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

Seth has been on the move, living life in a very active way, for years now.  He’s three. Ever since he could get from place to place on his own (at about 5months), I’ve been more distracted and frazzled than ever before.  He is so busy.

He never sleeps past 6:30.

Thank goodness he still naps, but occasionally he doesn’t; those are trying days.

Now that the children go to school, he is convinced he should be going, too.  He dresses himself, gets his shoes on and asks for his lunch and backpack.

Now that E and Davy are playing baseball, he is just as convinced he needs to go to practice, too.  He wears Davy’s cleats and carries a glove everywhere.  My cheek is still sore from getting hit by a baseball that he threw as we played “catch”.

Honestly, half the time I do not know what to do with him.  If I try to get him to color or play with toys, for example, it becomes a battle of wills. 

Thankfully, he loves to listen to books (we read A LOT), and every now and then he can make it through a half hour video. 

I’m sitting here, blogging, only because he’s napping. 

I’m sitting here, tired, because I have a Sethie in my life.

I’m sitting here, thankful to tears, because I have a Sethie in my life.

Like every other mama, my mornings are very busy.  Often, I do not get anything to eat until after the children are all at school.  By that time, I have been awake for two hours and am ravenous.  This morning was no exception.  Not only that, but this morning Jacob (my 15 year old) also forgot his lunch.  I knew that before I could take it to him I had to eat something……..and only two perfectly fried eggs would do.  In no time at all, I had them cooked.  As I waited for my English muffin to pop up out of the toaster, along came Seth……wanting an egg, too. 

I had no strength for it, I was at the end of my endurance, I was shaking and trembling (yes, I am being dramatic), so I said to Seth, “While mama eats her eggies, I will help you fry your own eggie.”

My little cast iron pan was still hot, I turned the burner back on, and he put a pat of butter in it.

At just the right time, he cracked an egg…….

…and opened it up.

He added a little salt, a little pepper.

As it fried, I took a spatula and demontrated how he had to flip it. 

Then, I handed him the flipper and held my breath.  This would be the exciting part.

Would it land in the pan, or out of the pan? 

(BTW, He’s using his left hand!)

I was ecstatic!  He flipped it perfectly, on the very first try!

Just look at this proud, happy face and the excited tension in his little fist.  (What you can’t hear:  all my loud “well-dones and good jobs” to my littlest, and most very dear, chef.)

He requested his favorite plate.

As he enjoyed his egg that he made all by himself, I heard a little voice from the highchair.  She had finished her bowl of raisin bran, and wanted an egg, too. I put the last bite of my own breakfast in my mouth, and thought to myself how blessed I was to be a mama.  Yes, Seth is a busy boy, but what I learned once again this morning, if I keep him by my side, and let him do what I am doing, he is most happy.  Now that he can fry an egg, he has one more useful skill to use, in place of mischief.  One hopes.

Here is a nice way to make your toddler an egg: Gently fry one egg in butter.  Only add a touch of salt (pepper is too hot).  As it cooks, use your fingers to break a piece of soft bread into small pieces in a bowl.  Remove the egg from the pan after flipping it and letting it cook just until the white is solid.  Place it on top of the bread, cut it up, and serve it with a spoon.  My little Sarah loves eating her egg this way.  I got the idea from the lovely Apples for Jam cookbook.

(Shallow bowl; made by Homer Laughlin China, same factory that makes fiestaware.  This is the beautiful “Imperial Blue Dresden” pattern.)