Last night, a very rainy night indeed, Rich and I took Jacob, David, Caleb, Seth, and Sarah with us to hear Grace’s middle school chorus concert.  As we got ready to go, it felt like just another rushed activity; where’s Sarah’s blanket, I gotta iron Grace’s shirt, Seth you can’t wear David’s cleats to the concert, will Rich get home in time to ride with us, Jacob come on let’s go, where’s Caleb, we need to leave in 20 minutes, did everyone eat, I don’t have time to put the leftovers away I’m sure they’ll be fine….etc….

Grace kept saying “I need to be there by 5:58!”

Though I was trying very hard not to be, I was just a little bit frazzled.

Friends, oh my friends, the concert was amazing.  I would not have missed it for the world.

You must understand, I grew up singing in my public school’s chorus.  I loved it.  I loved singing, practicing, following a good director, making great friends who also loved to sing, learning new songs, being challenged, performing….oh the joys of performing as a group, finally, after learning all those songs and working so hard to perfect them. 

After attending a tiny private school for 2 years, and homeschool for 5 years, Grace is now a public school girl; and thriving like I’ve never seen before. 

I wish you could have seen her last night.  The smiles!  She was up there on the risers, shoulder to shoulder with other girls, crowded together with her chorus “family” (as her director has taught them).

The director was fun, relaxed, and talented.  It’s obvious the children love him.  He’s a big, happy guy…and incidentally, he has a little daughter named Grace. 

The songs blew me and rest of the audience (a packed house) away.  They sang  “California Dreaming”, “Song For the Unsung Hero”, and “Dance Evolution” (extremely fun medley, complete with choreography on risers.)  The chorus was excellent; good diction, great dynamics, and lots of expression.  You could tell they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

We were watching our girl and she was smiling big and singing loud and I wiped little tears from my eyes.

At the end of the night, she came away with a reward for “The Best 7th Grade Rookie of the Year”.  Her director had such praise for her as he talked about who she was, and how well she has done, and handed her a certificate in the midst of cheers from the school children, her many friends.

We were so proud of her, and her brother David clapped louder and longer than anyone in the room.

There is a playground right next to Davy’s little league field.  It’s so close that it’s possible to watch the game and watch the little ones run around & play (mama multitasking at it’s best).

Last night Davy hit good and played first base.  What I notice the most about him is the way he smiles as he plays.  It makes me smile, too.

Gracie dressed Sarah in the skirt.  It’s the one I made for her out of Jacob’s old t-shirt. 

I admit, I had a little bit of a hard time focusing on the game because I couldn’t keep my eyes of my baby.

She’s a darling little girl. 

I will be the gladdest thing under the sun!

I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds with quiet eyes,

Watch the wind bow down the grass,

And the grass rise.  ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

My brother Nathan came for a visit this weekend, with his wife Melissa.  They have two young children, Makayla and Gregory, and it was such fun to have them come and play at Uncle Rich and Aunt Shanda’s house (with all those cousins).  This will be a family photo album post, with lots of pictures.

Rich was doing more landscaping this weekend, and little Gregory loved riding with him.  He was on there so long that *yawn* he started getting sleepy, but not too sleepy to get excited every time they picked up a huge boulder out of the pond.

Caleb and Makayla did a lot of exploring together.  Caleb even put on his American Revolution costume.  He looks smashing in those knickers.  After one exploration, they very thoughtfully came back with a pretty bouquet of wild flowers (now sitting in the middle of the kitchen table).

In the afternoon, Melissa and I took the five youngest children for a walk. 

We discovered springtime’s first lady slipper, and bent down on our knees for a closer look.

I ate a wintergreen berry, it was sweet and delicious.

We all ate violets from the field.

We kept our eyes open to the wonders around us. 

Watching children enjoy and play in God’s world is one of the pleasures of living.

She watched me take a picture of the other children and then went and perched on the log, herself.

I think we had the most fun at the water hole.

In no time at all, the shoes were off and little bare toes were enjoying the water.

They never wanted to leave.

The camera came out later on in the day, for frog catching time.

 Nathan

 Grace

 birds

We watched the birds this weekend.  We had two spring first timers come to the feeders; a Baltimore Oriole, and (not pictured) a Grosbeak.  The black and white bird with the oriole in this picture is a downy woodpecker.

(I am sitting on the porch as I write this, surrounded by birdsong.)

We don’t see Flickers Red Bellied woodpeckers (sorry for the wrong label previously!) at the feeder often.  They are such beautiful birds.

Yesterday, after Nate and Melissa left, Rich and I made this new garden under the feeders.  I have more ideas for the flower bed, but the basic theme is there.  It’s my WHITE GARDEN, which I have wanted to do for a few years now because white flowers seem to glow at twilight.

Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal approve.

 “All outdoors is warm and bright

Robins sing with all their might.

And the garden seems to be

Just the place for you and me.”  J.Bowman

“Just a little way beyond, where the grass already had a good start, and where the ground was damp but not really wet, Peter found the little friends he had been sure were there.  On long smooth stems they lifted their beautiful blue faces to the sky whose color they matched.  Some were light blue, some were dark blue, and a few were even striped.  Each had a heart of gold.”  ~Burgess Flower Book for Children, Thornton W Burgess, 1923

Making Jelly

I took 2 cups freshly picked violets, plucked from the field, (with help from Grace) and poured 2 cups boiling water over the top.

We had to let them steep overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day, I strained the violets from the liquid.

This is the color of violets, before adding 1/4 cup lemon juice

After a stirring of lemon juice, the violet water instantly turned color, which was a thrill indeed.

I boiled the violet water with sugar and pectin, poured into jars, and processed for 10 minutes.

Yield:  4 cups

Grace and I watched Pride and Prejudice as I worked in the kitchen, on a Sunday afternoon. 

It’s the perfect movie, we discovered, for making such a sweet thing as violet jelly.

This morning, I took Seth and Sarah with me back to the field to pick two more cups of violets.

I wanted to try a different recipe, just for fun and to compare the two variations.

This time, violets were simmered in 2 cups of boiling water for 10 minutes.

After straining the violets from the water, I added the liquid back to the pan with pectin, sugar, and lemon juice.

After boiling for 5-8 minutes, I filled an 8oz jar with the jelly, screwed on the lid, and inverted the jar for about 15 minutes, and it sealed just fine.

This particular recipe made less jelly for the violets (only 1 cup), but it also used far less sugar and lemon juice, and didn’t take nearly as long to make. 

This is a jar from yesterday, and the lone jar from this morning.  Today’s is a darker shade of purplish.

Rich’s reaction to my violet jelly:  “Are you going to make grass jelly next?”

(was it bad that I briefly considered it?)

This is the truest photo for the color.  I used the leftover pan scrapings of today’s batch and served it over unsalted butter on piece of bread.

Isn’t it a beautiful color?  It tastes of lemon, field, flowers, and grape lollipop.  Quite satisfying.

For yesterday’s four cup batch I used this recipe.

For today’s one cup jar I used this recipe.

There are a lot of different recipes on the internet, I just browsed them until I found a couple that would work for me.

I hope you enjoyed the photos, I was quite excited to share this beautiful experience with my friends here. 

It’s been a joy to use my favorite spring flower to make a sweet treat for my family.  I plan to make thumbprint cookies very soon, using my pretty jelly to fill them.

“….who can look at the Meadow Violet nestling amid the young grass of the meadow and not love it?”  ~T.Burgress