another book

baking

~orange cranberry walnut~ ...wow

Frost

It has gone up a big nine-tenths of a degree since I woke up this morning...so now it's 4.1 degrees F. I am glad for a woodstove full of good logs. My porch windows are covered in the most lovely frost patterns. Like leaves they are. I love to see the rosy hues of the sunrise behind thick frost.

afternoon sunshine

altered book

sunshine and wood shavings

Thanksgiving

I was reading back over some blog posts from my dad-in-law's blog here at Toward a Godward Passion, and I found in this one a quote by a one Alleine that so beautifully illustrated a feeling that I know so well. You should go read it. "...Like the needle in the compass, that is restless till it be turned toward the pole." I love it.

These frosty, snowy balls hung from yarn that is as fluffy as a snowdrift make me so very happy. All we need is some snow on the ground to match them!

The reason for eternal thanksgiving!

The Supper of Thanksgiving

by Horatius Bonar (1801-1889)

For the bread and for the wine,

For the pledge that seals Him mine,

For the words of love divine,

We give Thee thanks, O Lord.

For the body and the blood,

For the more than angel's food,

For the boundless grace of God,

We give Thee thanks, O Lord.

For the chalice whence we sip

Moisture for the parched lip,

For the board of fellowship,

We give Thee thanks, O Lord.

For the feast of love and peace

Bidding all our sorrows cease,

Earnest of the kingdom's bliss,

We give Thee thanks, O Lord.

For the paschal lamb here given,

For the loaf without the leaven,
For the manna dropt from heaven,

We give Thee thanks, Oh Lord.

Only bread and only wine,

Yet to faith the solemn sign

Of the heavenly and divine!

We give Thee thanks, O Lord!

pinecone project

Last night, while my man was building cabinets in the garage with his dad (as usual!), Ana, Leah, and I had a lovely time making sparkly pinecones to decorate with this winter. Ana and Leah had gotten the idea, picked their pinecones and bought gold and silver paint and then invited me to bring my pinecones over to join the fun! We needed to paint them outside so we’d have proper ventilation (the garage being full of lovely wood cabinets), so we set up outside on the front step…even though it was only 33 degrees out. The pinecones turned out lovely! I enjoyed setting them out around my house once they were dry. They are so lovely to look at…gilded in gold or sparkling with frost-like silveryness. You’ll have to check out my sisters-in-law’s blogs to see how theirs turned out because I imagine they will be posting about their pineconial progress as well. :)

cooking notebook

I'm having fun adding recipes to my cooking notebook. Hurrah for holiday baking and trying new recipes!

bits and pieces

I'm back home today...so glad to see my man, but missing my mama and siblings' company during the day while he's at work!

more such things

My duck-carving, flatpicking brother, who also got a deer this week!

A Few Days at the Farm

My handsome man is away for a couple of days on a business trip this week, so while he is away I am visiting my parents and siblings on their farmplace. I drove here early this morning so I could enjoy a whole day with my peoples. It is a grey, windy November day...wonderful for doing school and cooking dinner, washing dishes and drinking tea, listening to cozy music and doing crafts at the kitchen table together. I love family life. The extra time with my people is so lovely.

fresh eggs ~':: Jesus--the reason for everything that we do ~':: tea steeping ~':: the duck-carving handiwork of my talented brother

a lovely farmhouse table setting ~':: herbs in for the winter ~':: a farmhouse dinner...oh, yum.

My project this afternoon was to make the ornaments for the Jesse Tree my man and I hope to have this year. I got the ornaments from Ann Voskamp's ebook. I printed them out, cut them out, and glued a piece of lovely coordinating cardstock to them for a back. The gold ribbon is the perfect finishing touch! They are so beautiful. I look forward to having them in my home. (I used the smaller ornament size.)

Morning light through white ~':: Eagerly thumbing through my favorite baking book for delicious holiday recipes ~'::

Stacks of folded, creamy-colored softness ~':: Trying to bring a pretty sort of order to a smallish kitchen ~'::