The Rose Garden

1.19.2012

2012-01-19T11:41:00.000-06:00

In my windowsill...

Spring on a bitter-cold day.

***

two thousand twelve

2012-01-09T13:19:00.000-06:00

a Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T13:20:00.001-06:00

Split Rock Lighthouse, 2011

2011-12-02T09:37:00.003-06:00

We got to go with Caleb's family to spend a few days on Lake Superior just before Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time--restful and interesting.

Such a handsome structure, and so vital for the ships of its day.

The lens. It was amazing to learn about this lighthouse--all that went into making it and keeping it going.

Greta was so excited to stomp around in the snow. Sweet face.

The home of the keepers

Having a good time, but maybe a little chilly!

The Man

Even Josiah wanted to peek in the window to read the specs

Auntie Ana and her faithful shadow

Josiah-the-squishy at the museum, enjoying the lego model of the lighthouse

* * * * *

The keepers of this lighthouse were strong and determined, faithful to keep their post in this unpredictable frontier.

Joyful Hymn of Praise 2011

2011-10-24T20:51:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed a performance by the Deo Cantamus Chorale and violinist Luther Warren last Saturday evening. The music was truly beautiful. Handel and hymns, arrangements new and old, a "Joyful Hymn of Praise" to our Lord it was indeed.

Leah, Caleb and Will were part of the chorale. What a joy it was to hear these beautiful songs they've been practicing, now full, all the voices lifted in harmony.

Greta and Josiah knew the pieces from hearing Daddy and Uncle Bill practice them in the evenings. Josiah sat quiet through the whole of Handel's "My Heart is Inditing" that he knows so well and conducted with his little hands.

A great evening.

I look forward to Deo Cantamus' next performance in the spring!

Homish comforts

2011-10-20T11:15:00.000-05:00

We're having some sickie days here.

Poor little Rosie has the worst of it, but she's been a great sport.

Cooking episodes are the comfort-viewing of choice.

We also, thankfully(?), have enough extended family with the same bug to vary the company a bit!

We have had our first coldish days. I am so thankful for my new woodstove! I've delighted in starting fires with marvelous control of the draft. And it has a WiNdOw so I can WaTcH the crackle and the flames! It's all very thrilling.

{crackle, snap...warm}

The Ironing

2011-10-20T10:46:00.002-05:00

"If she wasn't having a baby on Tuesday, my mother ironed. She had three flatirons, which she heated on top of her kitchen range and which she lifted with a detachable handle. She changed irons about every ten minutes as they cooled off. When I awakened on Tuesday morning, I could hear my mother ironing. The handle sqeaked as it was pushed against the flatiron moving across the ironing board."

(Nothing to Do but Stay: My Pioneer Mother, by Carrie Young, pp.42-43 [Iowa City, 1991])

September girl

2011-10-11T10:56:00.000-05:00

October kitchen

2011-10-07T19:46:00.001-05:00

We've had quite a nice Indian summer this year, but the winds of weather change are starting to blow now. The leaves are turning and falling fast. I'm inspired to clean out and brighten my corners before we shut the windows and haul in firewood for the months of cold. This week when I've had time I've worked a bit on the corners of my kitchen. I've brought in pieces of my favorite plants to keep me company when the garden sleeps. I've used the idea (not mine, but much appreciated) of planting in my empty tea tins! I switched out the curtain too; a lovely change and refreshing.

* * *

* * * * *

Bright blue weather

2011-10-06T23:28:00.002-05:00

drying quilts, crunching leaves

I can hear the corn dryer on the big grain bins down the street. It smells like field corn.

Cladonia

2011-10-04T14:39:00.000-05:00

Source: ravel.me via Rita - Red Pepper Quilts on Pinterest

I found this shawl about a month and a half ago and immediately fell in love with it, pattern and color. I love blue and grey. And blue and grey together, in stripes and lace--aahh! What a happy providence when I went to my local supermarket and found those exact colors in the yarn isle. The pattern is Cladonia, by Kirsten Kapur. I started knitting away in some trepidation, my knitting experience being very minimal. I've never done more than a scarf or a washcloth and never with a pattern. I was thrilled to find the pattern easy to follow and marvelously fun to do. Addictive actually. I only had to learn a few new stitches. Olivia made some lovely little beaded stitching markers for me to use. There is a peculiar little jog in the line of increase stitches on the finished product, but it's my first time using markers--what can I expect. I look forward to casting on again and trying another one--pink and cream this time maybe, for Greta.

blue and grey

2011-10-03T10:53:00.000-05:00

I have finally finished the knitting project that I have been working on for the last month and a half. It's beautiful. Now to block it. Finished pictures tomorrow, Lord willing.

a tea

2011-09-28T22:53:00.000-05:00

~for Mama's birthday~

Greta colored an owl for her;

Olivia made a lovely tea, with apple-cinnamon scones

and a poetic collage picture, like she does;

the four of us siblings got her a copy of a book of family photographs.

Lovely.

Will got his braces off!

Centerpiece

2011-09-20T15:23:00.000-05:00

Greta and I have been reading together from Little House in the Big Woods, so we put a kerosene lamp on our table just like Laura had. The leaves are from my climbing rose: white, yellow, pink and green. Colored pencils--so much easier to keep in the lines than crayons, even for little people.

My best buddies

2011-09-16T19:01:00.001-05:00

The three of us, bundled up for a chilly walk to Mimi's house

garden harvest

2011-09-16T09:12:00.000-05:00

* * *

Dahlias

2011-09-15T14:09:00.000-05:00

These are special dahlias. Greta and I picked out the bulbs in the middle of last winter and dreamed of planting them for the months until spring came. Greta would tell me, "When spring comes then we can plant the flowers!" Spring did come and we had a little bulb planting ceremony one afternoon when Mimi was over for tea. And here they are, now full-grown and blooming their gorgeous blooms.

Coloring

2011-09-14T14:36:00.001-05:00

I found the sweetest coloring pages for Greta this morning. Alphabet pages with baby chicks and bird nests and jam to color in, number pages with mittens and socks to color in and count, a whole set of farm animal pictures. Enough to fill many mornings with purposeful coloring!

:: Alphabet Coloring
:: Learning Colors
:: Learning Numbers
:: Farm Friends

(There are many others too, so browse
the site a bit if you like these.)

Sunshine and a nap at Mimi's

2011-09-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

We're drinking in these last warm, sunny days, and Mama's balcony is the perfect place to do that.

(me and my boy)

Cozied into Mimi's pillows

Time in the sun with sister, her with her sailing story and me with my knitting

Their rowan tree with the beautiful orange berries

Yoshi-the-Pooh, awake and rather sunshiney himself

Seventeen

2011-09-12T08:49:00.002-05:00

My beautiful sister, Olivia, turned seventeen on the first of September. She and Ben were able to spend the day with us, and it was such a lovely one.

She is so very much a hobbit that we thought we really should have a birthday celebration of the kind. And so we did. We had such fun preparing it together, and the rest of the family gathered in the evening to enjoy supper with us.

Olivia is my true kindred friend, full of love for her Savior, deeply thoughtful, writer of poetry that so often says the very things I feel and wish to say. The best of company; she'll dance with me to Ella Fitzgerald while we fold laundry, or delight in Handel while we bake. Talk of books or flowers or life or places that interest. I am so thankful for this sister of mine.
~'* *'~ ~'* ~'*

Olivia, elf-friend, slicing mushrooms for the pie~

Lembas from the elves of Lorien (honey shortbread)

To drink, iced herb tea, sweetened with honey

Our feast~ Mushroom pie, green beans with garlic, meatloaf (wrapped in bacon), tomatoes in vinaigrette, brown rice pilaf (with carmelized onion, almond slivers and craisins, with a hint of orange), and juicy miniature grapes.

* * *

Having a hobbit for a sister means that on her birthday you receive clever things spelled out in sweet things to eat!

My present was such a delightful surprise: an evenstar necklace!

I don't have a picture of it yet, since I've been wearing it.
But soon, perhaps. Olivia took one.

And there were presents for her...

Birdbath for a window garden, bare feet, earrings with leaf jewels

Brothers

A print to hang for our lover of ships and sailing

(it's the Brandybuck side)

A surprise gift from a far-away friend~

The smallest hobbit among us had a great time playing patty-cake with Pa;

his favorite part is "rolll-it!"

(We lost her for a bit to this notebook. ;))

A read-aloud of our favorite Lewis quotes, a gift from Daddy

Dessert! A wonderful thing made of meringue, lemon cake, lemon curd and whipped cream.

After the littles went to bed and Mama and Dad had gone home we watched "The Return of the King", as the candles dripped and we munched our lembas. Oh the beauty!

A wonderful time with my favorite people.

(Thank you, each of you, for being the best companions in this life!)

~'* . . . *'~

A bit of hobbitish reading...
Evening at Crickhollow
Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit

Evening Home

2011-09-09T16:46:00.001-05:00

I was able to get the house entirely picked up and vacuumed the other evening. All at one time, thanks to the laundry basket that the little man sat in while he and sister watched for Daddy to come home. It lasted about five minutes, but in the mean time I took a couple of pictures because it made me happy. My home is the best place to be when it's tidy.

I've been drying herbs from my garden for winter again. Sage, thyme, rosemary, tarragon and basil.

The kids have some new rubbermaid drawers to organize their toys into. Very happy.

I envision a tall bookshelf on the back wall of that nook.

You can see the laundry in baskets: dry and folded in the living room and wet in the kitchen. I had a lovely sort of laundry service this week since our dryer wasn't working: I would send it wet to Caleb's mama or mine, and it would come back dried, folded and sorted. My dryer is in working order now--must do laundry myself again!

Corn Days Quilt

2011-09-06T12:22:00.000-05:00

Every year, toward the end of August, our town has their 'Corn Days'. Burgers and all-you-can-eat corn at the park, garage sales and craft stands and pony rides. Greta especially likes the pony rides and the miniature train ride.

Mama found this delightful quilt for me at a rummage sale that weekend. I love it. It sits over the back of the orange chair in my living room.

* * * * * * *

Also every year they have a parade. A good one. We like to sit on Caleb's parents' lawn, conveniently located on the parade route. This year my family joined us, and my Grammy Rose too. Everybody shines up their restored cars and tractors, all the local queens and princesses of this and that dress up and wave to us from their float. Local businesses throw us a year's supply of candy. Motorcycle groups do figure-eights and the fire trucks blare their horn. It's definitely something we look forward to.

(Just a few bits from this year's parade.)

Play Room

2011-09-04T16:47:00.000-05:00

The babies have a beautiful new playroom. I rearranged some beds and made our guest room into a place for the lovelies to keep and play with their toys. They love it so much. Right off the main room where we have the woodstove and eat; near Mama, but their very own.

Auntie Olivia spent last weekend with us and helped me to paint the walls

a most wonderful color of cantaloupe, warm and soft.

* * * * * * *

This weekend has been a lovely one as well. It started off with a lovely Thursday--my dear Olivia's birthday. We spent the day together, putting together a hobbitish feast for my favorite hobbit. The family came to my home for the birthday dinner in the evening; a real joy. I will have to put up some pictures soon. Such a lovely day of memories to keep.

My dear cousin, Michal, was in town this weekend too, along with her mama and brother and our Grammy. We had a birthday supper together last night for her birthday. Such treasures, these days of particular remembrance of the ones we love. Now she's off to her new home and work many miles away. I hope we can see each other again soon. A treasured friend.

And we get another day yet this weekend! A tomorrow with my man not working at his usual job. Time for a roadtrip and supper with extended family. The weather is feeling really Septemberish already. Already?! I think I must make some molasses cookies...mmm, I can smell them now.

Summer Days: a Visit

2011-08-31T22:04:00.001-05:00

Our dear friends the Bankesters came for a week-long visit. We had a string of lovely days together. They stayed at Mama and Dad's, but the kids and I would walk over every morning after breakfast and Caleb would come after work. Talking and laughing, good food and good music.

Greta found a special friend to read stories to her!

Alysha pulling the littles in the wagon

Dad and Jude getting water for Silas

These two were particularly glad to see each other :)

Visiting and baking apple pie

Emmy & Josiah;
Lindsey, Jude & Wilson

*****

The Bankesters' music is really amazing. Bluegrass, beautiful harmonies, talented pickin' and fiddlin'. Oh, it is such a pleasure to listen to! (You can check out their new cd HERE.) One evening we drove to the city to hear them play a concert at Nechville Banjos. A great evening.

* * *

On Thursday evening they did a concert for us here in town.

(Mama had the idea to use records on the wall behind the stage--delightful!)

*****

All too soon it was time for them to pack up the vehicles again and drive back home. Until next time, friends!

Roadtrippin' with Dad

2011-08-31T13:52:00.000-05:00

Summer Days: Wyoming

2011-08-31T13:24:00.001-05:00

Caleb's grandma had her 80th birthday this year! As many of the family as could make it got together for a weekend to celebrate.

The four of us and Caleb's sisters piled into Leah's car and headed down the road in the pre-dawn hours of Friday the 5th. Several hours (and much on-the-road-with-siblings hilarity) later we arrived in the town of Wheatland, Wyoming.

It was really nice to spend time with everyone. We had meals at Grandma Mary's house, a family reunion on Saturday at the beautiful Ayers Natural Bridge, and a family picnic in the park on Sunday after church to wish Grandma a happy birthday.

Ayers Natural Bridge

My buddies, Charity and Stacie, whom I hadn't see for far too long.

us four

The kids and Leah and I went swimming in the river. Whew, was it cold!

Leah was Greta Rose's buddy. :)

* * * * *

Birthday Picnic

Grandma Mary, with her lovely smile

Josiah was entertained by 'Papa' and Ana. :)

Looking at family pictures; the one above left was taken several years ago at Natural Bridge.

Grandma with many of her great grandchildren.

Monday morning early we piled back in the car and drove home. Good memories, all gifts!

pancakes

2011-08-31T08:52:00.000-05:00

Hot from the griddle for breakfast

The Art of Breakfast

2011-08-19T07:52:00.003-05:00

The Art of Breakfast from DannyGregory on Vimeo.

2011-08-04T09:37:00.000-05:00

Summer in a jar~

Herb Tea

***

3 parts Chamomile

2 parts Hibiscus

1 part Peppermint

***

(We like it iced, lightly sweetened with honey.)

August

2011-08-02T13:05:00.001-05:00

This month's calendar picture is making me very happy indeed.

The new arrangement~

2011-08-01T17:40:00.001-05:00

A much nicer arrangement for eating together, to my mind. I am very happy with it.

*******

~BEFORE~

Stuff of dreams

2011-07-30T22:49:00.000-05:00

~From a big farmhouse outside of town~

***************************************************

(But most especially the handsome dude)

Of flowers and herbs

2011-07-28T17:13:00.002-05:00

I love my garden. But you wouldn't have guessed that by now, right? I got a bit of time to weed this morning; I'm a happy girl!

Sisters

2011-07-28T13:52:00.000-05:00

♫"Sisters, sisters/ There were never such devoted sisters"♫

July Garden

2011-07-20T11:18:00.000-05:00

Summer fun

2011-07-20T11:13:00.000-05:00

Splashing with friends

Sibling snuggles

In the wagon, ready to walk to Mimi's house

(It was so hot & humid my camera fogged.)

Singing in their "pool" (aka the unfolded laundry pile)

Coloring

~'* *'~

2011-07-11T19:50:00.000-05:00

* * *

* * * * *

Fresh flowers from my garden

and a lovely new table cloth from a friend

a project

2011-07-06T09:32:00.000-05:00

Little pocket notebooks~

made from printer paper, tea, some bits of

scrapbook paper and my sewing machine

Summer Kaleidoscope

2011-07-05T17:01:00.003-05:00

Singing in the Rain

***

*********

Our precious boy turned One!

We are so thankful for Josiah! Both of our families came for a little party.

Greta helped me to make a delicious chocolate cake with frosting and sprinkles.

Josiah thought it was so yummy. Greta liked that the special candle even had sprinkles on it.

::'~ More and better pictures at Leah's Blog ~'::

***********

Summer means fun in the water!

(getting ready to go in the sprinkler on a hot afternoon)
***

the 4th of July

Family and dear friends,
the waterpark and iced tea,
Caleb's outstanding barbecued ribs
and singing hymns together before dispersing at midnight.

We had a wonderful 4th of July.

(swimming with Daddy and Auntie Leah)

*****

Greta plants a garden

2011-07-01T13:41:00.000-05:00

Greta got a special gift from her Gigi. Four little Lobelia plants of her very own!

She was so very pleased. I gave her a piece of garden in which to tend her little plants.

She planted them so carefully and waters them with her little pink watering can.

~ * ~

2011-06-18T12:51:00.003-05:00

Bountiful berries

2011-06-17T08:53:00.001-05:00

Strawberries. Our first-ever harvest of them. Our strawberry bed is thick with plants and full of berries. Delicious.

* * *

Creamy Iced Jasmine Green Tea

A wonderful drink for summer. Delicious, refreshing and rejuvinating.

I make it up by the quart jar and keep it in my fridge, then take it with me when I'm gardening on a hot day or to church or to a family reunion. Greta loves it too. I keep a straw in mine to stir it.

* * *

SUMMER HAIL

* * *

As near Thy Cross a Garden lay,

So, as we follow in the way,

We find a garden. Pain and loss

Were not the last words of the Cross.

Beyond the sharpness and the strife,

The Easter lily reigns in life.

And singing birds are in the trees;

Were ever singing birds like these?

O Lord, the solemn mystery

Of Cross and Garden beckons me.

Thou who didst never turn Thee back,

Keep my feet steadfast in the track.

~Amy Carmichael~

Mountain Breezes

(p. 232)

Still she sings

2011-06-16T15:01:00.001-05:00

Meet Sadia Moyo, a little girl orphaned and abandoned amidst the horror of the genocide in Sudan. Sadia has been rescued by the brothers there, crazy enough to pour their lives out for Christ and the orphans around them.

We can't comprehend what these children have gone through or the danger that they face every day. I've been reading about the work of Kimberly Smith* and Make Way Partners. Beautiful, ugly, agonizing work to rescue women and children from human trafficking and other forms of slavery. Torn by joy for those they can give safety and hope to and deep pain for the hundreds, thousands and more still suffering.

Please care. Help if you can. Above all pray to our God, the One who hears the cries of the desolate and is our only hope, the only one who can bring justice and peace and redemption.

Sadia is now being cared for. Kimberly writes: Day by day, Sadia takes the new girls under her wing, teaching them how to make tea, clean up, and find joy.

She sings, "I have power, in Jesus I have power...Lord Jesus give me power every hour."

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

* * * *

Do you want to know me?

***

*Warning: Some of the content in these links is appalling and deeply disturbing. It is also really happening.

Family Reunion

2011-06-15T15:52:00.001-05:00

My Great-Grandparents, Robert & Erma, and their children
(my Grandpa Bob is top right)

Last Saturday both my family of origin and my own little family got in our big green van and drove to a beautiful dairy farm belonging to my mama's cousin and her husband for a family reunion. The gathering was for Mama's family, on her dad's side.

It was such a pleasant day. Blue sky, bright sunshine and time to visit with relatives.

Mama, Aunt Emma and our hostess, Mama's cousin, Julie

Basketball

The lunch line

Eating with cousins, visiting with Uncle Kevin

Mama found a baby to snuggle

Mama and her Aunt Linda

There was even a calf just waiting for a little friend.

What a beautiful place it was.

I like cows.

Pa even blew bubbles for the littles!

***

Great-Grandpa Robert & Great-Grandma Erma

(left & middle)

Mama with her Grandma Erma -->

My Grandpa Bob

***

My very own dad and mama

2011-06-15T08:34:00.000-05:00

"[I]t is beyond all ordinary rules that I, a poor, helpless, undone sinner, should find grace to bear about in my soul the indwelling Spirit of the Lord Jesus. I, who once despaired, as well I might, for my nature was as dry, and withered, and barren, and accursed as a howling wilderness, even I have been made to bring forth fruit unto holiness. Well may my mouth be filled with joyous laughter, because of the singular, surprising grace which I have received of the Lord, for I have found Jesus, the promised seed, and He is mine for ever.This day I will lift up psalms of triumph unto the Lord who has remembered my low estate...."

~ C.H.Spurgeon
from Morning & Evening
(June 15, Morning)

Nigella

2011-06-14T22:43:00.000-05:00

Late night succor.

Trying to get a tired yet wakeful teething one to sleep.
Nigella to the rescue as my eyelids droop.

I never get tired of these episodes.

2011-06-09T16:14:00.001-05:00

Kitchen Shelf

as I found it
in the afternoon light

2011-06-08T17:24:00.003-05:00

2011-06-07T21:17:00.001-05:00

Mr. Squishy,

teething and tired, crawling around my legs and banging the cupboard doors.

Mommie's camera flash is so bright!

(Even prettier, I think, than a freshly shined bottom of a pan is the first use after...blues and pinks and a star.)

All in a day's work...

June

2011-06-07T10:00:00.013-05:00

PATIO GARDEN

* * * * *

AMONG THE MOSS AND FERNS

My Japanese Painted Fern

* * * * *

WEST
.

* * * * *

KITCHEN WINDOW

* * * * *

LINEN

It really does shimmer bronze in the sunshine.

* * * * *

Kitchen Cleaning

2011-06-06T07:04:00.004-05:00

When those dishes pile up and everything is in disarray, my little buddies and I have a sort of kitchen party. We plug in the twinkle lights and put on our favorite cooking episodes.

I wash up and the littles keep me company: Greta watches Nigella and colors and Josiah pulls things off of shelves.
.

You've gotta have something good to eat while Nigella makes cupcakes--Greek yogurt with maple syrup and strawberries!

Often we have these little clean-up times on a Sunday evening. It's such a blessing to be able to start the week off with at least one well-straighted area. :)

I even had time to shine my pans.

Evening Prayer

2011-06-05T17:57:00.001-05:00

From Poems, by C.S.Lewis (pp. 129-130):

THE APOLOGISTS'S EVENING PRAYER

From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity,
Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle's eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.

* * *

FOOTNOTE TO ALL PRAYERS

He whom I bow to only knows to whom I bow
When I attempt the ineffable Name, murmuring Thou,
And dream of Pheidian fancies and embrace in heart
Symbols (I know) which cannot be the thing Thou art.
Thus always, taken at their word, all prayers blaspheme
Worshipping with frail images a folk-lore dream,
And all men in their praying, self-deceived, address
The coinage of their own unquiet thoughts, unless
Thou in magnetic mercy to Thyself divert
Our arrows, aimed unskillfully, beyond desert;
And all men are idolators, crying unheard
To a deaf idol, if Thou take them at their word.

Take not, oh Lord, our literal sense. Lord, in Thy great,
Unbroken speech our limping metaphor translate.

* * *

AFTER PRAYERS LIE COLD

Arise my body, my small body, we have striven
Enough, and He is merciful; we are forgiven.
Arise small body, puppet-like and pale, and go,
White as the bed-clothes into bed, and cold as snow,
Undress with small, cold fingers and put out the light,
And be alone, hush'd mortal, in the sacred night,
--A meadow whipt flat with the rain, a cup
Emptied and clean, a garment washed and folded up,
Faded in colour, thinned almost to raggedness
By dirt and by the washing of that dirtiness.
Be not too quickly warm again. Lie cold; consent
To weariness' and pardon's watery element.
Drink up the bitter water, breathe the chilly death;
Soon enough comes the riot of our blood and breath.

2011-06-03T15:28:00.000-05:00

:: The marinara sauce bubbling away on my stove smells amazing. I cannot wait to eat it. Is pasta really necessary?

:: I moved my rhododendron bush from the garden next to my house to my patio garden. It's perfect. With it goes a good deal of my gardening affection, so the patio is the center of my gardening fancies at present.

:: A morning conversation with my mother was just what the doctor ordered. Ruminations on life, home, philosophy, children, theology, books. Inspiration for my day, humid and warm though it may be.

:: I think that 'petite diced tomatoes' are just the right size. Not too large and they still have texture. Also, lemonade sweetened with agave nectar makes me happy. So refreshing.

:: My man and I have started another project. A pergola, of sorts, to keep our woodpile and lawn mower dry and neat. I think it's going to be lovely, especially when I garden around it and have vines climbing up it and hanging baskets with flowers.

This little boy loves dirt. This week he discovered the bliss of freedom to smoosh it as he pleases. Such delight! Getting him to stay on the quilt to keep him clean for our supper plans was a challenge. :)

Sweetie after her nap

Spring's fragrance

2011-05-25T16:07:00.000-05:00

Garden-planting with the Aunts

2011-05-20T14:17:00.000-05:00

toes

2011-05-19T11:05:00.002-05:00

Busy boy

2011-05-18T16:49:00.001-05:00

All worn out from a morning gardening with Mama, little fingers still grubby from the dirt he was playing with.

Sister was so nice to bring him some animals to play with. See those sun-kissed cheeks and arms? I can't believe he's going to one year old next month.

Posie

2011-05-17T15:43:00.001-05:00

from Gramma Connie's wonder-full flower garden

75¢

2011-05-17T07:20:00.001-05:00

~my new favorite~

75th

2011-05-16T10:28:00.001-05:00

My Grandma had a birthday last weekend. Actually both of my Grandmas did, but we were able to share a birthday supper for Grandma Edna at Aunt Karen's. It was lovely. Greta was so pleased to go to Aunt Karen's and to see Great-Grandma Edna. :)

Rhubarb cake!

Josiah found the tupperware cupboard--oh joy!

He and Greta had the greatest time playing with them. :)

2011-05-14T09:59:00.003-05:00

My guy,

doing what he does so well.

A bit of weekend work.

2011-05-13T15:40:00.001-05:00

"Come forth, ye blossoms! --over hill and lea,
A breathe of sweetness wantons with the sea;
And mid the smiles and tears of tender Spring,
On dripping boughs I heard the throstle sing:
Ye cups and stars that strew the fair, green field,
Ye wings of gold the prickly gorses yield;
Ye pensive bells to purple pageants born,
Ye milk-white may-buds of the mantling thorn,
Ye violet gems and eyes of sapphire blue;
Wan, flushing wind-flowers and shy elfin crew
Of every crannied wall, --come forth!-- and fling
Your vernal showers around me while I sing;"

'A Song of Salutation' E.M.Holden

Spring

2011-05-12T11:46:00.001-05:00

Mother's Day

2011-05-12T11:16:00.000-05:00

Both of our dear mothers live in our town this year; Caleb and I are so blessed. After worshipping together in the morning we all gathered at my mom and dad-in-law's home for dinner grilled by Caleb (having again our menu from Christmas Day, a very favorite now). Our brothers and sisters helped to prepare the steaks and salads; it was a joy to do it together--Caleb and I, being the oldests of our siblings, have a precious window in time where we can have them around for all of these celebratory meals.

The guys know how to get things done...

even grinding pepper!

'Papa' (Caleb's dad) is one of Yoshi's special buddies

The good-looking griller guy

(So pleased with her new shoes)

Oh, look...it's Rosie and me :) (Will took these first three: thanks!)

Josiah's first swing ride! He was thrilled.

Croquet!

Evening on the lawn

{Family and memories I'm so thankful for.}

Monday afternoons

2011-05-09T16:20:00.001-05:00

Kneading dough with Mimi

Crocheting and a good listen

Sewing when there's a minute

Copious drafts of hot tea

(Barry's Irish Breakfast!)

The one to whom we owe the mid afternoon fresh chocolate chip cookies

Just awake from naps

Mama smooches

2011-04-26T11:37:00.000-05:00

He is Risen, Indeed!

Alleluia!

A generous dose of grandpas

Nana's Birthday with Gigi

(so wonderful to see her)

***

With every breath I take, with every heart beat,

Sunrise and the moon lights in the dark street.

Every glance, every dance, every note of a song.

It's all a gift undeserved that I shouldn't have known.

Every day that I lie, every moment I covet

I'm deserving to die, I'm just earning your judgment.

I, without the cross there's only condemnation.

If Jesus wasn't executed there's no celebration.

So in times that are good, in times that are bad,

For any times that I've had it all I will be glad.
And I will boast in the cross. I boast in my pains.
I will boast in the sunshine, boast in his reign.
What's my life if it's not praising you.
Another dollar in my bank account of vain pursuit.
I do not count my life as any value or precious at all.
Let me finish my race, let me answer my call.

(from "Boasting" by Lecrae)

2011-04-19T10:36:00.000-05:00

From our cold and overcast morning~
{Listening to Mozart's Vespers}

{Greta-girl of sweetness, baking with her pink playdough}

{my new most favorite utensil-treasures}

{my fairy tree}

weekend

2011-04-18T10:22:00.000-05:00

Lovelies from another day with my friend and her babies.

Not pictured here: tasty warm meals, our [muddy] guys in for dinner, hot lavender tea, sniffles & coughs among the troops, naps (sort of...), baths (!!), dishes, laundry --all made better by having a friend to do them with.

happy dude

2011-04-18T08:14:00.000-05:00

Josiah loves to play the piano--

he must belong in this family!