooking day. I usually make a weekly soup of some sort, whether that involves using the leftovers in the refrigerator or from other ingredients on my pantry shelves, to prepare a tasty and nourishing soup. Soups are usually our lunch fare. Meats for any of the planned dishes for the week's meals are cooked and stored in the refrigerator, and lastly I will bake bread or rolls.  

Today I made a leek and potato soup, prepared the meat for burritos, chopped a head of lettuce for fermenting, and cooked a pot of pinto beans. We still had some cranberry bread left over from last week and there are also some bagels in the bread box so baking was not necessary today. There is a fresh whole chicken in the refrigerator to roast one night this week. I roast a whole chicken at least every week. 

Mondays are also designated as an "empty the clothes hamper" laundry day, which means at least three loads to wash, dry, fold and put away. I also try to set aside time for ironing. I discovered if I maintain a weekly ironing schedule then it will take less than an hour to complete. Sounds easy enough.

winter contradictions

             "I like winter. I like its contradictions: cold but cozy, sparse but beautiful, lifeless but not souless".     -Poppy Adams                                  

     I heard the chimes outside in the cool grayness of the early morning's fog blurring all the fine lines of the landscape. I was in the kitchen standing at the counter with a new ceramic coffee dripper brewing my first cup of morning coffee. The verdict is not out yet deciding if it indeed brews a better cup of coffee.  

Saturday at home with fluctuating weather.  Restless wind, the appearance of the sun for a bit then suddenly disappearing with heavier clouds tight on its heels and even stronger gusts of wind tossing the bare branches. A few snowflakes falling lightly made us "ahh" but knowing they would not last either. As the colder temperatures continued we would glance outside the window and shiver. 

                      I love the sparse beauty of this day. 

the meyer lemon tree's final crown

      This past year has given me lemons and it has been the most satisfying art to be in active observer of each part of the process leading up to the end.

But I must begin at the very beginning of this tale just as all presentable tales must begin. Late fall of 2019 I was the excited giftee of a Meyer Lemon tree. It was a small, unpretentious plant in a pot, certainly nothing to make anyone think great things would come from it. But then lofty hopes are difficult to dispose of when the reality of growing lemons reign high. I set it on a table where the morning sun provided light and warmth for three to four hours daily during the winter months. By December the sweet smell of the blooms were lovely so I attentively and carefully rubbed a Q-tip across  one bloom and, just as I imagined a flitting bee would do, deposited it on another bloom. That was rather fun! Then I waited to see if any lemons would appear, just as I hoped the blooms dropped off and tiny green globes appeared. While several of the tiny buds fell off, three continued to grow...oh so slowly they grew the entire winter and spring. When summer came  the plant was repotted and moved it outside. I continued to fertilize it throughout the summer as the entire plant grew and grew. It was a happy plant, the green lemons grew fat and round on my patio. Everyone remarked about my "limes".  I assured them there were indeed lemons and would turn yellow in due time. By late summer they were just beginning to be yellow, patience had produced the desired fruit.

 

The threat of frost had me bringing the tree inside where the further maturation of the lemons could take place. Finally the time came to harvest the lemons. You can not even imagine my sheer joy of walking into the sun room, plucking a lemon into my hand and returning to the kitchen to make a lemon meringue pie!

One lemon made this pie, and it was delicious.

A lemon drizzle cake was made this past week with another of the lemons, and it too was tasty, sweet and lemony.

I have one more lemon hanging on the tree...any suggestions of what I can make with it?