Posted in the seasons, winter, tagged snow, winter on January 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »
I love seeing the newly fallen snow sitting on the tree in my front yard. I love the way it clings and piles up on the smallest surfaces. It doesn’t last long, though, as any little breeze is prone to knocking it down and if the sun comes out it will melt and drip. The sleds and shovel, the empty bird house and ski poles are all indicators that winter finally fully upon us.
Hope you are enjoying the new year, and that you are finding a touch of beauty n your day.
Posted in autumn, the seasons, tagged autumn, musings, other things in life on November 17, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Posted in autumn, the seasons, tagged autumn, gardening, snow on October 12, 2009| 1 Comment »
We awoke Saturday to snow on the ground and in the air.
I have never seen snow in this area so early, and it does send a message of urgency! We began to clean up all of the fall progects, just in case this one doesn’t melt off, but a little after breakfast the sun broke throughthe clouds and things began to melt. By today, it was all gone.
Posted in autumn, gardening, tagged autumn, gardening on October 2, 2009| 2 Comments »
I had hoped to leave these on the vine for another month or so, but the sudden snow, and the cold temperatures that followed forced an emergency picking time. Only one of them is of eating size, but the boys gathered everything! Don’t you just love their enthusiasm? I sure do.
Posted in autumn, the seasons, tagged autumn, snow on September 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »
This morning we woke to the sound of rain on the roof. So much for my plans of digging the garden! As I fixed breakfast I wondered if the sun would come out and dry things up or if I would have to make new plans…
That is when Benjamin came in from his chores yelling, “Come look, everyone! It is snowing!”
The boys all rushed the window, eager for a view of the first flakes… And I thought it was bad when the first snow fell at the end of October last year.
Posted in summer, tagged baking, bread on August 10, 2009| 2 Comments »
After harvesting and shelling the peas I really wanted some heavy, chewy bread. The boys thought it sounded great, so we made this for supper… served with a side of salad. Dad did not complain one iota!
Posted in children, summer, the seasons, tagged camping, children, family, summer on July 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »
With the sun shining brightly and storm clouds in the West, the boys pitched their tent in the back yard Saturday evening. We had planned to go camping, but sickness had changed our plans.
Not to be defeated, they decided to camp at home, and really, I think they enjoyed it just as much as a trip into the mountains. All the elements were there: We had a campfire, cooked in the dutch oven, ate burnt food, because no one wanted to wait for proper coals to cook on. Caleb had a fish that he had caught earlier. He cooked that over the fire himself, and the rest of us had steak, which was not burnt. All in all, it was a good evening, and everyone was up on time to make Church and Sunday School, despite having camped out.
Posted in other things in life, summer, tagged children on July 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Ice cream is one of those summertime pleasures that is worth making by hand, at least once a year.
With all the huckleberries we picked, the boys wanted to eat some over fresh ice cream. A trip to the store was full of guesses, as we didn’t know what exactly we needed, but we came home with enough ingredients to make a 1/2 gallon of ice cream.
The boys had a great time taking turns turning the handle, and we all enjoyed the treat.
Posted in giving thanks, summer, the seasons, tagged fruit, gardening, giving thanks, harvest, preperations, summer on July 17, 2009| 4 Comments »
The middle of July is a special time of year here. It is the beginning of berry picking season! Huckleberries are the first berry to ripen. They are small and tangy-sweet, a relative of the blueberry. There are actually at least eight varieties of Huckleberries, all know by their characteristic dimples on the blossom end.
Today the boys and I took a little drive to our favorite picking site, after asking God to bless our trip with an abundance of Huckleberries.
Last year we never found a single Huckleberry. I assumed late frosts froze the blooms. We tried repeatedly, and finally found some of them blooming mid August, but it froze hard, before the berries ripened. This year, I drove to a wide spot in the road, parked and we gathered three cups of berries in about an hour! It was so fun, watching them picking and eating, eating and picking.
Everyone got involved, even baby. He ate much more than he contributed to the buckets, in fact, when he first discovered the buckets, he thought he should be able to eat out of the bucket, instead of picking his own.
Since it is just the beginning of the season, we will be picking much more. Only one of the three varieties, small little bushes that only grow 8″-12″ tall, are ripe. The largest variety, which grow closer to three feet tall, are still in bloom.
God is so good to us. We asked Him to bless us with berries, and He gave us more in an hour than I had hoped to find. He also showed us that there would be much, much more to pick, in the near future.
Posted in children, other things in life, spring, tagged bird watching, birds, children, spring on June 26, 2009| 1 Comment »
When the baby robins flew their nest the other day, this one stayed behind. The boys watched and waited for several looonng hours, until it was obvious that the parents weren’t coming back, to take ownership of this fine little fellow.
They fixed up the butterfly barn as a cage, and padded a coconut shell for the little robin to sleep in. He ate worms and ants, readily accepting his new ‘parents.’ My boys couldn’t have been prouder! In the morning, he woke them up with his chirping.
They were glad to have an ‘alarm clock’ that didn’t require batteries. That day they played with him when ever possible, carefully handling him, carefully feeding him, carefully letting him fly…
He was starting to get the hang of using his wings. He would flutter from one boy to another, then to the computer screen. He would fly onto the bunk bed and back to a boy.
The boys began making plans to keep him. They wanted to buy a bird cage, so that we could always have a robin in the house.
I told them that I did not like this idea.
Wild things should be free.
Take good care of this one, and when it is time, let it go.
There will be more creatures for you to care for, if you do well with this one.
They didn’t like my ideas. “What if this birdy never really flies?”
I told them, “Only time will tell. Now, lets enjoy this fellow while we have him.” They agreed.
That evening, we ate supper together, the bird secure in his cage. After supper they gathered more worms, and found the poor little birdy dead.
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I don’t know why such things happen. They tried so hard. The bird looked healthy and seemed happy. It sang the prettiest little songs, especially when with the boys. The house was plenty warm, though not too hot. The little birdy should have lived… but he did not.
My boys were heart-broken. They didn’t know what to make of it. They wanted so much for this birdy to live. They had been willing to spend their hard earned cash to provide a home for it, not to mention their time and attention. They had done everything they could… isn’t that what love does?
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