There is an older gentleman down the road who grows a most fantastic garden every year.  He sells the bountiful produce by the side of the road at the end of his driveway.  This week, indeed this very moment, I am working through a bushel of his tomatoes, making and canning a basic tomato sauce.  Yesterday I did four quarts, and as I sit in my cushioned rocking chair which my son pulled in from the porch, I am keeping an eye on a simmering pot of batch number two.

There is a contentedness in preserving food, although it does take hours to complete the process from start (sterilizing the jars) to finish (cleaning up the kitchen).  What I love about canning is using the fresh produce which has been grown in the local earth, water, and fresh air.  I’m making tomato sauce which contains not only tomatoes, but the heart and soul of people I know and love.  Every time I pop open a jar throughout the next three seasons, I’ll say a thank you prayer.

Our local gardener extraordinaire is currently selling his property, so next year the tomatoes will hopefully come from even closer to the kitchen, like, from my own (bigger) garden.  Tomato sauce from the yard will truly be wondrous (and something my mom has been doing for years and years)……..goals and dreams for the coming years.  

For this sunny late afternoon, I putter away in the kitchen with a little help from my daughter and we work, cut, drop, stir the pot, simmer, sift, and simmer some more, fill the jars and process.



view from where I sit in my rocker, a bubbling kitchen



my chair, book, and phone to text husband who is stranded at the airport



when I got up to stir I turned around to find a sad boy.  why is he sad?

because Grace and E won’t jump on the trampoline with him and he doesn’t want to go to school next week.

In other news:

it will eventually be covered up but we will always know our names are under the fireplace hearth

We wrote our names in wet cement in our new addition.

And Sarah drove her brothers crazy by remarking OVER and OVER that SHE got a new magazine when she went shopping with mama today.  It’s hers.  She got it with mom.  It’s Strawberry Shortcake.  But it’s hers.  Don’t touch it, you two.  You two cannot have it.  She got it today while shopping with mom.  It’s her new magazine, etc.  Finally, (after ignoring her didn’t stop the talking) Caleb, still playing with trains, yelled, “I don’t WANT your magazine!  I don’t even LIKE Strawberry Shortcake, Sarah!”

“You must taste and taste.  Taste everything, and often.  Taste even if you’re scared.”  Tamar Adler

The earth is full of the goodness of God…
Psalms 33:5b

Hello, dear friends.  The laptop is back in my lap and so I take a moment this morning to say hello and share some simple photos of some little creatures in the great outdoors.  I was thinking recently, that it has been a while since I’ve taken a good long hike.  Maybe you are like me, in a stage of summertime life with lots of busy children around, and there is no time for walking for hours through the woods and fields.  Thankfully, there is a lot to see and observe just around the yard.  All of these pictures were taken down at the bottom of our property, not far from the stream.  I was down there again last night, snapping away, and thinking how blissful it was to be under the twilight sky and hearing the (MY!) little ones running around the house above me, laughing and calling to one another at the end of the day…….

Yellow swallowtail butterfly on a lavender Joe-Pie-Weed flower.

A tiny yellow spider, gripping a helpless bumble bee around the neck.  On goldenrod.

My son in the stream.  He was watching a frog.

Frog in the afternoon sun, in a cozy wet spot by the edge of our pond.

Lady bug.

Bumblebee on Joe-Pie-Weed.

This is a common garden spider, commonly known as the black and yellow garden spider, writing spider, or corn spider.  I am familiar with these from childhood and often came very close to running through their webs as I played across the road in the blueberry patch.  I hated them, they filled me with the creeps and their webs always seem to be right at my waist, impossible to avoid.  They still give me a shiver, but as I was reading about them this morning I found myself fascinated.  One interesting fact is that they eat the middle of their web every evening (perhaps because of tiny particles and insects which have been caught during the day) and spin a new one in the morning.

Queen Anne’s lace is abundant at this time of year and is a very interesting flower.

Groundnut



dragonfly; it was sitting so still that I gave it a poke to see if it was alive.  It was.

The brownness of the Queen Anne’s lace against the purple of the Groundnut, so beautiful.

A brown mama spider, guarding her babies.  I’m pretty sure this is a harmless Grass Spider.

“O Lord of love and kindness,
who created the beautiful earth
and all the creatures walking and flying in it,
so that they may proclaim your glory,
I thank you to my dying day
that you have placed me amongst them.”

St Francis of Assisi

My computer is doing some reeeeeally scary things and I’m afraid that it has a virus, or possibly 10 or more different ones at once.  So, I’m going to post this one last post and then take it to the doctor at Best Buy.  I know I’ve been terrible at visiting other blogs lately, it’s because of my computer problems.  I’ll be around as soon as possible, I miss you guys!

Pictures:

I heartily recommend this book.

my funny chickens

Gary has me practicing up four hymns that he picked for this Sunday’s Bible study at my house.  Of course they are all fast moving ones so I need to practice every day.  I had to laugh when Silkie got up on the keys to keep me company.

I was picking wildflowers from the side of the road yesterday and found a blueberry bush.  I was picking some to give to Seth when we saw THIS SNAKE IN the bush!  I guess he likes berries, too?

Our kittens give us continual pleasure, they are so funny and love to play…and, sit in sunbeams.

Our new addition is coming along nicely, I’m dreaming of moving in!  I’ll have a whole little room just for me, a pantry!  With a window!

What a four year old boy does when you aim the camera at him.  I love you, Seth.

I love this picture of Ethan and his dog.  Ethan chose and ordered the cross necklace for himself from amazon.  Then, he wondered why it took almost 2 weeks to arrive; it was shipped directly from CHINA.  🙂

This is the first crop of peaches from our tree and it’s loaded.  I can’t wait until they ripen.

Jacob and Ethan are starting their fall H.S. sports this week.  Ethan is trying out for soccer and Jacob is trying out for football.  Grace has been practicing her script for Drama and asking the boy lots of questions about the rules in High School.  High School!  I could cry, really, I could. 

love.  Shanda

and we couldn’t resist the fedoras.

Being put to sleep to get teeth removed, in the grand scheme of things, really isn’t that big of a deal.  However, for our little family, it was a situation that caused some anxiety and a few days of painful recovery for my dear husband and eldest child, Jacob.

What took me by surprise, however, was the example of love that Rich showed for his son.  Rich was called in to the office first to get three teeth pulled.  It was standard procedure, but one of his teeth had to be broken in order for the doctor to remove it.  When they called me in to be with him in the recovery room, he was coming out of the anesthesia, extremely groggy and out of it, holding a tiny piece of tooth in his hands.  He kept trying to sit up, and the nurse and I kept encouraging him to lay back and rest.  His mouth was full of gauze, he was so confused, and my heart was aching to see my strong husband in such a vulnerable state.   I pulled a tissue from the box to dab at the little tears forming at the corners of his closed eyes.  The only thing, the one thing on his heart, wasn’t his own pain, but his Jake.  “How’s Jake?”  he mumbled.  “Go to Jake.”  He spoke several times, needing and wanting to get up and go to his son.  It broke my heart, knowing that Jacob was having his own wisdom teeth out at that very moment and Rich wanted to be with him through it.  I stood by his chair and held him in my arms as we waited together.

As soon as Jacob was in recovery, the nurse came to get me.  I left Rich to sleep, and went to sit with Jacob.  I was there not five minutes when I heard a nurse call, “He’s up and walking without assistance!”  Both nurses rushed to Rich’s side as he made his way to his dear son.  “How are you, Jake?”  he mumbled, as he patted him and sat down by him.  They were together as they slowly came back out their confusion. 

I’ll never forget it.  If I ever had a doubt that Rich cared, and cared deeply, this small adventure in the oral surgeon’s office blew all the doubts away.  I was reminded once again, that I am married to sincere and loving man, who loves his family and children in a way that amazes me.  I am so thankful.

While Jacob spent a couple days on the couch, sleeping a lot, Rich was up the day after his procedure to get back to work.  It would take more than just a few teeth being pulled to keep him home from work and he always feels better staying active when something is bothering him.  He kept busy on Saturday, too, but we did take an hour to go sit at the playground to watch our five youngest children run and play in the evening sunshine…..

My two nieces and a nephew are here today and we all went for a walk in the forest (11 of us).  It’s a preliminary fall type of day, bright and clear and dry.  Contentment in my heart.  Sunshine in our smiles.  I brought home nature bits in my hand.  Naomi had the first find; a tiny feather with an orange tip.  She ran to me and I said, “Oh can I keep it?” and she jumped up and down smiling, “Yes!”  Then, I found a blob of a yellow mushroom oozing out of a fallen tree.  I was surprised by the color and kept it.  Then, another feather!  I have a nature journal and I glue feathers into it.  I have never seen feathers like the ones we found today and can’t wait to add them to the journal. 

A purple mushroom and a butterfly wing.  Strangely, just a single wing.

Poor Sarah.  She knew she wanted her ears pierced but she didn’t really understand what “pierced” meant.  Thankfully, with them both done at once, it was over in a split second.  Later on, after we got home, I did a quick photo shoot with her, bright and happy, with her pretty ears.

a lazy summer evening for pretty ears

pirate smile

diva pose amongst the zinnias

do you see the kitty?

I finally have pretty ears!

***

As I write, she’s sitting at my feet making up stories with two tiny dollies.

On Thursday, while the Uncles took care of the five little boys, the Aunts took the three little girls to the Boston American Girl store in Natick, MA.   My niece Makayla had never been to the American Girl store and her mom didn’t even tell her we were going until that very morning because she knew she wouldn’t sleep a wink, with excitement. 

-ready to go-

-sarah with her aunt melissa-

-the girls outside the store, just before we went in to shop-

-makayla was overwhelmed with so many choices-

-sarah knew just what she wanted-

-sweet naomi with her babies-

-sarah fell in love with this birthday outfit for bitty baby, so we bought it-

-I had to laugh.  There are convenient hooks in the bathroom to hang your doll up as you “go”.-

-she also picked a mealtime set, so she can feed bitty baby-what a good mama-

After shopping, we ate lunch together at The Cheesecake Factory and then Sarah got her ears pierced!  I’ll share those pictures tomorrow.  Happy Monday!

Shanda, Amanda, and Melissa

I’ve been working on updating photo albums and we looked at pictures and sighed over how fast time is flying by.

My brother, Nathan

Uncle Jason and Dave went in the woods and collected dry wood for the fire and got a good one started for us.  The marshmallows were a big hit, even three year old Sarah roasted her own.

my son enjoying his 20th marshmallow, or maybe just his fourth?

Amanda being silly

Jason and Amanda

Nate and Melissa

Right after I took this picture, Sarah’s marshmallow shot out of her mouth!

~trying to roast the perfectly golden marshmallow~

Uncle Nathan, and Davy

the little cousins on the dock

Nate and Melissa with their children

with Seth, Sarah, Caleb, and Dave, my treasures and pals this week.  We survived a broken window, the freezer being left open all day, and a hole in a leg.



Jason and Amanda with two of their three children

I think it is important for adult siblings to continue spending quality time with each other through the years, as we all grow and change. It’s fun to catch up and get to know each other again.  When I was a little girl, I loved going to family gatherings and running wild with my cousins.  I feel proud to see the next generation, my children and my nieces and nephews, doing the same things together around the playset, the ponds, and fire pit roasting marshmallows.  There is always a part of me that still feels like a kid when I spend time with my own brothers and sisters, as we laugh and act silly together. 

It was a wonderful night and the next day was exciting, too.  Amanda, Melissa, and I took the girls to the American Girl store.  I’ll share pictures from that adventure the next time I blog. 

“…..our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”  Thorton Wilder

“It’s not what you look at that matters, but what you see.”  Thoreau



We had a sunny, late afternoon rain here yesterday and a rare treat.  A rainbow appeared, and the end landed right at the bottom of our driveway.  We didn’t find a pot of gold, but David ran down in excitement, and he’s worth more than all the gold in the world to me.

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky…
~William Wordsworth

God’s glowing covenant.  ~Hosea Ballou