{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
{this moment}
11
what we’ve been doing outside
“I’m sure I shall always feel like a child again in the woods.” L.M. Montgomery
Isn’t this a really cool picture? David, my 12 year old, caught a couple of these frogs so far this spring and both times brought it to the house to show me and wonder what it was. I said, “Take a picture of it and we’ll research”. Turns out it’s a spring peeper. He catches them down by the stream. He put it in a glass to take the picture…
Seth was using his Dad’s golf club which was way too big for him. He and the boys really enjoy hitting golf balls lately. I found a shopping bag (yellow in the pic) of balls at a tag sale, used, for only one dollar!
Oh Sarah. She’s just thrilled to “take a bath” in the pond, which is what she calls “swimming”. She’s a little more brave this year and will walk out to her waist in water. She is still bragging that she knows how to float (with a life jacket, mind you).
Do you remember that I got 30 new baby chicks almost 2 weeks ago? One of them started ailing and unfortunately died the other day, which was so sad, but the remaining 29 are growing so fast…eating and drinking like little machines.
One day Sarah played on a rock while I read a book. She loves making up little games and stories with her plastic animals.
I found a profusion of tiny fragrant white violets down in the yard by the stream. There are hundreds of them.
One evening last week, I went for a walk with Grace, Dave, and Seth. We went to a part of the stream that spreads out more like a very small shallow pond. David had fun walking around in the water catching toads.
The sun was going down, and I think the way the sunshine is glowing behind the trees is so beautiful. We had such a nice time on our walk, enjoying everything we saw. We even got to eat some wild onion stalks that I found.
Grace with the hems of her jeans wet from wading. As soon as she got home she found tweezers and worked on getting slivers from the soles of her feet, which are tender from winter.
There is an old beaver lodge there and we noticed that it was covered with downy feathers. I wondered if something had caught a bird and ate it. But then, we saw that there was an egg about 8 feet away, along with the remains of two other eggs, just the shells cleaned completely out. Perhaps licked?
David was thrilled with the egg. He picked it up and said, “Grace! I have a baby!”
We carried it home and found out it was a wild Canadian Goose egg. Their nest must have been vandalized by predator. Since Canadian Geese are as common as the cold, we felt bad, but not too bad, about the loss of their descendants. David blew the egg out and carried it to school the next day in a shoebox to show his Science teacher.
Marsh Marigold: Cowslip Caltha palustris
“The flowers of this showy spring plant resemble those of large buttercups rather than true marigolds, of the aster family. The leaves are sometimes used a potherbs but require several short boilings with changes of water between; they should not be eaten raw.” ~ National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers
Bluets carpeting the lawn next to the pond.
My son’s girlfriend Emily babysat David, Caleb, Seth, and Sarah for us on Monday while we went to Grace’s Spring Music Concert. Later on that night after everyone was home again, she texted me these pictures from a walk they went on.
Pretending to be Knights, and a Princess
“….be still and listen….the earth is singing….”
“And at the end of the day your feet should be dirty, your hair messy, and your eyes sparkling.” ~Shanti
laughing all through mother’s day
Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
~George Cooper
“I wish you were here so you could make pancakes for us,” I teased my Mom yesterday morning when I called her.
“Guess what I’m doing right now?” she replied, “Making pancakes for Isaac! Did you know he came out?” We laughed, and I knew she was having a great mother’s day already because she got to cook breakfast for one of her boys (she has three of them, and two girls–one of whom is me). We had a nice little chat talking of the children and the gardens and then hung up so she could go eat some pancakes with Isaac. I don’t get to see my Mom as much as I would like, but I think of her constantly, especially while I am busy in the kitchen, or in the garden planting peas and flowers.
We went to church yesterday morning and had a great service listening to Wally give a missions presentation and then Gary preach the Word. After church I said, “Since it’s Mother’s Day, all I want is one nice picture with you children.” Rich happily agreed to take the photo in front of a very cool black car that he and the boys loved……. and you would think I would have learned by now that what I end up is not quite what I was hoping for or picturing in my mind.
This was pretty good, however we are all missing our feet…..but it was hot and we left to get some lunch. Everyone was hungry and everyone had an opinion about where we should go. The Chinese Buffet? Crackerbarrel? Again I brought up Mother’s Day so I could stay out of it. I would sit and just wait to see where Rich (who was silent through the discussions by the children) would take me, the mother of his precious, well-taken care of children.
I held my breath as we pulled gently into…..MCDONALDS.
“Rich you’re just trying to make me scream but I’m not going to.”
“What?? They have a really great burger here that I loved. I wanted you to try it.” (laughing)
“Right, because I eat carbs!” (NOT screaming)
Lots of laughter ensued as he had the audacity to park the car. Roll with it, I decided, roll with it with humor. Then I realized, wait… no drive thru?
“We get to go in?” Now I became slightly sarcastic. “It’s Mother’s Day so we get to go IN to eat, children!”
You have to understand as a family of nine, we rarely eat inside of any fast food place. And if we do, it’s usually Wendy’s……not mcdonald’s. Also understand that we have a Mcdonalds in our hometown so I am there several times a week to get something for one or two of the children as we rush off to go to sports events and such. It’s “old hat” that place, basically one step up from going back home to eat leftovers from the fridge.
Yesterday we had an extra kid with us, so we were a family of 10. The sun was shining, the sun was hot, and we all were fooling around as we trooped inside……. MCDONALDS….was this a dream? 🙂
Turns out McDonalds is pretty awesome for a Mother’s Day luncheon because…..no one is there!
We spent 72 dollars on food! Rich almost died and I laugh when I remember what his face looked like as he studied the receipt to make sure it was right.
I sat across from Sarah and Rich, Grace was down sitting in a booth with David and Caleb. Jacob and Ethan were sitting with Zac.
Meanwhile, Mr. Highly Independent sat away from us, over at his own table. He sat there the whole time, working away at eating his lunch and paying no attention to us. Rich and I kept saying to each other, “Look at Seth. He’s so so cute.”
Poor Rich was the last to get settled and eat, but had to get up yet again to get himself some ketchup for his fries. Jacob, who was already eating away at his nuggets and is 18 years old, asked his Dad to get him some ketchup to which Rich replied impatiently, “GET IT YOURSELF!” He was feeling a bit frazzled.
The soda and food started kicking in. I ate my burger while carefully peeling off the bun as I went along. Soon I was left with a box of bun bits. “Does anyone want the rest of my burger?” I asked, just to be funny. Rich carefully selected a piece and threw it behind him to hit one of the boys. He did this several times.
Grace took this selfie of us. I was busy straining and trying to open Sarah’s toy.
“Okay, times up, let’s go!” Rich announced after most of us were done eating. “The bus is here!” Jacob replied, which caused all the school kids to get up, throw away their garbage and hustle out to the car (bus).
On the way home Rich said something that accidentally hurt Ethan’s feelings and Jacob said, “Don’t worry, E, I know what you can do to get back at him……”
“Ask him to get you ketchup!” I interrupted, and we all laughed again.
(Incidentally, I cannot handle caffeine lately. I drank a very small bottle of coke a week or so ago at about 7:30 pm and I didn’t sleep that night until 2. Then, yesterday I drank half of my small diet coke and got all nervous and jittery from it. So now I’ve decided I won’t drink it anymore and I will only drink half-caf coffee.)
Well, we got home and I asked Rich if he could take one more picture of me and the kids and this time to please not cut the feet off.
So I get this:
Seriously! I got my phone back and there were about 35 pictures of just our legs and then this one:
We went in the house…home, finally home…it was like 2 at this point. Rich and I crashed into bed not meaning to actually take a nap, but we did and it was glorious.
When we got up we had to take the boys to the mall.
IN ORDER TO CHOOSE TUXES FOR THE PROM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jacob is going with Emily, who is a Jr. (it’s the JR prom, our school doesn’t have a SR prom)
Ethan is going single. Oh they are going to be so handsome in their tuxes. Stay tuned!
Leaving you with this picture that Sarah drew me.
“It’s you and me, Mom!”
Happy Mother’s Day!
{this moment}
{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
my favorite amphibian
The moon was quite distracting two nights ago.
Spring in general is quite distracting and I mean that in the very best of ways….after a quiet winter all nature is alive with growing things, singing birds, visiting ducks, opening buds, blooming flowers,,,,,,,and procreating toads.
I have an affection for toads. Thanks to the fabulous Handbook of Nature Study, I have learned some charming basics of their simple yet fascinating ways.
“Whoever has not had a pet toad has missed a most entertaining experience. Toad actions are surprisingly interesting; one of my safeguards against the blues is the memory of the thoughtful way one of my pet toads rubbed and patted its stomach with its little hands after it had swallowed a June bug.” page 170
Every time I read the above quote I am filled with longing for a pet toad of my own. I need an aquarium and a toad. This would currently be the ideal time for finding a toad, I could take a pick from a very many many many of them right out of my own pond. But soon they will be done with laying eggs and hop away again and we will only come across them randomly in the woods as we walk along.
Toads lay their eggs in very long strings of black dots. Soon a jelly will form around the eggs and the tadpoles will develop, tiny at first and then growing little by little until soon a miniature toad will be perfectly formed about the size of a pencil eraser. When that happens, they will hop out of the pond to make their way in the world. It’s so fun to watch year and after year.
Male toads are smaller than the females, which are plump with eggs. All the single males sit on the side of the pond and sing a magnetic song….with the purpose of calling to himself a lovely female.
I sat and watched this one for quite a while, it never moved, and never attracted a female. I hope it had success after I left.
The males are so ready for action that when the kids catch one it immediately hugs their hand or wrist, and needs to be pried gently off. Interestingly, if a male tries to “hug” another male, he knows something is wrong right away and lets go almost as soon as it grips. “begs pardon”
Our dog Parker came to investigate along with us and caught a couple of toads in his mouth. While Sarah and I were yelling at him, he rushed away up the bank with his prize. But very soon he dropped them and started gagging repeatedly and foaming at the mouth. I was telling my friend about this and she said that her dog did the same thing. She found out that the toads spit some kind of nasty fluid which make the dogs drop them….a lovely defense mechanism.
I learned more this morning: “The warts upon the back are glands, which secrete a substance disagreeable for the animal seeking toad dinners. This is especially true of the glands in the elongated swellings above and just back of the ear, which are called the parotid glands; these give forth a milky, poisonous substance when the toad is seized by an enemy, although the snakes do not seem to mid it.” page 173
Other toad facts:
It eats insects and worms.
It doesn’t drink water, it absorbs it through its skin.
It burrows into the ground, typically staying there during the day and coming out at night to eat…also, it burrows deeply into the earth to sleep all winter….awaking in the warmth of spring.
It breathes air by swallowing it into the lungs.
It sheds its skin as it grows, and eats it.
It likes having its back scratched gently.
Its chief enemy is the snake.
(all facts from The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsword Comstock—a highly recommended book for all nature lovers)
Dandelions and Violets
Please pet me, little girl. ~Billy Cat
I like to sleep in the garden amongst the tulips. ~Snickers
This little boy SETH is recovering from ear infections, bronchitis and a cracked nose (trampoline collision with Caleb)…but nothing slows him down…usually has a glove and baseball at all times and dirt on the knees and under the fingernails. Very rare boy, one of a kind really, and belongs to a proud mama and papa.
baseball, chicks, Tarzan, garden, toads
Guess what I am listening to right now? You’ll never guess so I will tell you.
a hundred, give or take, TOADS.
You see, every spring, toads hop to our property to mate in our two ponds. Part of this mating ritual is the continuous singing and calling sounds that they make to gather each other from hither and yon area lands. The sound is a long sustained high note that falls a half step. Sounds kind of scary, sort of sci-fi. In fact, it makes me tense. I’m trying to enjoy it, though, because it is another sign that spring has in fact arrived.
I’m sitting on my bed with Billy cat grooming himself next to me. My windows are open and gusts of wind blow through, making the wind chimes rattle on the porch. I hung clothes outside on the line for the first time this year.
This weekend was nuts. This was our agenda for Saturday:
1. Take Ethan to SAT’s half an hour away.
2. Target for much needed supplies
3. Doctor’s appointment for Seth, where we learned he had double ear infections and bronchitis.
4. Little League Opening Day for David and Caleb
5. Baseball game for Ethan
6. Pick up prescription at Pharmacy
7. Grace to be at the H.S. at 4
8. Mom and Dad coming from out of town.
9. Go to H.S. for Grace’s play: Tarzan.
And this was just Saturday. Rich and I had to work separately, so he took Ethan to the SAT’s while I did numbers 2, 3, 4, and 7 by myself. No one went to E’s game. Rich was also preparing to preach on Sunday. I went to half of the opening day, and when Rich arrived I left in order to be home to greet Mom and Dad.
David in the parade. (the only player looking at me is my Dave).
And Caleb. It was fun, the weather was great, and thankfully Jacob was home to watch Sarah. I only had to keep track of Seth…who is a special challenge these days because he can hardly hear, what with the ear infections. They aren’t slowing him down any though.
Dad and Mom with my two youngest. I love it. Mom brought me a bunch of perennials from her garden for which I was extremely thankful. Dad played some whiffle ball with the kids outside.
Mom and I
Jacob with his Grandma, who was laughing over the height difference. 🙂
Mom and Dad at the High School.
Sweet Emily and Jacob.
The drama kids performed Tarzan this year. Grace was a gorilla, a spider, and a plant. She also performed sign language for one of the songs. Here is a video of it, but it is important to note that she is not doing the SINGING, only the SIGNING.
I wish it were taped better but this at least gives an idea of the beauty of the song and signing.
They did so well, it was wonderful, I was so proud of them all.
Mom hugging Grace after the show.
Dad and Mom with Grace the Gorilla.
Yesterday was the final performance of Tarzan and I attended it with my brother Isaac and his wife Cassandra.
Meanwhile, I have baby chicks. The post office called on Friday morning at 5:15 am and I went down to get them.
There are 30. And they are so very cute right now. We like to go in the garage and just sit in front of the cage and watch them.
Do you see in the very back of the cage, there is a dangling piece of cardboard paper…little chicks take turns trying to get it off. It’s so cute.
This is what I have:
FIVE each of Barred Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, Brown Leghorn, and Easter Egger. Then, I have NINE Cuckoo Maran, and I am most excited about these because they lay a darker shade of brown than any I’ve owned previously.
Discovered in the woods as I picked up trash this morning.
wildflowers
As I was walking by the edge of the pond I scared a toad (not this one) into the water where a fish promptly grabbed it by the legs and went down deep with it. I gasped as I watched it happen… the poor toad was held by both his back legs, which were half inside the fish’s mouth. It’s little front arms were straight out to the sides with stiff fingers, it was the picture of terror as it was carried away. I watched for a while and it appeared once again with two fish in hot pursuit. I don’t know the ending to the story. I sat by the edge of the pond for a while and also saw a turtle. But the horrors continued when I put my hand in the grass to stand back up. I narrowly missed putting it down on two disemboweled toads! It’s truly a life and death world out there……..
Last but not least, Mom, as I promised I did plant all the plants on Sunday.
This is a little garden Rich made for me a few weeks ago. It was empty and I ordered the animals and flag from amazon. I bought 2 perennials but all the rest were from Mom.
The armadillo makes me laugh.
Happy Monday!
{this moment}
{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
before pinterest
Dear Friends,
Yesterday Sarah fell in the stream.
It was such a glorious, dare I say, WARM morning that the 8 of us went outside; the dog, the four cats, the rabbit, Sarah, and I. Sarah played by the rabbit cage with her little toy animals, a bowl of water for a lake, and a piece of wood to be the land.
I set up a lawn chair with my bag of outside goodies; old magazines, scissors, glue, pens, books, camera, coffee, sunglasses, and a blanket in case of chilly winds. A feeling of contentment was all around us but soon Sarah wanted to make mud pies instead and I readily agreed.
In order to make mud pies she went away down the hill to her sandbox and trucked water back and forth from the pond, to the sand. Every once in a while I would look up from my book and watch her. She was so cute with her short blond hair flying behind her as she ran, so busy, so carefree. She ran up to me once or twice to show me how dirty she was getting.
Time went by. Eventually, I stopped reading my book and listened. I thought I heard something. I thought it was music and started to read again. The music got louder. I thought Sarah was in the garage, singing. The music got even louder and only then did I realize it was the distressed sort of “singing”, it was screaming and crying, actually.
If a child has the energy and will to cry really loud then I do not worry, but the children have a talent of getting me to run. I couldn’t see her at all so I was able to use my amazing imagination to convince myself she was broken and/or bleeding. I couldn’t get to the stream fast enough.
I knew she was fine as soon as I saw her, and laughed. She was standing in the rushing waters on a huge rock, wet from waist to toe. She was frozen in terror. I picked my way down the bank cursing the ticks to offer her my motherly hands. I got her safely up the bank and she stopped sobbing. I thought it would be funny to *not say a word* to see what her first remark would be after her adventure.
We walked hand in hand while she sniffled and finally gave up this remark, “sniffle sniffle, well, I AM glad I washed my feet. My feet and my hands. sniffle sniffle”
You can’t help but admire a thankful heart. By the time we got to the porch she was talking about how much she liked “jumping in the stream” and wanted to put on a lifejacket and sunscreen and go swimming. (the answer was no–too cold–go change your clothes)
I had to get a bug from my coffee.
“April is a chancy month here. Bitter knife-cold, oven-warm. Rainy. Sunny. But always the feeling of spring, the definite excitement of things growing. Such a wonderful month, promise of richness to come, restoring faith in the good bounty of Nature. A bouquet of violets to you, my dear.” ~ Gladys Taber to her friend Barbara, in Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge
The twentieth time reading an LM Montgomery book is just as good as the first. When I was a teenager I was very protective of my paperbacks and used to reinforce the corners and binding with tape. However, the best loved books ended up looking similar to this copy of Anne’s House of Dreams. This book is extra special because it’s the only one I accidentally dropped into a bowl of leftover chicken soup after an late night excessive indulgence of reading, and there it stayed until morning. Every time I pull it from the shelf I think of chicken soup. I still grieve.
Anne’s House of Dreams begins at Green Gables in the midst of wedding preparations. Anne and Gilbert are married in the garden and move away to Four Winds Harbor, near Glen St. Mary, a town by the shores. They live in a darling house, which Anne declares is their House of Dreams. LM Montogomery was so clever in creating unique and delightful characters and in no time at all the reader meets the captivating Captain Jim, Leslie Moore, and Cornelia Bryant. Every page is a delight.
I’ve been in a “feathering the nest” mood this week, hence Anne’s House of Dreams on my reading list, and have been working on completely finishing up my own personal scrapbook of home inspiration. I spend more time on Pinterest these days than looking at magazines, but way back many years ago BEFORE PINTEREST when I was a young thing with no internet, I absolutely delighted in pouring over magazines with a pair of scissors dreaming of what I could do in my home. I’ve been working on this scrapbook for over 10 years……going back to it the last few days was like visiting an old friend.
I love the country mix and match eclectic look, with browns and yellows. And books everywhere.
Everything about this kitchen is perfection. I love the railing behind the stovepipe for towels, the color of the walls, the little cupboards and shelves, red floor.
“The walls of this house must be sorter soaked with laughing and good times.” Anne’s House of Dreams pg. 38
flowers, chair with lovely pillows, quilt, kitchen sink, baskets, plants, painting, dishes
“Anne looked about her with bright, appreciative eyes as she followed Mrs. Doctor Dave upstairs. She liked the appearance of her new home very much. It seemed to have the atmosphere of Green Gables and the flavor of her old traditions.”
Another room that I love everything about….wicker side chair, all the pillows, the blue ship painting, no curtains on the windows, flowers……the colors…..
This is my Home and House board on Pinterest: click HERE. It’s much easier to pin photos online now and…… I have let my Country Living magazine subscription lapse. But I hope I never stop taking the time now and then to sit “the old fashioned way” with scissors, glue, a scrapbook, and a handful of dreams á la Anne Shirley Blythe.
inside/outside good to be home
flower for a thank you
asking for a belly rub
cookies one and two
impromptu cookie jar
so happy to find a screen cover @ Pier One Imports 13 dollars
lily’s dress
really great soup recipe
He shall sit up on the arm of the couch in a sunbeam.
He shall sleep & stretch under the coffee table….not doing a great job of hiding from us.
poetry comes to life: “her early leaf’s a flower, but only for an hour” Robert Frost
moss growing on a fallen tree
blue sandwiching green
I shall sit in the woods and watch the hens scratch with purpose.
Back inside: nature bits gathered from the woods.
W H I T E T U R K E Y C H I L I
1 T. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
2 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped up fine
1 lb ground turkey
salt and pepper to taste
1 can cannelloni beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 16 ounce jar salsa (your choice)
1 15 ounce can tomatoes with garlic and onion (or add extra seasonings if you only have plain)
In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent, add turkey and brown, salting and peppering to taste. Add the rest of the ingredients and heat till bubbly and completely heated through.
I triple this for my family, so we can enjoy leftovers. I use mild salsa, the guys pass around the Franks Red Hot.
This recipe is from a cookbook that has literally changed my life, Saving Dinner, by Leanne Ely. It contains recipes for delicious main dishes for each week (6 days) of the year WITH the complete shopping list (!!!!). It is organized by season. All the recipes are as healthy as can be with typically a fish, beef, chicken, slow cooker recipe, meatless, casserole. Each recipe includes side dish recommendations and nutritional content. I don’t use the cookbook every week, but I’ve used it a lot over the last couple of years, (all spring this year so far except the 2 flu weeks). This week I am making Chicken Parmesan with steamed broccoli, Mexican Lasagna with a salad, Beef and Spinach Pitas with baby carrots, Chicken Broccoli Soup with a salad and rolls, Halibut Piccata with steamed broccoli, sweet potatoes, and baked potatoes, and lastly, Greens and Beans with a side of brown rice. Buy it! 🙂
greeny green dress
When you have Jesus in your life, in your heart, you cannot help being beautiful.
Never underestimate or take for granted the Holy Spirit….what is the Holy Spirit doing inside of us and around us, for surely the Spirit of God is always at work? Giving life, producing sweet fruit, guiding, helping us to pray, helping us be our real selves. Without saying a word the people around us can sense His love.
“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” St. Francis of Assisi
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Job 33:4
So do not struggle in your soul, do not strive, do not burden yourself in change….rest your spirit in Christ, but yes, work your body and mind in living the life He gave you to live, your own personal little spot in the world is a light for God just because you are you, wrapped up in the righteousness of Jesus.
In this way, God gets the glory for everything.
Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16
It’s not the greeny green dress that Grace wears that makes her beautiful.
It’s not what you wear that makes you beautiful.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…….. Galatians 5:22 (in salvation by the mighty power of God, these fruits WILL appear, you can’t stop them, praise God!)
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:38 (a believer WILL refresh others! You can’t help yourself! And it will happen when you are not even aware of it. You will probably never know what a huge BLESSING you are!!)
And now for a word from the boys.
I love you.
Good to be Home 