big bow, books, and a heron

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Shanda

I had serious reservations about Sarah’s requested hair style this morning (I’m her hair stylist). “I want the ponytail on the top of my head like this,” she turned upside down and gathered it up in her hands, “and then put the bow on.” The bow was all of 8 inches across, large, white, with silver sequins all over it. She won the bow yesterday by “moving up her clip” at school. Rather ridiculous. Still, I couldn’t see any reason to deny her. Up up and up went the hair, with the big bow on the very very top.

Two hours later, I was sitting in the front row of the auditorium trying to find my girl, the one with the big white bow on her head. And to my amusement, there were girls all over the place with big bows of all different colors on the tops of THEIR heads! It’s a trend! An 8 year old school girl fashion trend!

*****

After the concert, where I heard adorable songs sung by adorable children, I decided to check out a local used book store for more Newbury books. I’m trying to collect all the gold and silver medal winners, and read them all, too. Or rather, I determined I would read them, and then found myself collecting them. I have already read some of them, of course. And we owned a surprising amount. But there are over 300 titles and now that I’ve set this goal as a 40-something year old woman, it will be an absolute treat to read most of them for the first time, and some of them over again. I’ll be sharing most of my “Newbury book news” on my instagram account, with some now and then updates here, too. Since I began my challenge, I’ve read 1)Roller Skates 2)The Dark Frigate 3)Sounder 4) Secret of the Andes 5)The Twenty One Balloons and am currently reading 6) Hitty, Her First Hundred Years. It feels like it’s taking me a hundred years to finish it but that’s not to say that it isn’t a good book because it is. It’s just taking me almost a solid week to read it. Next I’ll read Out of the Dust because when I posted a photo of it on Instagram two of my friends said it was a favorite. If I’m going to read them all I want to own them all (a treasure of a library for myself and my family) and since I love a bargain and a treasure hunt I’ll be spending the summer searching. It’s such fun. I get confused. Some of the titles I’ve never heard of and don’t know what the covers look like. So I printed off a big long list of the titles to check and double check and rely on my phone to look things up, too. All that said, I still have managed to end up with some “doubles”.

*****

I didn’t realize my laptop would stay connected to the internet away far over here by the chicken coop but it is and it does so I am! The pond is just down the bank in front of me, and I am sitting in an Adirondack chair, with my purse on a little table next to me. Inside the purse there are 8 eggs as I didn’t want them to roll out of my pockets and crack against the chair seat. The chickens wandered around my feet for a while, one of them beaked my toes!, but have mostly wandered away, eating bugs and grass while making soft cooing sounds. They look so pretty against the tall dark pink clover and daisies in bloom next to the coop.

*****

When I stopped outside with my book to read, I saw a heron at the pond so I put the dog in the basement (he would bark and chase it away) and put my zoom lens on the camera.

They aren’t the best photos in the world but they’re special because I took them standing on my own front porch!

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I’m mainly amused by the long legs. And knowing eye.

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“The Knowing Eye”

After trying to hide from me in a pine tree, it flew far far away and I retrieved my laptop to try to post the photos outdoors in the very best office in the world! Nature! I heard someone say this morning that nature isn’t romantic it’s just out to kill you but you know what, that’s just part of the charm. At the moment, I feel perfectly safe. I doubt the Heron would say the same. He probably thought my long camera was a gun.

The parting shot.

*****

Back to Hitty! I’m determined to finish it before 2! That’s when I need to pick up Grace from school (she’s been helping her former HS English teacher this week! One more step closer to her dream of becoming a teacher herself).

Happy Thursday!

with rich

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Shanda

We were really rather silly last night at the baseball game. I guess being apart for 2 days and generally being over-exposed to little league baseball lately can do that to a couple. It was cold!! So he let me borrow his really nice jacket that he bought in “Norway” at Epcot in Disney. We did a little walking before the game started. It was just the two of us, no other children but Seth who was in the game. Seth had left his glove in the rain and had to borrow a glove which was too big for him. We got silly watching them play. Our team didn’t do very well and Seth struck out all but once. Rich says he needs another trip to the batting cages and I said, “Yes, lets go after church on Sunday, they have good food there.” And then he looked sad because he has another business trip coming up. And then as soon as he gets back I am leaving for 10 days on my trip to Alaska. But we sat together on the bleachers and leaned into one another and talked and laughed. We walked with our arms around each other trying to keep our legs going in the least awkward way. The bathroom doors were locked and I didn’t want to use an outdoor toilet (because too many little joyous boys use them *ahem*) so I ended up leaving an inning or two early (we had driven separately) and he walked me to the car and buckled me into my seat. I gave him back his jacket and drove home. Later on, we watched TV. We’ve been watching the original Star Trek series together and I almost always fall asleep before the ending.

such small creatures….still, so lovely

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Shanda

This morning David and Caleb left for school on the bus and Ethan and Grace left together in Ethan’s new truck so Ethan could take Grace to the HS before he drove to work and that left Seth, Sarah, and Jacob still at home. Then, Jacob left for work but texted me 10 minutes later saying, “I’m coming back, I forgot my I.D.”

He was not happy as he tore around the house (all 6 feet 2 inches of him) looking for it. I finished up what I was doing and told Seth to keep an eye out for the bus so he wouldn’t miss it as I helped Jacob. “He can’t find his I.D, Seth, do you know where it is?” “I don’t even know WHAT it is,” he said. “It’s his picture on a shoe-lace type necklace.” “For work?” “Yes” “I didn’t know he had to have his picture taken for work…….” Jacob stomped through the room again. “I ALWAYS PUT IT ON MY DRESSER AND IT’S NOT THERE!” He’s getting more and more steamed.

“Did you look underneath it?” says Seth……

A minute later I found Seth’s big brother Jacob on the floor looking under his dresser. Lo and behold….there it was.

I ran up the stairs, “Seth, Seth!! you saved the day! It was under the dresser!”

21 year old big brother Jacob was right behind me, very relieved, and we found 9 year old little brother Seth waiting for us, doing a slow clap and nodding his head up and down with a knowing smile, because he saved the day.

*****

Yesterday evening there was a house FULL of young people and as I was scrolling Facebook I saw a photo of a PINK praying mantis (young one) and it immediately made me want to go outside and look for insects to photograph. It’s one of my favorite things to do at 6:00 on a Sunday evening when the house is super loud and crazy and my husband is away on a business trip and any other time, too, really.

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What shiny eyes you have, dragonfly.

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Can you imagine having antenna this long and graceful? Did you take whiskers from a cat?

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I laugh at bugs because they are so smart. As soon as they see me they *quick as a wink* hide underneath whatever leaf or grass they are perched upon. It’s a great game of hide and seek.

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Look at it’s tiny black eye. Just the tiniest of dots.

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buttercup pedals // heart

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This flower is about the size of a dime. So lovely. 6 pedals with pointed ends of the loveliest shade of purple. They grow on the tops of thick grass-like stalks and are a flower of my childhood.

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There is a bug underneath all that spit.

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Lovely red cloak

I had to twist around the stem to take the photo because he kept going behind the flower to hide from me. Imagine spending time in a buttercup.

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butterflies and moths are impossible to get close to, I only got this photo because it was dead.

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It’s so beautiful!!!! I bet he would be fun to draw.

a couple of these photos will not contain an insect.

Yarrow is just coming into blossom.

Their whiteness looks so lovely in a sea of green grasses. Their stalks are still nice and bendy and tossed back and forth in the wind in a very sea-like wavey way.

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mating bugs

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I admit this one gave me a creepy feeling.

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Teeny tiny spider and two teeny tiny black bugs. Do they know they are being watched by a spider?

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“What big eyes you have, Grandmother!”

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I imagine this is one of those super-hero bugs wearing dark shades and a business suit and out to save the day *like Seth*.

with pedals

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and without.

And all God’s people said……….

vanilla cake, vanilla frosting

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Shanda

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What a special evening our youngest had with her brothers and sister. They played games together, and big brother Jacob made the quick trip to the grocery store in town to buy some ice cream. He came home with strawberry, peanut butter cup, cookies and cream, and party cake ice cream. Rich and I sat contentedly in the living room with the sounds of a full house all around us; doors opening and shutting, chatter, laughter, basketball bouncing on the driveway, footsteps walking or running, upstairs, downstairs, drinks in the kitchen, on and on, so much energy! Soon it was time for the birthday song and cake. Sarah watched her Dad light the candles. She watched so intently as her siblings continued to be silly all around her. Her face as we sang was precious to see, all sparkling eyes and big smile. The cake was amazing. Even Ethan agreed, and he doesn’t typically like cake. The birthday girl was offended when I bragged, “I made it myself.” because she helped make the frosting.

Cake:

1 cup whole milk, room temperature
6 large egg whites, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
12 T. unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened

Oven set to 350. Grease 9 by 13 cake pan. Whisk milk, egg whites, and vanilla in 4-cup liquid measuring cup. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed until combined. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, and beat until only pea-sized pieces remain. Add half of milk mixture, increase speed to medium-high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to medium-low, add remaining milk mixture, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Give batter final stir by hand. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bak until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Cool completely. recipe from Cook’s Country Cookbook (it’s the cake part of the recipe for Lane cake).

Frosting:

1 stick butter
4 T. milk
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

Cream butter, milk, and vanilla. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating until light and fluffy. Makes enough frosting for one 9 by 13 cake.

great

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Shanda

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1. Sarah Joy is our youngest child and was born on this date, 8 years ago. She was named after her Great-Grandmother and the joy in our hearts when we knew she was coming into our family.

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2. The last photo I took before having Sarah was of the beautiful blooming peonies in my flower beds. This morning Sarah stood next to them, but spring was late coming this year and they are still only buds. A hope and a promise.

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3. Sarah is in 2nd grade and has very nice handwriting (her teacher said so). She loves to read. The last book she read was titled Waiting for the Magic and she liked it very much. “The dogs talk.”

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4. Her favorite food is macaroni and cheese.

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5. She ordered light-up gloves with her birthday gift card from Uncle Dave.

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6. She has requested a vanilla birthday cake with what kind of frosting? “Vanilla”.

7. She used to be seven but now she’s eight.

8. Eight is Great.

memorial day weekend

Posted on May 29, 2018 by Shanda

Our morning routine has changed since the college children have come home. Ethan and Jacob have a work-out routine that they need to do for sports this fall so Rich gets up with them early (around 5) and they go next door to our garage. The upstairs of our garage is set up with a variety of gym equipment; everything they need for their work out each morning. They have leg day, arm day, etc. When Rich comes back into our bedroom to walk through to the bathroom, I wake up and go out to the living room. My intention is to make coffee and sit with my one-year-Bible. I like to sit and read and sip my coffee while David and Caleb get ready for school and Ethan, Jacob, and Rich get ready for work. This is also a good time for them to come to me with complaints.

We are out of bananas.
We are out of milk, cream cheese, and bagels. Also yogurt.
Jacob’s pants shrunk.
where is the cast iron pan?
where is the blender?
Ethan needs gas money. Ethan cannot find his wallet.
Caleb needs money for school lunch.
I made beans yesterday, causing Rich to have to run back to the house several times during his work out.

To be fair, these didn’t come across as complaints (except the food. David was truly annoyed about the bananas. He ate peanut butter toast with chocolate chips and when I questioned him he said it would have been healthier with …… the bananas.)

Jacob laughed about his pants.

Ethan was cheerful about his wallet.

David almost forgot his lunch money.

I still haven’t finished my Bible portion of the day because then Seth and and Sarah woke up.

Sarah came down the stairs happy that tomorrow is her birthday.

As she walked into the kitchen with Seth I heard her say slyly, “And Mom is NOT picking you up early from school with me.” It immediately became an argument.

When questioned, Seth told me that the other day when I asked Sarah to go to the house and get me my magazine, she had Seth do it, with the promise that “I will tell Mom to pick you up early from school on my birthday, too.” So Seth got the magazine for her and then she carried it the rest of the way to me, or I would have already figured this plot out. (The child I asked to bring the magazine brought the magazine so I was not suspicious.)

That was two days ago. In the meantime, Sarah had changed her mind. It’s her birthday, she doesn’t want Seth to get picked up early with her.

Seth was saying one thing and Sarah was saying another. She even pretty much lied about making the promise to Seth, I am very sorry to say. She said, “I don’t remember saying it like that.” hmmmmm

Rich came out of the bedroom so I asked him to be the judge. Except the man didn’t even know that I had told Sarah I would pick her up early. He takes school seriously and never lets the kids stay home unless they are truly sick. So, it should not have been a surprise to me that after he got involved no one was getting picked up from school.

I thought Sarah would be sad but she ate breakfast and perked right up. Everyone’s happy now.

But meanwhile, through all this, Parker (our dog) had tried to steal the cat’s can of cat food (the cats get ONE can a day, the rest of the day they eat dry). I sent Parker outside. Sherlock ate his can and then Samantha came inside for her can. Sammie is a really tiny female cat and Jacob stopped to cheer her on as she wolfed down her food, “Yeah, Sammie, get nice and fat!”……. and then to us, “I swear this cat only eats once a week.” She promptly turned away from the bowl and threw up the entire can on the floor.

All this while I’m trying to read the Bible!

Sammie ran off so we let Parker back inside the house to clean up the cat’s mess. After all, it wasn’t even digested, it was barely even chewed. But he didn’t even see it, he took the empty can and ran downstairs. Ethan decided he wasn’t hungry for eggs anymore.

I was hiding behind my journal on the other side of the room.

*********

Now everyone is gone and the house is quiet. The dishwasher is going. I took the silverware tray out of the drawer to wash that, too. The vacuum is sitting in the kitchen as I have decided that today would be a good day to vacuum all the crumbs out of cupboards and drawers. I am going to Costco soon for cream cheese, bagels, bread, butter, milk, mayo, paper towels, and yogurt.

Seth and Caleb have baseball games tonight.

The sun is out and it’s a clear, cool, and sunny morning.

*****

I did copy down one verse in my journal before putting morning Scripture reading aside:

All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead He devises ways to bring us bak when we have been separated from Him. 2 Samual 14

I LOVED THIS VERSE.

*****

How was your Memorial Day? I’m thankful that Seth and Caleb were in the parade or we may have not bothered to get out the door to attend. It’s always such a fun atmosphere in town when it’s parade day. We dropped off the boys at the parade start and then parked the car. We walked to the coffee shop for 1 soda (Dave), 1 apple juice (Sarah), 1 regular coffee in a mug that he returned after the parade (Rich) and 1 caramel latte (myself). Grace didn’t want anything.

Grace went across the road to sit with Dave and Sarah. Rich and I walked to a shop down the sidewalk a little ways and said hello to the lovely lady who owns the shop. I picked out a little gift for a sick friend and he bought his two girls each a bracelet. Then we joined the kids on the other side of the street, saying hello to Grace’s boyfriend’s parents on the way.

Such dear girls. They have been close friends (same grade in school) longer than Jacob and Brittnee have been a couple. What I love about Brittnee is her good-natured cheerfulness. And she can hold her own in this family, too. For example yesterday Seth came over to say something and when he walked away she said accurately, “He’s so cute sometimes.” and we laughed and laughed. We’ve baked together and she and Grace are working on a garden (I have my doubts of whether it will be a success bc it’s like a mile away from the house).

I took a photo of the garden behind us because I want to find the purple flowers which are on the left and the pink flowers on the right (growing tall out of the green leafy clump). They are so pretty and would look just right in my flower beds.

Seth in the parade standing close to his teammate (wearing Jays uniform).

Caleb was in the marching band playing a percussion instrument that looked like a plastic football with ridges that he had to rub with a stick. In the video you can see at the very last second he makes eye contact with me and sort of grimace-smiles. He will be 13 in July and is at the sad age when he leans away from me when I try to pat his shoulder, or put my arm around him or hug him or touch his cheek or make any sort of motherly contact. He LEANS AWAY without a word of complaint. It’s quite painful but all part of the growing up process when the boy has to teach the mom to stop with the babyish personal contact. Motherly touches are now reserved for special occasions (severe injury, terrible sickness, at the moment of return after a long absence *or* birthdays) *or* when HE initiates. (He does still come to me for a hug now and then in the privacy of our own home).

I had to post the video because I didn’t get any photos of him for the same reason that I didn’t touch him. He wants no part of it. I didn’t want to beg.

Also there are no photos of our other son, Ethan, as he was away with Tessa all day long.

Sarah made out pretty good. Grace and the brothers were amused that several little boys yelled, “HI SARAH” to her as they were in the parade marching and saw her on the sidewalk. They asked who one of the boys was and she said, “You tell me! I don’t know his name!” She has attitude. We don’t know what will become of her as she has had a very full life so far and she’s only 8. The youngest child is just as interesting as the rest of them, don’t you agree? So unique and fascinating. A little scary. In a good way.

Her dad calls her Sally.

The other side of the bridge is a drop off down into the shallow stream. Like, if he fell he WOULD have been hurt pretty bad. But that didn’t stop him from running to jump up on the wall and walk around on it. I try so hard to keep my mouth shut………….. most of the time I fail. He had a big handful of Sarah’s candy in his sweatshirt pocket. Yesterday he told us he was growing out his hair long and I said “I always wanted another daughter” just to make him laugh. What I really wanted to say was “Please don’t”.

The beautiful brick buildings in the back are a church and the town museum. The little road leading to the right is the entrance to a park. I just love our town.

Later on that day we went for a walk and Jacob found this bug. It was like 3 inches long! It’s so pretty!

And I saw 4 lady slippers growing on the side of the road. These two and then another two that were about 4 feet away.

This morning Parker the dog was wandering around with a lollipop in his mouth. Must be Sarah left her candy lying around on the floor.

He’s currently snoring flat on his side on the couch next to me. I think he’s relieved to have a quiet house today. He’s an old dog now, trying to keep up with his busy family!

outside & inside the house

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Shanda

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Grace and I found a Garden Center yesterday pretty close to home. It was big, exciting, and bright and full of ladies of all ages filling their carts to the brim with annuals, perennials, potting soil, pots, vegetable plants, fertilizer, tools, and mulch! I said, “I’m NOT going to get distracted by wanting alllllll the flowers!” and then I admit I did indeed became a tiny bit distracted which made her wander off to some flowering trees over in the quiet back corner while I made up my mind, eventually, to buy two huge RED hanging baskets and two RED watering cans planted with RED geraniums. They look wonderful against our YELLOW house. I now have the Memorial day//July 4th bunting up, too. Home Sweet Humble Home.

Meanwhile, inside the house:

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I also picked up this little cabinet from a (new-to-us) Thrift store.

It has become our Scrap/Art-booking cabinet.

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Grace promptly ran off to find some books to put on top of it. Mary Oliver poetry, a book I’m reading, a book she JUST finished, and one of her beloved Dictionaries. (She has a weakness).

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Inside the cabinet there are removable shelves for our books and papers.

My scrapbook is on top, then Grace’s and then Sarah’s. We each have one. We glue anything and everything inside of them. Someday I’ll take a few videos of them to share. Joanna does them with her girls, too, and when we’re together we love to spend time looking through each other’s books. We also mail each other papers to include in them, too.

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Again at the thrift store, I couldn’t resist this 1070’s child’s tablecloth with Raggedy Ann and Andy on it. Seeing it made Sarah remember that she had a Raggedy doll (which used to be Grace’s).

***

Guess what? My Christmas Cactus is blooming again! It gives me great joy (rather like a christmas joy!) Two buds; one small and one just-about-to-open.

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Sherlock sleeps in his favorite bed all day long (he reminds us of a taco in a shell, so his new nickname is Taco-cat which is the same backward and forward, David told me).

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Parker was sleeping so soundly on my bedroom floor that I had to stop and check his breathing. He’s fine just really tired.

My current read; Grace and the boys listened to the audiobook when they were still homeschooling years ago and I remember how much they loved it. I was in the mood to try reading some Newbury Award books that I missed as a child, so I pulled this one off their shelves. I think of them as I read it.

I found this one just sitting on the couch. I’m guessing Grace is reading it because I mentioned that I wanted to go see Laura and Almanzo’s house next summer but that she probably wouldn’t want to go with me because “you never really read the books like I did as a child.” To which she became slightly offended and said yes she did too read them.

This morning Grace couldn’t find packing tape. I told her where to find it. She couldn’t find it. I went to check and found it promptly. Then she could not find her shoes. I bent over to look under the coffee table. “They’re right there under the coffee table.” “HOW DO YOU DO THAT?” She was impressed. “You’re like a MEDAL-DETECTOR of lost things!”

I felt really proud of myself. Someday when you’re a mom you’ll hone this skill, too, Grace.

HONE: refine or perfect (something) over a period of time.

mark twain house

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Shanda

Grace and I FINALLY, after all these years, went to the Mark Twain house in Hartford, CT. It was easy to find, there was nice parking, and it was a charming destination for a half day exploration. Grace has read several of Twain’s books and I read Volume 1 of his very large autobiography. What a character he was, and what a treat it is to enjoy his writings.

We did the “Living Tour” with a man who was pretending to be the butler. Indeed, he said he WAS the Butler. (5 dollars more per person). The house is heavily protected…..you may NOT sit on anything, you may NOT take ANY photos, also NO CELL PHONES, and you may NOT carry a pen in your hand. (pencils only). Because it was a living tour set in the year 1897 we were NOT permitted to ask any questions that didn’t have to do with that time period. By this time I was so nervous I said not a word.

The inside of the house was GORGEOUS. So lovely. I have no photos of it, though!

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Thank Goodness we could take all the photos we wanted, outside the house! And that was gorgeous, too.

Look at pretty Grace.

The tour ended in the basement where we were allowed to take photos again, ask any question we wanted, and touch things. I slowly thawed. There were photos and books on a long table and while there was a question and resulting discussion (involving math) about exactly how old Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was when he spent time in Europe, I took a couple photos.

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His daughters and their friends putting on a play.

Mark Twain’s Scrapbook!

My favorite rooms inside the house were the library, the nursery, and the conservatory. I could only get outside-looking-in photos of the conservatory. Incidentally, if you would like to see photos of the rooms you can do a quick google search and find them all. Check out the wallpaper in the guest room and master bedroom, it’s so elegant and whimsical.

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beautiful white lace curtains and the outside brick of the house

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THIS IS MY MOST FAVORITE PHOTO OF THE DAY; Of Grace in her skirt, by the flowerbed at the carriage house. Our tour guide made a point about how the family of Patrick McAleer, with seven children, lived upstairs in the carriage house back in the Clemens’ day. So Grace and I were intrigued, as that is the number of children in our family. We were glad we did not have to live in the upstairs of a carriage house.

Well, actually, I may have gotten the feeling that maybe Grace would have enjoyed it. 🙂

It was a wonderful house and beautiful morning.

We left and went to lunch at a place called Tangiers International, which was a Middle Eastern Market half a mile down the road. We shared an order of stuffed grape leaves. I had a lamb gyro for lunch and she had chicken curry. We bought a couple boxes of Turkish Delight on our way out. David had asked for some at Christmas time and I finally found some, 5 months later.

“I was born modest, but it didn’t last.” Mark Twain

nature photos (and knee-spots)

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Shanda

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purple finch at the feeder

The glow of the pond.

I’m sitting in my room, I had to get away from Grace so I could focus. I get easily distracted by her because we have lots to talk about (anything that comes to mind becomes a conversation). I thought I would be all alone in here but Samantha-cat just appeared out of hiding and jumped on the bed.

Jacob, Ethan, and Grace are home for the summer and it’s wonderful (the only time it’s not wonderful is if I am over-tired or have PMS). But seriously I do think it’s wonderful. I’m not just saying that. I no longer have that feeling of “I wonder what the older children are doing”– I know what they are doing. I can see them. Jacob rides to work every morning with his Dad and Ethan goes to work in Jacob’s car. I see them in the mornings getting ready. This morning Jacob asked me where the nail clippers were, and half an hour later his brother Ethan was wondering where tweezers were, he had a sliver in the bottom of his foot from going traipsing barefoot through the woods (photos of that tomorrow, possibly).

During the day it’s still quiet. The children have gone to work and to school.

Every evening is unpredictable family craziness. Practices? Games? Someone missing (briefly)? Big dinners, a whole pie getting eaten so fast so you better get a piece while you can, dirty bowls and cups being left all over the house, laundry piling up, homework reminders, tv turned up and up, loud talking, loud laughing, coins being thrown super hard and me getting mad about it, fortnight gaming, singing, playing the piano, telling the boys to take the garbage out, Seth can’t find a pencil, etc………going to bed and hearing the noice of the older kids getting ready to go to bed, too. Lights being left on. And then the house is quiet again.

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It (photographing this blog post) all started after dinner last evening, when I went out to the mailbox to mail a letter and was surprised by a wild rabbit who didn’t seem afraid of me in the least. I stood still and he stood still. Then, he “came back to life” and commenced his snacking on dandelions and grass. The dandelions have turned into their moon-like state and I was amused that he picked them with his teeth at the base of the stem and ate it, end-to-top. It was funny to watch the stem slowly disappear into his mouth with “the moon” last but not least. I went inside to get the camera and when I returned, he was eating grass. I am a bit concerned as the vegetable garden is nearby, newly planted with radishes, spinach, herbs, and peas. Will he be eating that next? I named him John.

And then I wandered around with my camera.

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I absolutely love the look of this photo of a cardinal in the tall dead tree on the edge of our property (dead tree=GIANT bird perch).

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mourning dove & male cardinal

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I stood and looked up up up into a very tall pine trees to sight this bird. It was singing an evening song with its back to me. Finally it looked over its shoulder and I got this amazing photo. (I had my big zoom lens with me).

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It flew to a different branch. I am almost positive that its a female scarlet Tanager.

Thoughts? I never knew the females were yellow! What a beautiful bird-couple they make. Now I will be on the look-out for the male. I hope I see it!!

I think I took about 25 photos of that bird and then it flew away and I moved on.

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Lady Slippers (a favorite wild flower) are in bloom now.

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Seth (9 years old) saw this photo and said, “Beautiful moon!”

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I sat and watched this duck pair for quite a while. They were peacefully together on the stream at the dam, bathing and grooming their feathers. The female must have enjoyed this stretch with her foot because she held it long enough for me to take several photos. I love the curled up feathers on the male’s tail, and the purple color on the female’s wing.

I walked up the hill and in the distance, where the water of the stream enters the dark woods, I saw a blue heron standing in a pool of water, probably finding some tasty dinner. I was thrilled to see it and get a photo before it moved out of sight. (It saw me as soon as I saw it and it was very suspicious of me right away.)

I went home and found the family sitting around in the living room getting ready to finish watching a movie they had started the night before. It wasn’t a movie I was especially interested in so I got ready for bed and did some reading. I finished a book titled, When I was a Slave, Memoirs from the Slave Narrative Collection, and it was very interesting in a sad, inspirational way. Here is a quote I keep thinking about:

“One thing dat’s all wrong with dis world today is dat day ain’t no ‘prayer grounds.’ Down in Georgia where I was born–dat way back in 1852–us colored folks had prayer grounds. My mammy’s was a old twisted thick-rooted muscadine bush. She’d go in here and pray for deliverance of de slaves. Some colored folks cleaned out knee-spots in de canebrakes. Cane, you know, grows high and thick, and colored folks could hide demselves there and nobody could see and pester dem.”

Andrew Moss, 85 years old

It’s the concept of having a great need and therefore NEEDING TO PRAY. It’s the idea of KNEE SPOTS. All day long since reading it, that term comes to my mind. When was the last time I got down on my knees to pray? All the nature that surrounds me, and do I have even ONE “knee spot” to go to in order to pray to the God I love? Where is my sense of great need? Great gratitude? Great praise? Why go to the knees? After all, I do pray during each day, but oh my, in order to pray on my knees I would have to stop everything else I was doing………….and therein lies the beauty and soul-nourishment of “knee-spots”……..

“Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.” Ephesians 6:13-18

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These are some of the things on my mind this morning as I start the day. I also took this photo through the window of Rich’s office, which is why it’s so hazy, but still a beautiful bird.

new lens in the great outdoors

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Shanda

Next month at this time I will be in Alaska with my friend Hannah. Joanna suggested getting my hands on a fisheye lens so as to be better prepared for the gorgeous Alaskan spectacles of nature that I will be sure to see and want to photograph.

The lens came last week and as soon as I was able, I went outside for a long long walk and took photos of everything. These are the ones that made the final cut:

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First off; it seemed fitting and right to take the first photo of the hens after I let them out of the coop that morning. This one seemed especially interested in my new lens.

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And on I went; there are many varieties of ferns in the woods.

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Butterfly

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Strawberry Blossom

I must remember where I saw this so I can go back and eat the berries later.

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A lovely bunch of white violets. All the violets were at their peak of loveliness in the woods (by the house they were done blooming) so they were a joy to see.

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Quaker Ladies//Bluets grow everywhere.

Thanks to recent rains the outdoors has become a stunning shade of emerald green.

Unfurling ferns

I was lying on the ground to take some of these photos.

Dappled sunshine

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

A favorite spring flower.

I hung my jacket off a tree branch at the old beaver pond in the woods as I explored. There was a water lily bud about to bloom that I will go back to look at soon.

Please pardon some of the edges of my photos which is a hazard of the fish eye lens. I am learning to be more careful about adjusting the lens so there are no shadows in the corners. But this chair was found in the woods by my daughter and I a few weeks ago and it gave us a bit of a creepy feeling. Has anyone ever silently sat here and watched us walk by?

Standing up high on a boulder and admiring the stream.

There were violets growing everywhere and it was about this point when I lost my lens cap and had to retrace my steps to find it again.

I had no pockets so I was putting it down my tucked in shirt, and when I bent over to take photos it fell out.

I know I have a lot to learn.

But these photos make me happy today.

And I hope you liked them, too.

*****

I’m thankful I can go for walks like this without having to drive anywhere, I can just walk out the front door and be on my way.

It never gets boring, there is always something new to see. New flowers blooming, insects, small creatures, birds, mushrooms, plants, water, pinecones, trees and bark, leaves, and so on……….

And always thoughts of God and the Creator of such good things.

“I think this is how we’re supposed

to be in the world–

present and in awe.”

Anne Lamott