A moment...

This is a short, scattered and rambling post! =)

I have so much that I could say!

Our family has been lost in a maze of renovations all year. It's so hopeful - so exciting - and... we feel so displaced. I've disappeared from most places - not just blogland. The trouble is, even though so many happy, pleasant and lovely things are still happening, when I look around me, everything is a mess! Just everything - everywhere - a mess. And this is our reality. Life is good but it gets messy!

It can be a jumble.

I need quiet so badly! I need solitude! I need order in my surroundings!!!

SO!!

I have been thinking - for a whole year, now, actually (and this is where the so much to say comes in....) I've been thinking about what 'perfect' really is - but I won't go into it. I just want to say that I've been ruminating about it and my thoughts become more and more free.

(And, really, I'm not changing the subject, here.)

I love how Erin, the beauty at Floret Flower Farm blog, does a 'This Moment' on Fridays.

It's wordless.... just a moment to capture - to be thankful for - a sweetness to remember.

So, even though I've got words, here. I am going to try to do the same thing on Fridays.

Here is my moment from this week.

It's amazing what happens when the world is blustery outside and the power goes out and everyone else in the family goes off to boy scouts....

and this view... it isn't styled - it isn't perfect. I've only just 'stuck' things on the mantle and the kettle is still on the hearth from when I blew the fuse in the kitchen because I was doing too many things at once. But this was a perfectly boring and beautiful moment this week! =)

But, wait! I have two moments to share....

it snowed all morning on Wednesday! I went pumpkin shopping! =)

xo

The Rose Garden

The basic story is this:

I had been very busy, this past spring and it had been raining, literally, nonstop... and so it came to pass that I didn't quite realize until the buds were ripe and heavy on the vine, that the roses had been conspiring to surprise us with the most gobsmacking show of proliferation and beauty!

It was tremendous!! And that's it! =) That's what happened. The rain stopped, the sun shone out and the buds opened and I have nothing else to say but it was grand!!

=)

 

 

xo

What season is it?

What can I say? It looks like I'm about to blog about my garden but... nope!! No sensical, orderly blogging will come to me (and, trust me, I've been trying); so, I will blog where my thoughts seem to want to go. And, what I really want to say is that, although amazing and wonderful things have been happening around here, life is just not perfect!!

Do you ever feel like you're trying to do the old circus act of keeping a bunch of plates spinning at the top of thin poles all at once? Well, I'm pretty talented at getting a bunch of them going but, eventually - crash!! Er, the crash would be my house. My garden. My exercising. My prayer time. (whooops!!) And my blogging. Things are not quite right with the world but, happily, I've made it through all the excitement and life is turning back into the wonderful humdrum that I love! I mean, can I hear an 'Amen!' from the choir, here?! Anyone know what I'm talking about or do you all have it perfectly together at all times? ;)

So, life not being perfect, these are pics from last year's garden because, sadly, none of my delphiniums made it through the winter. I've got some new pots of them but haven't had a chance to put them in the ground, yet. And, oh - the lilacs, this year WERE perfect and the roses INCREDIBLE!

But this post is about strawberry picking.... strawberry picking, last year!!

(last year's flowers!)

(Last year's strawberries!)

When I first moved to Vermont, our church used to put on a spectacular 'strawberry supper' for about 200 people. A group of us would go out early the morning before and pick and pick and pick and pick and pick and eat quite a bit, too - that might be why it took so long to fill all those flats!

Well, we don't do the suppers anymore and this was the first time that the boys had ever gone picking. We picked one flat with the intention of making our own strawberry jam!

Keep pickiiiinnnngggg....

Well, three of us picked while Toby sampled and supervised!

And there was the most horrific and gruesome accident while we were there!! =O

(Those of you with sensitive sensibilities may want to look away for a moment!)

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(Yup! I'm the mother of three boys!!)


(um, a grasshopper from last year!)

Well, we made jam but saved some strawberries out for strawberry shortcake. I made homemade biscuits for the first time and discovered that they're ridiculously easy to make!

As for the jam, after two attempts at boiling, adding pectin and lots more sugar, we have lovely, runny ice cream topping!! (They make wonderfully sticky and oozing PB&Js, too!!!) And, actually, I think that the reason my psyche insisted that I write this post is because it is trying to tell me something.

It is trying to tell me that those jars of strawberry goop from last year would work just as well on shortcake this year, too!!

Perfect!!! =)

xo

George Washington Slept Here!

Hello! Do you remember me?? I miss all of you so very much!! I miss this little journal desperately and have so many things waiting to share!

I just couldn't let this Fourth of July, Independence Day pass without sharing these pictures. In fact, I've been waiting all year to show you these, since, these were from last year's celebrations!

And, last year, it was another homemade, very casual, easy event! I gardened for most of the day and was pretty tired; so, I cooked and Mom (MIL - a.k.a. the lady next door, up the hill) let us use her clean house to eat in since thunderstorms threatened!

I am not very gifted with large, family style salads and was determined to make a good one, this time. And, it was!! So fresh and crisp!! I can't remember what else we ate, though. =/ Apparently, I was too busy enjoying the moment to take pics. I just remember the fun!! =)

Inbetween dinner and dessert, we had a 21 spud salute with the potato gun (from Lliam's science project. That thing comes in handy and it's such a comfort to know that if zombies or squirrels ever DO invade the world, we'll be ready to turn them into mashed potatoes!)

Then, as dusk fell, we headed down to the little pond behind the barn for s'more dessert and s'more noisy fun and chatting into the wee hours with the fireflies and mosquitoes!

It was grand!!

My sister was trying to write a message for you.... I think it says 'Happy Fourth of July'!! ;)

 

Great Grandma!! =)
(She lives next door, too, in a cozy and adorable hobbit hole underneath MIL's house!)

And this one has a message for the future, too! I think it says, 'snow'!!
(I like to think so, anyway, it's so hot and humid today...)

So,

Off I go to make potato salad and shuck corn!!

Happy Fourth of July to you!! =)

xo