concerning leaf blowers and doves on a line

(I have been reading through some of the posts in my draft box and I have decided to post this one today...)

"November is chill, frosted mornings with a silver sun rising behind the trees, red cardinals at the feeders, and squirrels running scallops along the tops of the gray stone walls."
– Jean Hersey

 

The mind is free to make connections as one takes a walk, a walk designated for exercise and good health for the body surely, but it is actually so much more. A walk with an active mind is productive for the soul. I go the same route  almost every day consequently, I have met several people along this routine neighborhood walk. These people recognize me as "the one who walks every day", they wave and smile and some even come out to chat a bit every once and a while. What fine acquaintances I note.

 The other afternoon was quite chilly even with the sunshine's warmth. Leaf blowers with their almost invasive noise could be heard on almost every street and I was able to watch, some of them, with toboggan covered heads, moving the leaves across their yards. It was an autumn sound and sight. I looked up and observed a row of doves on the electric line. Since I walk the same pattern most days I have time to think and observe. I have measured the length of miles and I know how long it will take me from leaving home and returning which can be very helpful at times, even when I am delayed by one of my neighbors, and that is okay too. Several years back I spent time on my walk noticing the telephone lines in a particular neighborhood. My own neighborhood has underground lines and we become accustomed to not paying attention to them as a norm. But this particular neighborhood still has the wires and on they had my full attention on this day. I was fascinated with all the wires and mentally weighing all the electrical power running through those lines.

  I love watching doves in my backyard at the feeder. They usually feed on the ground and if you see one you will more than likely see another close by, with their bobbing heads and lovely smooth grayish-hued feathers. Have you ever seen a lone dove? It a most sad sight and makes one wish there was a courtship assistant in the bird world to help in finding them another mate.I would be the first to call.

I have been reading this book lately. 

And while the book does contain a few recipes and it does most certainly talk about food in regard to the Regency era, in essence the root word of diet possesses a deeper meaning than we use in our modern world. 

Diaita in Greek means "way of life". As you can imagine this involves the whole course of a person's lifestyle, to live in such way that involves not only healthy eating, but choosing every routine and habit of healthy living to make your life happy and fulfilled. 

need some hope?

" While there is tea, there is hope."

                                                        Arthur W. Pinero

Practical advice for these times. And with the recent winter snow and the appearance of a wintry moon resembling a pearl in the early morning sky, it just seems like an resolution for those of us with hope to practice often.

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 for 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!